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Lock down Hermes Agent by treating it as an untrusted operator: restrict who can message it, leave dangerous-command approval in smart mode, isolate execution in a hardened container, pass through only explicitly required environment variables, and keep provider credentials in ~/.hermes/.env with owner-only permissions. These controls work together; a weak container, open gateway, or leaked key can defeat an otherwise careful configuration.

The safest deployment is layered rather than dependent on one switch. Authorization limits who can request work, approval gates risky actions, file and prompt protections reduce unsafe instructions, container isolation limits damage, and secret hygiene limits the value of a compromise.

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What Hermes Agent security is protecting

Hermes can receive instructions, inspect project files, invoke tools, run terminal commands, execute code, and start MCP subprocesses. Security therefore has to cover both the person sending a request and the process that carries it out. The Hermes security model describes eight overlapping layers: user authorization, human approval for destructive operations, file-write safety, container isolation, environment isolation for MCP subprocesses, and prompt-injection scanning of project files, along with the controls that enforce those layers.

Unauthorized users and accidental exposure

An agent exposed to an open chat gateway can be instructed by anyone who reaches that gateway. In production, use a platform allowlist or DM pairing rather than an open-access configuration. Treat any setting that permits all users as a development convenience, not a security boundary. Test from an account that is not on the allowlist and confirm that the request is rejected before the agent can invoke a tool.

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Destructive commands and prompt injection

Project files, issue descriptions, web pages, and copied chat content can contain instructions aimed at the agent rather than at you. Hermes includes prompt-injection scanning for project files, but scanning is not a reason to grant broad permissions. Keep approvals enabled and assume that untrusted text may try to persuade the agent to reveal secrets, change its rules, or run a dangerous command.

Secrets and lateral movement

Provider API keys, gateway tokens, and credentials in the host environment are high-value targets. A compromised task should not automatically inherit every variable from the host, nor should a provider key be made available to arbitrary terminal commands. The controls below separate Hermes-managed credentials from the environment visible to child processes.

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Lock down access before enabling tools

Use an explicit allowlist or DM pairing

  1. Open the identity or access section for the chat platform connected to Hermes.
  2. Add only the user IDs, rooms, or direct-message pairs that must operate the agent.
  3. Disable open access for any gateway reachable from the public internet.
  4. Send a test message from an unapproved identity and verify that no tool call, terminal action, or file operation starts.
  5. Record who can approve commands separately from who can send ordinary prompts. If the platform cannot distinguish those roles, keep the allowlist as small as the operational need permits.

DM pairing is useful when you cannot maintain a long-lived list of account IDs. Pair only through a trusted channel and remove stale pairings. An allowlist controls who can ask Hermes to act; it does not make the request itself trustworthy, so approval and sandboxing remain necessary.

Keep the gateway off the public network where possible

Put the gateway behind the platform’s access controls, a private network, or a VPN when your deployment allows it. If public exposure is unavoidable, restrict inbound traffic at the network layer as well as at the application layer, and monitor rejected connection attempts. Do not treat an unverified “allow all users” variable mentioned by community guides as an official Hermes control; confirm the exact setting in the configuration reference for the version you run.

Keep command approval in smart mode

How smart approval behaves

Hermes’ default smart mode evaluates each command against a curated set of dangerous patterns. Low-risk commands are auto-approved for that command only. Commands judged genuinely dangerous are auto-denied. Uncertain commands are sent to a manual approval prompt. If nobody answers in time, the prompt is denied, which is a fail-closed behavior.

  1. Set the terminal approval mode to smart.
  2. Trigger a harmless command and confirm it runs without a prompt.
  3. Trigger a command that changes files or permissions and confirm that Hermes asks for approval when the command is not clearly safe.
  4. Allow the prompt to expire during a test and verify that the command is denied rather than executed.
  5. Review approval events so you can distinguish expected automation from an unexpected request.

Do not switch to an unrestricted mode merely to avoid prompts. A manual prompt is a deliberate pause that lets an operator inspect the command, its working directory, and the requested resources before execution.

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Add approvals.deny rules for commands you never want

Use approvals.deny glob rules for destructive patterns that should never run in your environment. These rules apply on every terminal backend, including containers. They are an additional policy layer, not a replacement for the approval mode.

The hardline blocklist also applies even when a user selects --yolo or sets the approval mode to off. It covers examples such as root-filesystem wipes and fork bombs. Hermes documentation explicitly warns that these checks are not a complete shell interpreter and are not an operating-system sandbox. A command can be syntactically unusual, delegated to another tool, or harmful in a way the pattern list does not recognize.

Choose an execution backend deliberately

The backend determines where commands run and which safety checks remain active. The most important trade-off is that container and cloud backends are treated as the security boundary: Hermes skips its dangerous-command checks there. A poorly configured image therefore removes an approval backstop rather than adding one.

Backend category Dangerous-command approval Isolation depends on Operational implication
Local terminal Retained Host operating-system permissions and the account running Hermes More approval visibility, but a mistake can affect the host directly
Docker Skipped inside the container; hardline and approvals.deny policies still apply Image contents, dropped capabilities, privilege settings, PID limits, mounts, and network policy Strong potential isolation with careful configuration; startup can be affected by Docker packaging and security profiles
Singularity Skipped inside the container; hardline and deny policies still apply Container definition and host integration Review the image and host bindings before trusting it as a boundary
Modal, Daytona, or Vercel Sandbox Skipped in the remote sandbox; hardline and deny policies still apply Provider sandbox configuration, image maintenance, data mounts, and network access Less local exposure, but you must understand the remote runtime and its egress paths

Across all backends, keep credentials out of the child environment, mount only the files a task needs, and avoid granting write access to the host’s sensitive directories. Isolation strength is determined by the actual image and runtime settings, not by the backend name alone.

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Harden Docker before using it as the boundary

The configuration reference describes a Docker backend that drops all Linux capabilities, prevents privilege escalation, and applies PID limits. The work-machine setup guidance adds a process-count limit, no-new-privileges, size-limited temporary filesystems, and only a minimal set of capabilities added back when a workload genuinely requires them.

Apply the minimum container profile

  1. Start from a small, maintained image containing only the tools your skills require.
  2. Drop all capabilities by default. Add back the smallest possible capability set only after a task demonstrates a real need.
  3. Enable no-new-privileges so a process cannot gain additional privileges through set-user-ID or similar mechanisms.
  4. Set a process-count or PID limit to contain fork storms and denial-of-service behavior.
  5. Use size-limited temporary filesystems for scratch paths so a task cannot fill the host disk through an unbounded temporary directory.
  6. Mount the project read-only unless the task must write. If writes are required, mount a dedicated working directory rather than the host home directory.
  7. Keep the container user unprivileged and restrict network access to destinations the task actually needs.
  8. Rebuild and scan the image when its base packages change; an old image is not a permanent security control.

Because dangerous-command checks are skipped inside this backend, image maintenance and runtime restrictions carry more weight than they do for a local terminal. The container must be treated as a boundary that you configure and audit, not as a second approval prompt.

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Avoid the Docker exec ownership trap

The Hermes gateway runs as an unprivileged user in the image, but docker exec defaults to root. If you create approval files or configuration files with a root shell, the gateway may be unable to read them. Run administrative commands with the same user and group that run the gateway, or correct ownership before restarting Hermes. Test a real approval request after any maintenance performed with docker exec.

Account for snap Docker and AppArmor

On Docker installations packaged through snap, AppArmor can reject a container that uses both --init and no-new-privileges. If the hardened container fails during startup, inspect the Docker and AppArmor logs first. Do not remove all hardening flags as a blind workaround: determine which profile or flag is incompatible, then retain the remaining restrictions and use a Docker installation whose security profile supports the intended configuration.

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Minimize the environment visible to child processes

Hermes normally starts terminal and execute_code children with a minimal environment. Names containing terms such as KEY, TOKEN, SECRET, and PASSWORD are stripped by default. Keep that default and opt in only to variables that a specific skill requires.

Use env_passthrough as an allowlist

  1. List the exact variable names required by the skill or command.
  2. Add only those names to env_passthrough; do not pass an entire host environment or a wildcard.
  3. Run the skill and confirm it can see the required non-secret setting.
  4. Inspect the task’s logs and child process environment, where practical, to ensure unrelated variables are absent.
  5. Remove the entry when the skill no longer needs it.

Hermes-managed provider credentials cannot be re-allowed through env_passthrough, and variables declared by a loaded skill pass through once that skill loads. This distinction prevents a provider key managed by Hermes from becoming an ordinary environment variable merely because a passthrough list was expanded.

Never forward provider keys or gateway tokens

The dedicated credential mechanisms are safer than exposing those secrets to terminal commands. Do not put provider API keys or gateway tokens in env_passthrough, even for a quick test. If a tool needs a credential, use its supported secret integration and limit the credential’s scope instead of copying the value into the shell environment.

Protect the Hermes credential file

Restrict the default key file

Hermes stores keys and tokens in ~/.hermes/.env by default. On a single-user host, set owner-only permissions:

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chmod 600 ~/.hermes/.env

Confirm that the file is owned by the account running Hermes and is not inside a directory or backup share readable by other users. Keep it out of source control, issue attachments, and shared support bundles. If you run Hermes in a container, make sure the mounted file has the correct ownership and is not accidentally world-readable on either side of the mount.

Consider an external secret manager

Hermes can be integrated with external secret management, including Bitwarden Secrets Manager according to community setup guidance. External storage can reduce the number of long-lived plaintext copies, but it introduces another identity and access policy to protect. Give the runtime only the permission to retrieve the specific secrets it needs and audit retrieval events.

Use least privilege and rotate on exposure

  • Create provider keys with the narrowest scopes and quotas that support the task.
  • Use separate keys for development, staging, and production so one compromise does not cross environments.
  • Rotate keys on a schedule appropriate to their value and immediately after any suspected exposure.
  • Never paste a live key into a chat “just for testing.” A value entered in chat can remain in memory, transcripts, or logs; rotate it immediately if that happens.
  • Redact secrets from diagnostics before sharing them with another operator.

Make file writes and MCP subprocesses safer

Use the file-write protections

Hermes combines a denylist for unsafe file targets with an optional write sandbox. Enable the write sandbox when a task does not need broad project access. Give write permission to a dedicated workspace rather than to the account’s home directory, SSH configuration, credential stores, or deployment directories. Review generated patches before applying them outside the workspace.

Isolate MCP subprocess environments

MCP servers and other subprocesses should receive only the environment and filesystem paths they require. Keep their working directories separate from the gateway’s configuration directory, and avoid sharing sockets or host mounts unless the integration depends on them. A subprocess that can read the gateway’s credential file can bypass the protections intended for ordinary terminal commands.

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Treat project content as untrusted input

Prompt-injection scanning helps identify instructions embedded in project files, but it cannot establish that a file is safe. Do not let a README, issue, or downloaded document override your approval policy. When a task asks Hermes to disable safeguards, reveal a secret, or broaden its own access, stop and review the request as a possible injection.

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Running Hermes on a VPS

A VPS is not automatically safer than a workstation. Its advantage is separation from your personal files; its risk is that a publicly reachable gateway and a long-lived service can be probed continuously.

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  • Use a dedicated operating-system account without administrative privileges for Hermes.
  • Keep the gateway private or protected by an explicit allowlist and network firewall.
  • Store the credential file with mode 600 and restrict backups and snapshots that include it.
  • Patch the host, container runtime, base image, and Hermes installation on a defined schedule.
  • Use the hardened container profile rather than granting the agent unrestricted host access.
  • Limit outbound network access where the workload permits; unrestricted egress makes data exfiltration easier after a compromise.
  • Collect authentication, approval, container, and restart logs, and alert on repeated denied requests or unexpected identity changes.

Do not assume a VPS provider’s isolation replaces Hermes’ controls. Provider-level isolation protects the virtual machine boundary; it does not stop an authorized but compromised agent from deleting files inside its own VM or sending data over an allowed network connection.

Verification checklist after configuration changes

Run these checks whenever you first deploy Hermes, change a backend, or add a skill:

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  1. Authorization: an unapproved identity cannot reach a tool, while an approved identity can complete a normal request.
  2. Approval: smart mode prompts for an uncertain command, denies a dangerous command, and denies an unanswered prompt after its timeout.
  3. Deny rules: a command matching an approvals.deny glob is blocked locally and in the selected container backend.
  4. Container: capabilities are dropped, privilege escalation is disabled, PID and temporary-storage limits are active, and the image runs as an unprivileged user.
  5. Mounts: only the intended workspace is writable; host credential directories are not mounted.
  6. Environment: unrelated variables are absent, and no provider key or gateway token appears in env_passthrough.
  7. Secrets: ~/.hermes/.env is owner-readable only, has the correct owner, and is excluded from source control and shared logs.
  8. Files and MCP: write-sandbox behavior and subprocess environment isolation match the paths documented for the installed Hermes version.
  9. Recovery: you can revoke and replace every provider key, restore the workspace, and disable the gateway without needing the agent itself.

Common failure modes and fixes

The agent executes more inside Docker than locally

This is expected when dangerous-command checks are skipped for container backends. Strengthen the image and runtime restrictions, keep approvals.deny patterns for commands you never permit, and reduce mounts and network access. Do not rely on local smart-approval behavior to protect a container.

Approval files become unreadable after maintenance

Check whether docker exec created them as root while the gateway runs unprivileged. Correct ownership with the gateway’s user and group, then repeat an approval test.

A hardened container will not start

Inspect AppArmor and Docker logs, particularly on snap-packaged Docker. The combination of --init and no-new-privileges can be rejected by that profile. Adjust the incompatible packaging or profile while retaining the other hardening controls.

A skill cannot find its credential

First verify that the skill is using Hermes’ supported credential mechanism. If it genuinely needs a non-provider setting, add that exact variable to env_passthrough. Never solve the problem by forwarding the entire environment or by copying a provider key into a chat.

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A configuration example uses an unfamiliar key

Community guides mention names such as sanitize_outputs, read_only_root, and docker_forward_env, but those names are not established by the current official excerpts. Do not paste them into production configuration. Use the configuration reference shipped with your installed Hermes version and confirm whether the supported key is env_passthrough before changing settings.

A practical security baseline

For most self-hosted deployments, the baseline is straightforward: an explicit user allowlist or DM pairing; smart approval with deny globs for irreversible operations; a Docker or equivalent sandbox hardened with dropped capabilities, no privilege escalation, PID and temporary-storage limits, and minimal mounts; default environment filtering with a short env_passthrough list; owner-only permissions on ~/.hermes/.env; scoped provider keys with rotation; and monitoring that proves the controls still work after upgrades.

The key decision is where you want the final boundary. A local terminal preserves Hermes’ dangerous-command approval but exposes the host account. A container or cloud sandbox can reduce host impact, but Hermes’ dangerous-command checks are skipped there, so the image and runtime must be strong enough to stand on their own. Choose the backend whose boundary you can configure, patch, and verify—not merely the one that is easiest to start.

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