hermes-agent/website/docs/getting-started/updating.md

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3	Updating & Uninstalling	How to update Hermes Agent to the latest version or uninstall it

Updating & Uninstalling

Updating

Update to the latest version with a single command:

hermes update

This pulls the latest code, updates dependencies, and prompts you to configure any new options that were added since your last update.

:::tip hermes update automatically detects new configuration options and prompts you to add them. If you skipped that prompt, you can manually run hermes config check to see missing options, then hermes config migrate to interactively add them. :::

What happens during an update

When you run hermes update, the following steps occur:

1. Pairing-data snapshot — a lightweight pre-update state snapshot is saved (covers ~/.hermes/pairing/, Feishu comment rules, and other state files that get modified at runtime). Rollbackable via hermes backup restore --state pre-update.
2. Git pull — pulls the latest code from the main branch and updates submodules
3. Dependency install — runs uv pip install -e ".[all]" to pick up new or changed dependencies
4. Config migration — detects new config options added since your version and prompts you to set them
5. Gateway auto-restart — if the gateway service is running (systemd on Linux, launchd on macOS), it is automatically restarted after the update completes so the new code takes effect immediately

Preview-only: hermes update --check

Want to know if you're behind origin/main before actually pulling? Run hermes update --check — it fetches, prints your local commit and the latest remote commit side-by-side, and exits 0 if in sync or 1 if behind. No files are modified, no gateway is restarted. Useful in scripts and cron jobs that gate on "is there an update".

Full pre-update backup: --backup

For high-value profiles (production gateways, shared team installs) you can opt into a full pre-pull backup of HERMES_HOME (config, auth, sessions, skills, pairing):

hermes update --backup

Or make it the default for every run:

# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
update:
  backup: true

--backup was the always-on behavior in earlier builds, but it was adding minutes to every update on large homes, so it's now opt-in. The lightweight pairing-data snapshot above still runs unconditionally.

Expected output looks like:

$ hermes update
Updating Hermes Agent...
📥 Pulling latest code...
Already up to date.  (or: Updating abc1234..def5678)
📦 Updating dependencies...
✅ Dependencies updated
🔍 Checking for new config options...
✅ Config is up to date  (or: Found 2 new options — running migration...)
🔄 Restarting gateway service...
✅ Gateway restarted
✅ Hermes Agent updated successfully!

Recommended Post-Update Validation

hermes update handles the main update path, but a quick validation confirms everything landed cleanly:

1. git status --short — if the tree is unexpectedly dirty, inspect before continuing
2. hermes doctor — checks config, dependencies, and service health
3. hermes --version — confirm the version bumped as expected
4. If you use the gateway: hermes gateway status
5. If doctor reports npm audit issues: run npm audit fix in the flagged directory

:::warning Dirty working tree after update If git status --short shows unexpected changes after hermes update, stop and inspect them before continuing. This usually means local modifications were reapplied on top of the updated code, or a dependency step refreshed lockfiles. :::

If your terminal disconnects mid-update

hermes update protects itself against accidental terminal loss:

• The update ignores SIGHUP, so closing your SSH session or terminal window no longer kills it mid-install. pip and git child processes inherit this protection, so the Python environment cannot be left half-installed by a dropped connection.
• All output is mirrored to ~/.hermes/logs/update.log while the update runs. If your terminal disappears, reconnect and inspect the log to see whether the update finished and whether the gateway restart succeeded:

tail -f ~/.hermes/logs/update.log

• Ctrl-C (SIGINT) and system shutdown (SIGTERM) are still honored — those are deliberate cancellations, not accidents.

You no longer need to wrap hermes update in screen or tmux to survive a terminal drop.

Checking your current version

hermes version

Compare against the latest release at the GitHub releases page.

Updating from Messaging Platforms

You can also update directly from Telegram, Discord, Slack, or WhatsApp by sending:

/update

This pulls the latest code, updates dependencies, and restarts the gateway. The bot will briefly go offline during the restart (typically 5–15 seconds) and then resume.

Manual Update

If you installed manually (not via the quick installer):

cd /path/to/hermes-agent
export VIRTUAL_ENV="$(pwd)/venv"

# Pull latest code and submodules
git pull origin main
git submodule update --init --recursive

# Reinstall (picks up new dependencies)
uv pip install -e ".[all]"
uv pip install -e "./tinker-atropos"

# Check for new config options
hermes config check
hermes config migrate   # Interactively add any missing options

Rollback instructions

If an update introduces a problem, you can roll back to a previous version:

cd /path/to/hermes-agent

# List recent versions
git log --oneline -10

# Roll back to a specific commit
git checkout <commit-hash>
git submodule update --init --recursive
uv pip install -e ".[all]"

# Restart the gateway if running
hermes gateway restart

To roll back to a specific release tag:

git checkout v0.6.0
git submodule update --init --recursive
uv pip install -e ".[all]"

:::warning Rolling back may cause config incompatibilities if new options were added. Run hermes config check after rolling back and remove any unrecognized options from config.yaml if you encounter errors. :::

Note for Nix users

If you installed via Nix flake, updates are managed through the Nix package manager:

# Update the flake input
nix flake update hermes-agent

# Or rebuild with the latest
nix profile upgrade hermes-agent

Nix installations are immutable — rollback is handled by Nix's generation system:

nix profile rollback

See Nix Setup for more details.

---

Uninstalling

hermes uninstall

The uninstaller gives you the option to keep your configuration files (~/.hermes/) for a future reinstall.

Manual Uninstall

rm -f ~/.local/bin/hermes
rm -rf /path/to/hermes-agent
rm -rf ~/.hermes            # Optional — keep if you plan to reinstall

:::info If you installed the gateway as a system service, stop and disable it first:

hermes gateway stop
# Linux: systemctl --user disable hermes-gateway
# macOS: launchctl remove ai.hermes.gateway

:::