The Tool Desk
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What a Hermes profile distribution includes
A Hermes profile is a separate home for an agent’s configuration and persistent data. It can contain the agent’s persona, configuration, memories, sessions, skills, cron jobs, and state database. Separate profiles let you keep agents’ state apart; they are not shared-memory containers.
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A profile distribution is a Git repository containing a curated agent setup intended for installation and ongoing maintenance. Nous Research’s distribution documentation describes it as a way to package an agent’s personality, skills, cron jobs, MCP connections, and configuration. The repository carries the authored setup; credentials, memories, and sessions should remain specific to each machine.
Build and prepare the profile
- Create and configure a profile. Set up the agent’s model and API keys, refine its
SOUL.md, and add the skills, MCP connections, and cron jobs it needs. Exercise the agent before sharing so you can refine the setup. - Add a manifest. Create
distribution.yamlin the profile. The required field isname; the documented example also uses fields such asversion,description,hermes_requires,author,license, andenv_requires. Use environment requirements to tell recipients which keys they must provide and which are optional. - Choose the files the distribution owns. The guide’s example includes
distribution.yaml,SOUL.md,config.yaml,mcp.json,skills/, and cron-job configuration. Documented default owned paths includeSOUL.md,config.yaml,mcp.json,skills/,cron/jobs.json, anddistribution.yaml. Ownership affects install and update behavior, so check the current distribution guide for the release you use. - Exclude private data. Add a
.gitignorethat excludes credentials and user-specific state. Review staged files before committing; do not assume that everything in a profile is suitable for publication. - Publish the repository. Push to a Git host, or test from a local directory first. The guide supports GitHub shorthand, HTTPS, SSH, self-hosted hosts, and local directories. Recipients can fork the repository and adapt it through ordinary Git workflows.
Install and update a distribution
Install
Install from a Git URL or local directory with hermes profile install <source>. You can optionally specify a local profile name and alias. The manifest makes the distribution’s version, requirements, source, and declared environment variables available to the installer. Consult the profile CLI reference for the current command options.
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Update
Run hermes profile update <name> to pull an update. The CLI reference says this preserves user data such as memories, sessions, and authentication. The distribution guide describes local configuration as preserved by default and documents --force-config for recipients who deliberately want to reset config.yaml to the distribution’s default.
Do not promise that every local edit will survive an update: the result depends on which paths the distribution owns and on the current implementation. Check the live guide and CLI reference for the Hermes release in use before relying on particular merge or replacement behavior.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Choose Git distribution or export/import
| Method | Best for | What travels and how it changes | Important consideration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Git profile distribution | An agent that recipients should install, maintain, and update over time | A curated, versioned repository of the agent setup; updates come through Git-backed distribution commands | Requires a manifest and a repository. Review owned files and exclude secrets and private state before publishing. |
| Profile export/import | A one-time transfer, backup, or move | An exported snapshot, transferred with /export and /import or hermes profile export and hermes profile import |
Credentials are excluded, but personal information in memories, sessions, USER.md, skills, or persona files may remain. Inspect the archive listing before handing it over. |
Choose a distribution when recipients need a maintained setup and a path to track changes. Choose an export when you need a snapshot rather than a versioned package. Export’s credential filtering does not inspect arbitrary content for personal information.
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Quick Recap
Protect profile isolation and private information
- Use a distinct profile for each independently running agent. The official profile documentation cautions against running two agent processes against the same profile: both write memory, and each may load the other’s writes at session start.
- Keep secrets and user data out of Git. Use the distribution guide’s
.gitignorerecommendations and inspect staged content before pushing. - Inspect exports before sharing. An archive excludes credential stores, but that does not guarantee that memories, sessions, persona files, or skills contain no personal information.
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