Safety Self-hosted by Nous Research

Is Hermes Agent safe?

Short answer It depends on what you connect. Nous Research says it asks before sensitive actions, training on your data: not clearly stated; these are the vendor's own statements, not tests.

5 of 6 safety questions answered on Nous Research's own pages , Asks before sensitive actions: Yes , Trains on your data: Not clearly stated , Not published: sees your passwords

What Nous Research states about connecting your accounts. AideDex reports the vendor's published statements, each linked to its source; it does not test or audit them. "Not published" means we found no statement, not that the answer is no. Facts checked up to .

Can you get it
  • Status Available
  • Where Worldwide (Available worldwide)
  • Plan Free (Included in Open source (MIT))
Hermes Agent: countries, plans, capabilities →

The six questions

5 of 6 answered
  • What data can Hermes Agent access?

    Whatever the operator's user account can reach on the host, plus connected messaging, email and MCP servers. Provider API keys and gateway tokens are stripped from shell/MCP/cron subprocesses by default, but skills and plugins can read in-process credentials. github.com · checked
  • Does Hermes Agent ask before sending, buying or deleting?

    Yes
    Dangerous shell commands need explicit approval (approvals.mode smart|manual|off; cron/unattended default deny). Full quoteDangerous shell commands need explicit approval (approvals.mode smart|manual|off; cron/unattended default deny). SECURITY.md calls the gate a heuristic, not a security boundary.
    hermes-agent.nousresearch.com · checked
  • Can Hermes Agent see my passwords?

    Not published Nous Research does not state this on the pages we checked.
  • Does Hermes Agent use my data to train AI models?

    Not clearly stated
    Hermes is self-hosted; training depends on the model provider you connect. Full quoteHermes is self-hosted; training depends on the model provider you connect. Nous Portal's privacy policy says inference payloads may be used for training unless you enable Privacy Mode.
    portal.nousresearch.com · checked
  • Where does Hermes Agent run, and is it isolated?

    Default terminal backend runs commands directly on the host; Docker, SSH, Modal and Singularity backends sandbox shell/file tools. Only OS-level isolation (Docker image or NVIDIA OpenShell wrapping the whole process) is a real boundary per SECURITY.md. github.com · checked
  • How long does Hermes Agent keep my data?

    Conversations, memories and skills are stored locally and kept when the agent stops. Keep a backup of your Hermes data directory when moving to another computer. hermes-agent.nousresearch.com · checked

Other things Nous Research states

2 statements
  • Messaging access is controlled by allowlists and DM pairing; sessions cannot access each other's data. hermes-agent.nousresearch.com · checked
  • Skills run arbitrary Python at import time; Nous says review a skill's code, not just its SKILL.md, before installing. github.com · checked

More questions about Hermes Agent and your data

1 answer
Does Hermes Agent keep my data between sessions?
Yes. It stores conversations, memories and skills; Nous recommends backing up the Hermes data directory when moving computers. hermes-agent.nousresearch.com · checked

Compare and read on

All alternatives to Hermes Agent · Is it safe to connect Gmail to an AI agent? What each vendor says it does · How facts are checked

Sources for this page

4 pages
  1. github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/blob/main/SECURITY.md
  2. hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/security
  3. portal.nousresearch.com/privacy
  4. hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/

Spotted something wrong or out of date? Report an error · Corrections log