Hermes Cua is Cua's cua-spaces plugin for Hermes Agent, and this review explains what it does, scores each feature and ends with my verdict.
The plugin turns a Cua Space, which is an isolated Linux, macOS or Windows machine you can watch live, into the place where Hermes runs its terminal, file and code tools.
Hermes Agent is free and open source from Nous Research, and the plugin is built and maintained by Cua under the trycua name.
It was listed in the official Hermes plugin catalog on 20 October 2026 with the "Verified" tier, and it was re-pinned on 21 October.
The short verdict is that this is one of the cleanest ways yet to give Hermes a disposable computer, but the computer-use part only follows the agent into Linux Spaces on newer Hermes builds.
My scores come from reading Cua's README, the catalog page and Nous's docs, because I haven't run the plugin myself yet.
My video below covers the launch with Cua's own demo footage.
Hermes Cua Verdict At A Glance
These are my scores out of 10 for each feature, based on what the README and the catalog say it does.
| Feature | What it does | Score | My verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Throwaway Spaces | It makes a fresh Space per run and deletes it at the end. | 9 | It is the headline feature, and it is done well. |
| Install | It takes three commands and two yes prompts. | 9 | It is about as easy as a Hermes plugin gets. |
| Live view and takeover | It lets you watch the desktop and click in. | 9 | It turns the agent into something you can supervise. |
| Parallel runs | It gives every run or profile its own Space. | 9 | It stops two agents from touching each other's files. |
| Credential handling | It never stores a token and never syncs your keys. | 9 | It is the careful default I want. |
| Approval behaviour | It skips risky-command prompts in throwaway Spaces only. | 8 | It is a fair trade, because named Spaces keep the prompts. |
| Placement | It puts Spaces on local, cloud or a named machine. | 8 | It makes a spare Mac mini genuinely useful. |
| Persistent Spaces | It keeps a hermes-default Space or uses one you named. |
8 | It covers the jobs that need files to survive. |
| Troubleshooting | It explains errors in plain words with the next command. | 8 | It saves real time on a first install. |
| Computer use in the Space | It moves Bot Desktop, computer_use and the browser in. |
7 | It is powerful, but it is Linux only and needs a new Hermes. |
| Extra routes without the plugin | It offers cua mcp and Hermes running inside a Space. |
7 | They are useful options, but they need more setup. |
| Windows Spaces | It runs the terminal in PowerShell on a Windows machine. | 6 | It works for scripts, but computer use stays off and emulation is slow on Apple silicon. |
My overall rating for Hermes Cua is 4.3 out of 5.
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What Hermes Cua Is
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | The plugin is called cua-spaces, and the repo is trycua/hermes-cua-spaces. |
| Maker | It is built and maintained by trycua, which is Cua. |
| Catalog tier | It is listed as "Verified" in the Hermes plugin catalog. |
| Version | The catalog shows version 0.4.0 at pinned commit 82bb8d3. |
| Requirements | It needs Hermes 0.21.6 or newer. |
| Platforms | It runs on Linux, macOS and Windows. |
| Licence | It is MIT, the same as the Cua SDKs. |
| Listed | It was listed on 20 October 2026 and re-pinned on 21 October 2026. |
Under the hood, it's a terminal backend, which is the same kind of switch as Docker or SSH in Hermes.
Hermes stays on your machine, and the plugin sends terminal commands, file work and code runs to the Space.
If you want to compare it with every other backend, my Hermes Agent sandbox review scores them all.
How To Install Hermes Cua
These are the README's exact commands.
curl -fsSL https://cua.ai/install.sh | sh
cua auth login
hermes plugins install https://github.com/trycua/hermes-cua-spaces
hermes config set terminal.backend cua
The cua auth login line is only needed for Spaces on your cua.ai account, and a local Space needs no sign-in.
The catalog page also shows hermes plugins install cua-spaces as the short install.
When Hermes asks to install the cua Python package and enable the plugin, you answer yes to both.
Your first Space takes a few minutes while Cua downloads the machine image, and you check it with the prompt run hostname and cat /etc/os-release.
Feature-By-Feature Review
Throwaway Spaces: 9 out of 10
With the default space: create, each Hermes run makes its own Space named hermes-<task>-<random>, works there and deletes it at the end.
That's the old-way-versus-new-way shift I talked about in the video.
The old way was an agent on your machine where you approve every risky command and can't walk away.
The new way is a fresh computer for every run that disappears when the job is done.
I'd only knock a point off because the first Space is slow to create while the image downloads.
Install: 9 out of 10
Three commands and two yes prompts is a short install for something this capable.
The catalog also says every entry installs exactly the reviewed commit, and updates reach you only through a reviewed re-pin.
Live view and takeover: 9 out of 10
You open the Cua Spaces app and click the Space to watch its desktop as Hermes works.
From a terminal, cua spaces ls lists your Spaces and cua viewer serves a browser viewer for all of them.
You can click in the viewer to take over, and the README says Hermes keeps working next to you.
Cua's Spaces page adds that each person and each agent gets a cursor of their own on the same desktop.
Parallel runs: 9 out of 10
Two Hermes runs at once get two Spaces and never touch each other's files.
For named Spaces per profile, the README shows HERMES_CUA_SPACE=build-a hermes --profile a and HERMES_CUA_SPACE=build-b hermes --profile b.
You create those first with cua spaces create linux --name build-a.
Credential handling: 9 out of 10
The plugin never stores a token or key, and nothing about Cua goes into config.yaml or .env.
It doesn't sync your Hermes skills, cache or credentials into the Space either.
The catalog disclosure says the plugin keeps CUA_API_KEY and CUA_DAEMON_TOKEN out of the Space.
Approval behaviour: 8 out of 10
Hermes skips its risky-command prompts for Spaces the plugin creates, because the Space is the sandbox.
That's what lets the agent work without stopping every few minutes.
For a Space you named, the plugin never deletes or stops it, and Hermes keeps asking before risky commands.
I like that split, but you do need to understand it before you hand the agent anything important.
Placement: 8 out of 10
The on setting puts a new Space on local, cloud, host:<machine> or one of your machine names.
The README's example is hermes config set plugins.entries.cua-spaces.settings.on "spare mac mini", which is exactly the kind of thing I'd do with old hardware.
With a local Space, the README says nothing leaves your machine.
Persistent Spaces: 8 out of 10
With delete_on_exit: false, the plugin makes one Space called hermes-default and reuses it, so your files are still there next session.
You stop it with cua spaces stop hermes-default and delete it with cua spaces delete hermes-default.
Troubleshooting: 8 out of 10
The plugin explains its errors in plain words, and the README pairs each one with a fix.
A bad sign-in points you to cua auth login, a missing Space points you to cua spaces ls, and a missing Python package points you to hermes pm repair.
cua doctor shows what is missing when a Space can't start.
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Computer use in the Space: 7 out of 10
The catalog says that on Hermes 0.22.3 and later, Bot Desktop, computer_use and the browser follow the terminal into the Space.
The README sets three conditions for that.
- It needs a Linux Space, because macOS and Windows Spaces keep these tools on your own machine.
- It needs the
cuacommand on your PATH at version 0.7.0 or newer. - It needs the desktop stack in the Space, which
hermes config set plugins.entries.cua-spaces.settings.desktop trueinstalls on the next run.
That stack is TigerVNC, Playwright Chromium, agent-browser and cua-driver, and the install needs internet and sudo in the Space.
It also doesn't work with plugins.isolation: host.
It's a seven rather than a nine because of those conditions, not because the idea is weak.
For a full breakdown of the tool itself, read my review of the Hermes computer use skill.
Extra routes without the plugin: 7 out of 10
The README describes two routes that work with no plugin.
The first adds cua mcp to mcp_servers in ~/.hermes/config.yaml, so Hermes can create Spaces, run commands, drive desktops and delete Spaces as tools.
You can narrow it with --permissions, such as spaces:readonly, and with tools.include.
The second runs Hermes inside a Space with cua agent create ada --harness hermes --in local:dev --env-from-host OPENAI_API_KEY, and Hermes keeps its memory in your Cua Volume.
These are good options for advanced setups, but they need more care than the plugin.
Windows Spaces: 6 out of 10
You can make a Windows Space with cua spaces create windows --name my-pc, or set image to windows.
The terminal runs in PowerShell, and the file tools and execute_code run in Git Bash.
The plugin installs Git for Windows and Python inside the Space if they're missing, using pinned official installers checked against SHA-256.
The README is honest that computer use, Bot Desktop and the browser don't move into a Windows Space.
It also says a Windows Space on an Apple silicon Mac runs by emulation and is slow.
The Limits That Cost Points
- The first Space of each image is slow because Cua downloads the machine image.
- Computer use only follows the agent into Linux Spaces on Hermes 0.22.3 or later.
- Throwaway Spaces delete everything at the end unless you turn
delete_on_exitoff. - The
cuapackage has its own anonymous usage telemetry, which you switch off withcua telemetry offorCUA_TELEMETRY=0. - Remote and cloud Spaces send commands and files through Cua's encrypted relay or your own network, so they aren't fully local.
How Hermes Cua Compares
Against the Docker backend, the big difference is that a Cua Space is a whole machine you can watch and take over in an app.
Docker is still simpler if all you need is an isolated shell on one Linux box.
Against Grok Bot, this is my opinion from the video rather than a lab test.
I see a single shared computer as fine for light jobs, while Hermes Cua gives each run its own clean computer and lets you sit next to it.
If you want the wider plugin landscape, see my ranking of the best Hermes Agent plugins.
Who Is Behind Cua
Cua's Y Combinator page lists it in the Spring 2025 batch in San Francisco, with Francesco Bonacci as founder and CTO.
Its original YC launch post says its Lume virtual machines run at up to 97% of native CPU speed on Apple Silicon.
The trycua/cua repository is MIT licensed and had about 30,700 stars and 2,200 forks on GitHub on 23 October 2026.
Nous's computer-use docs say Hermes's built-in computer_use toolset already runs on cua-driver from that same project.
Cua's README also mentions a limited launch offer on Spaces Pro and Teams for Hermes users, for the first 50 people until 15 November, with the details on the plugin's GitHub page.
Who Should Use Hermes Cua
- You should use it if you want Hermes to run unattended jobs without touching your own machine.
- You should use it if you run several agents at once and want each one on its own computer.
- You should use it if you have a spare Mac or Linux box that could become the agent's computer.
- You should wait if you need computer use on macOS or Windows, because that part stays on your own machine for now.
If you want help deciding where a setup like this fits your SEO business, you can book a free SEO strategy session with my team.
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Related Reading
- Every Hermes sandbox backend, scored
- The Hermes computer use skill, scored feature by feature
- The best Hermes Agent plugins, ranked
- Hermes Agent v0.22, reviewed
Also On Our Network
- 🌐 The Hermes Cua setup in three steps
- 🌐 Seven business uses for Hermes Cua
- 🌐 Hermes Cua as part of an Agent OS workflow
- 🌐 How the brains behind Hermes Cua score on GoldieBench
FAQ: Hermes Cua Review
Is Hermes Cua worth using?
Yes, if you want Hermes to work on a disposable machine you can watch live.
Its weak spot is that computer use only follows the agent into Linux Spaces.
What does the Hermes Cua plugin actually change?
It adds a terminal backend called cua, so terminal commands, file work and execute_code run inside a Cua Space.
How is Hermes Cua different from the Docker backend?
A Cua Space is a full machine with a desktop you can watch and take over.
It can also be Linux, macOS or Windows, on your own hardware or in your cloud account.
Which Hermes version does Hermes Cua need?
The plugin needs Hermes 0.21.6 or newer.
Computer use in the Space needs Hermes 0.22.3 or later and the cua command on your PATH.
Who makes Hermes Cua?
Cua makes it, and YC lists the company in its Spring 2025 batch.
The plugin is MIT licensed.
If you run an agency and want help mapping agents to your client work, you can book a free strategy session and we'll talk it through.
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About Julian
I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.
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Easy install, throwaway computers and live takeover earn it a 4.3 out of 5, and that's my verdict on Hermes Cua.
