The best Hermes Agent OS free option right now is Herald OS, a free, open-source (MIT) Hermes Agent OS that turns Hermes Agent into a full-screen desktop.
My verdict is 4 out of 5 for what it is today.
The design, the dashboard, Spaces and Automations are excellent, and the whole thing costs nothing.
It loses points because it's alpha software, and the Connections section didn't work for me.
Below, I score every feature I tested, explain what's genuinely free and what can cost money, and compare it fairly with Hermes Desktop and my own Agent OS.
The Verdict On This Hermes Agent OS Free Option
| Category | Score out of 5 | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 5 | The software is free under the MIT licence. |
| Design | 5 | It's the nicest Hermes interface I've used. |
| Dashboard | 4.5 | It's genuinely useful, with schedule, attention items and smart resume. |
| Spaces | 5 | It finally answers the multi-client setup question. |
| Automations | 5 | They synced across Herald OS, Hermes Desktop and my Agent OS. |
| Settings | 4.5 | They're surprisingly deep for an alpha. |
| Connections | 1 | It didn't work or sync for me. |
| Stability | 3 | It's alpha, with small layout issues. |
| Overall | 4 | It's the best free Hermes Agent OS today, as long as you accept alpha. |
🔥 Want my exact Hermes Agent OS Free setup, step by step? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get step-by-step video trainings, my installable Agent OS and four coaching calls a week with 3,400+ members building real automations. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom
What Herald OS Is
Herald OS is an agent-native operating system with Hermes Agent as the interface.
You talk or type to Hermes, and it works across your machine, opening apps, organising files, remembering what matters and running routines on a schedule.
It's an independent project by Luke The Dev, and it is not affiliated with Nous Research.
Nous Research publishes Hermes Agent, and Herald OS runs a standard Hermes install with its system tools added as a plugin called herald-os-bridge.
The source is on GitHub under the MIT licence.
The status is alpha, version 0.1, and the project asks you to keep backups of anything you let an agent touch.
My full Herald OS explainer covers the background in more depth.
What's Free And What Can Cost Money
This table is the honest answer to "is it really free?"
| Component | Verdict on cost |
|---|---|
| Herald OS | Free, MIT licence. |
| Hermes Agent | Free and open source. |
| Model provider | Free with a free or local model, paid with a premium API model. |
| Free voice engine | Free, using on-device faster-whisper transcription and free Edge voices. |
| Live voice engine | Opt-in, listed at $0.05 per minute on your own OpenAI key. |
| Usage tracking | Built in, with tokens used, plan and token balance. |
So you can run the whole thing for $0, but you have to choose the brain on purpose.
Feature-By-Feature Review Of Herald OS
I tested every section in the sidebar, and here's how each one did.
Dashboard: 4.5 out of 5
The dashboard greets you with "Good morning, Julian. Your day already in motion."
It has voice input at the top, today's schedule from your scheduled tasks and a "here's what needs attention" list.
"Pick up where you left off" looks at the names of recent documents, projects, chats and calendar events and suggests where to carry on.
You can toggle it on and off, and the README says it reads names and dates rather than file contents.
It also surfaced my recent desktop screenshots, which is a smart touch.
Hermes chat: 4.5 out of 5
The chat is normal Hermes chat with Preview and Sources.
Sources let you add files that Hermes can read, and you can start a new conversation at any time.
Spaces: 5 out of 5
Spaces come as Ideas, Work and Personal, and you can add more.
This solves the most common question I hear from Boardroom members who run several companies or clients.
You add a space per client, and you can set a default space.
Missions: 4 out of 5
Missions let you set an active goal, like building out a new website, and Hermes plans it step by step.
It's a strong idea, but I'd still review each step before anything goes live.
Memory: 4 out of 5
Memory shows everything Hermes remembers about you.
It's transparent, which I like.
It also showed my Telegram details, so be careful what you show on screen.
Files: 4 out of 5
Files gives you recent, favourites, projects, downloads, shared and deleted views.
It does the job, and the resizable sidebar makes it easy to work with.
Automations: 5 out of 5
Automations let you manage scheduled jobs and switch them on or off.
Mine synced instantly across Herald OS, Hermes Desktop and my Agent OS, because they all share the same Hermes.
My daily 6am to-do recap, daily Japanese lesson and morning inbox summaries were all there.
Connections: 1 out of 5
Connections is supposed to link tools, apps and external services.
It didn't work or sync for me.
Because the project is open source, you could ask Claude to fix it, but I can't score something that didn't run.
Settings: 4.5 out of 5
Settings covers more than I expected from an alpha release.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Preferred model | It picks the brain, and I had one plugged in through a CLI. |
| Runtimes | It chooses where agents run tasks, including Docker. |
| Background agents | It sets how many agents can work in the background. |
| Remember preferences | It lets Hermes keep your preferences. |
| Auto-approve | It decides whether Hermes asks before sending messages. |
| Activity history | It shows background work you might have forgotten. |
| General | It covers full screen launch, default space, projects folder, do not disturb, stay awake, screen saver, dictation and quit session. |
| Themes | It changes colours, and the README lists twelve themes. |
| Software access | It adds or removes Claude Code, Codex and LM Studio. |
| Plugins | It adds a plugin when you paste a GitHub link. |
| Hermes Agent | It holds Hermes-specific options. |
| Usage | It shows tokens used, plan and token balance. |
| Voice | It switches engine, speed, local or live voice, testing and voice commands. |
| The rest | It covers privacy, notifications, networks, storage and accessibility. |
There's also a notification bell sound, which is worth knowing before you record or take calls.
The voice commands make it feel a little like Jarvis, which is fun.
🔥 Want the Hermes setups I score highest? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom, I've got Hermes Agent training, my Agent OS and courses on DeepSeek Harness, Claude Opus 5.5 and Jev AI. You'll be learning alongside 3,400+ members with four coaching calls a week. → Get access here
How Easy Is Herald OS To Set Up?
I'd score setup 4 out of 5, because it's simple on a Mac but has one manual step.
You install Hermes Agent first with the official script and run hermes setup to choose a model.
Then you download the Apple Silicon DMG from the releases page and drag it to Applications.
The build isn't notarised yet, so you run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Herald OS.app" once.
It takes over the screen, with Cmd+Ctrl+F to toggle fullscreen and Cmd+Q to quit.
You need macOS 13 or later on Apple Silicon.
I had Claude run my install, and it was done in about two minutes.
Other routes exist for a PC running Herald OS Linux, Arch, Omarchy, other Linux distributions and a virtual machine on an Apple Silicon Mac.
My Hermes Agent OS GitHub breakdown covers the repository and building from source.
The Free Brains I'd Pair With Herald OS
The model you pick decides whether this Hermes Agent OS free setup stays free.
| Free option | Examples I verified | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Nous Portal free list | Solar Mini 4, Nemotron, Laguna XS 2.1, Ling 3.1 Flash, Step 3.7 Flash, Ling 3.0 Flash, LongCat 2.0 | It's the easiest route, but pick the free variant and watch for promos ending. |
| OpenRouter free models | Laguna XS 2.1, LFM 2.5 2.6B, Gemma 4 and several Nemotron models | It's a good backup, with rate limits. |
| Local models | LFM 2.5 2.6B, or a bigger model through LM Studio | It's free forever, but smaller models are weaker. |
The Nous Portal list is from my Solar Mini 4 video, and I checked the OpenRouter free list again today.
Some Nous Portal models appear as both free and paid, so always choose the free entry.
My Solar Mini 4 Hermes verdict scores one of those free brains in detail.
Herald OS vs Hermes Desktop vs My Agent OS
I want to be fair here, because all three are good at different things.
| Herald OS | Hermes Desktop | My Agent OS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free, MIT | Free | Included in the AI Profit Boardroom |
| Look and feel | The most polished full-screen design | A clean desktop app | A builder's dashboard |
| Maturity | Alpha | Further along | Used daily by me and members |
| Spaces for clients | Yes | Use separate profiles | Use separate profiles and tabs |
| Automations | Yes, synced | Yes, synced | Yes, synced |
| Best for | People who want a beautiful Hermes OS | People who want a steady free app | People who want my full stack and coaching |
The automations sync across all three because they share one Hermes install.
So you don't have to switch everything over to try Herald OS.
Pros And Cons
These are the pros I noted while testing it.
- It's completely free and open source under the MIT licence.
- It's the best-looking Hermes interface I've used.
- Spaces solve the multi-client setup problem cleanly.
- Automations sync with Hermes Desktop and my Agent OS.
- The permission system asks before risky actions, and destructive actions ask every time.
These are the cons I'd flag before you install it.
- It's alpha software at version 0.1.
- Connections didn't work or sync for me.
- The interface was slightly cut off at the top of my screen.
- The Mac build needs a quarantine command because it isn't notarised.
- Your model choice can still cost money if you pick a paid model.
Who Should Use This Free Hermes Agent OS?
Use Herald OS if you like Hermes but don't enjoy Hermes Desktop, and you want a clean, focused screen for your day.
Skip it for now if you need every connection working perfectly or you can't tolerate alpha rough edges.
If you just want a steady free app, Hermes Desktop is the safer pick today.
🔥 Not sure which Hermes setup to commit to? Ask me on one of the four weekly coaching calls in the AI Profit Boardroom, where 3,400+ members compare tools like this every week. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom
Related Reading
- Hermes Agent plugins marketplace scores the free plugins that work with Hermes.
- Best AI models for coding helps you pick a stronger paid brain when free isn't enough.
Also On Our Network
- 🌐 How to set up Herald OS for $0, step by step
- 🌐 Seven ways businesses use the free Hermes Agent OS
- 🌐 The Herald OS quick start inside an Agent OS
- 🌐 Free Herald OS brains ranked by GoldieBench scores
FAQ: Hermes Agent OS Free
Is Herald OS really free?
Yes, Herald OS is MIT-licensed and costs nothing.
Hermes Agent is free too, so only the model can cost money.
Is Herald OS better than Hermes Desktop?
Herald OS looks nicer and adds Spaces and Missions.
Hermes Desktop is further along, so it's the steadier choice today.
What didn't work in Herald OS?
Connections didn't work or sync for me.
The interface was also slightly cut off at the top of my screen.
Who made Herald OS?
Luke The Dev made it as an independent project.
It isn't affiliated with Nous Research, which publishes Hermes Agent.
Can I run Herald OS with no API bill?
Yes, if you choose a free Nous Portal model, a free OpenRouter model or a local model.
The optional Live voice engine is billed per minute on your own OpenAI key.
📺 Video notes + links to the tools 👉
🎥 Learn how I make these videos 👉
🆓 Get a FREE AI Course + Community + 1,000 AI Agents 👉
About Julian
I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.
I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.
- I've built a 7-figure agency, Goldie Agency, with a team of around 50 people.
- I've grown a YouTube channel to 400,000+ subscribers.
- I wrote the Amazon best-sellers "SEO Link Building Mastery" and "Agency Marketing Mastery".
- My Udemy courses have taught over 50,000 students.
→ Get my best AI training inside the AI Profit Boardroom
Herald OS earns 4 out of 5 from me, and it's the Hermes Agent OS free option I'd try first.
