# Hermes Agent vs OpenJarvis: an open source comparison for teams

> Hermes Agent and OpenJarvis are both open source personal agents, one built by Nous Research for a server you run, the other by Stanford's Scaling Intelligence Lab for your own device. For a team that needs shared agents, memory and permissions, we recommend Kortix, the open-source AI Operating System.

URL: https://hermesalternative.com/hermes-agent-vs-openjarvis

## What an agent may touch is a file you review

`kortix.yaml`

```yaml
kortix_version: 2
default_agent: support
agents:
  support:
    file: agents/support.md
    connectors: [helpdesk]
    secrets: [HELPDESK_API_KEY]
    kortix_permissions: [project.session.read, project.review.submit]
```

Source: https://kortix.com/docs/project/agents

An agent's grants live in kortix.yaml beside the agent, so a person reviews them in a diff, not a settings page.

## What Hermes Agent is

Hermes Agent is an open source autonomous agent built by Nous Research that runs on a server you control and reaches you through messaging apps. Its documentation describes persistent memory, agent-created skills and cross-session search as one learning loop ([Hermes Agent documentation](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs)). It installs with one command on Linux, macOS or WSL2 and runs from a terminal or a gateway that connects Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp and Signal ([Hermes Agent on GitHub](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent)). It is built for one operator who wants an agent living on their own machine.

## What OpenJarvis is

OpenJarvis is an open source framework for local-first personal AI, developed at Hazy Research and the Scaling Intelligence Lab at Stanford. Its repository describes on-device agents built from shared primitives, evaluations that treat energy, latency and dollar cost as first-class constraints, and a learning loop that improves models from local trace data ([OpenJarvis on GitHub](https://github.com/open-jarvis/OpenJarvis)). It runs on your own hardware by default and calls the cloud only when needed, choosing an inference engine for the device it detects ([OpenJarvis documentation](https://open-jarvis.github.io/OpenJarvis/)).

## The two jobs they occupy

Hermes Agent is a persistent personal agent on a VPS, a GPU cluster, or a serverless backend that hibernates when idle. OpenJarvis is a research framework and production foundation for personal agents that run on your laptop or workstation. Hermes reaches more than 20 messaging platforms from one gateway. OpenJarvis keeps the model, the traces and the memory on your device. Neither project ships a shared workspace where a whole team's agents, memory and permissions live in one place the company owns.

## Why a team chooses Kortix

Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System, and it answers the question both projects leave open: where a team's agent configuration lives, and who may change it. Agents, skills, memory and connectors are files in one git repo you own. Per-resource permissions for people and agents. Roles, groups, and an audit trail ([Read the docs](https://kortix.com/docs/accounts)). One isolated sandbox per session. Each session has its own isolated machine and branch. Session work reaches `main` through a change request. Merge is default-deny for agents. Any model provider with your own keys. Run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network. Self-host is free.

For the head-to-head with Hermes, read [/kortix-vs-hermes](/kortix-vs-hermes). If you are moving from it, [/migrate-from-hermes](/migrate-from-hermes) covers the path.

## Kortix, Hermes Agent and OpenJarvis side by side

Kortix is our pick for a team; the Hermes and OpenJarvis columns state what each project's own documents say.

| | Kortix (recommended) | Hermes Agent | OpenJarvis |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| open source | Open source. Read it, fork it, audit it. | Open source | Open source |
| where it runs | Kortix Cloud, your VPC, or on-prem; a cloud computer per session | Your VPS, GPU cluster, or serverless (Daytona, Modal) | On your own device: macOS, Linux, WSL2, Windows |
| who it is built for | Teams that want shared agents, memory and governed access | One operator's persistent personal agent | Researchers and builders of local-first personal AI |
| memory | Files under `memory/` in a git repo, merged by change request | MEMORY.md and USER.md, bounded; one external provider at a time | SQLite FTS5 or vector retrieval backends on the local machine |
| skills and extensibility | Agents and skills as files; connectors, MCP, OpenAPI, GraphQL | Agent-created skills; agentskills.io standard; MCP and plugins | Imports skills from Hermes and OpenClaw; MCP servers |
| roles and permissions | Per-resource permissions for people and agents. Roles, groups, and an audit trail. | Command-approval modes and per-user platform authorization | Built for one operator on one device |
| self-hosting | Run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or self-host free | Self-hosted by design; one-command install on your server | Runs locally by default; Docker, systemd, launchd deployment |
| cost | Free includes 200 credits each month and 1 project; team $40/seat/month | Free to self-host; optional Nous Portal subscription | Free and open source; runs on your own hardware |

## Questions about Hermes Agent and OpenJarvis

### Is OpenJarvis built on Hermes Agent?

No. They are separate projects. OpenJarvis installs skills from Hermes Agent, about 150 of them, and from OpenClaw, through the agentskills.io standard. OpenJarvis is a Stanford framework for on-device agents; Hermes Agent is Nous Research's server-side personal agent.

### Can I run either project with my own hardware and no cloud?

Both support it. OpenJarvis runs locally by default and calls the cloud only when needed. Hermes Agent can run local models and self-host on your own server. Neither runs a shared, governed workspace for a team.

### Which of the two should a team choose?

For a single operator, either works. For a team, we recommend Kortix: one git repo holds the agents, skills, memory and connectors, with per-resource permissions and a change request before anything reaches `main`.

### Do Hermes Agent and OpenJarvis share skills?

They can. Both follow the agentskills.io standard, and OpenJarvis imports skills from Hermes Agent and OpenClaw. Skills stay portable across the two projects.

## Run your whole company from one repo you own.

Start with one agent and grow from there.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [Hermes alternatives](https://hermesalternative.com/hermes-alternatives)

Open source · Any model, your keys · Self-host, VPC, or on-prem