Is Paperclip an alternative to Hermes Agent?

They get compared and they do different jobs. Paperclip orchestrates other agents and does not ship its own. Hermes Agent is itself the agent, built for one person. Kortix is the open-source option when a team wants the agents and the system that runs them in one repo.

Does Kortix replace Paperclip or run next to it?

Kortix runs the agents itself, so an orchestration layer on top is optional. If you already run agents and want an org chart over them, Paperclip fits that job, and Kortix is where a team keeps its own agents, skills, memory and connectors as files.

Can I self-host all three?

Yes. Hermes Agent and Paperclip are self-hosted from their own repositories. Kortix runs on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network, and self-host is free.

Which one keeps my configuration in git?

Kortix. Agents, skills, company memory and connectors are files in a git repo you own. Hermes Agent keeps its configuration on the machine you run it on, and Paperclip keeps its org, budgets and history in its own deployment.

Hermes Agent vs Paperclip: two open-source options, two different jobs

Hermes Agent and Paperclip get weighed against each other and they solve different problems. Hermes Agent is one self-hosted personal agent that improves itself. Paperclip is an orchestrator that runs other people's agents under an org chart. Kortix, the open-source AI Operating System, runs the agents too, from one git repo you own.

Try Kortix

Hermes Agent, Paperclip and Kortix, side by side

Kortix first, then Hermes Agent and Paperclip, with every rival cell from that project's own page.

Option	What it is	Open source	Who it is for	Where it runs	Models	Where the config lives	What runs the work	Review and control
Kortixsources https://kortix.com/docs, https://github.com/kortix-ai/suna	The open-source AI Operating System	Open source. Read it, fork it, audit it.	Teams that want finished work, reviewed by people	Kortix Cloud, your VPC, or your own on-prem network	Any model provider with your own keys	In a git repo you own	Each session on its own isolated cloud computer	Session work reaches main through a change request
Hermes Agentsource https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/	A self-hosted personal AI agent that improves itself	Yes, open source; self-hosted with your own model	One person, on a server they control	A $5 VPS, a GPU cluster, or serverless	Nous Portal, OpenRouter, OpenAI, or your own endpoint	On the machine you run it on	The agent itself, on one machine	Command approval and DM pairing
Paperclipsources https://paperclip.ing, https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip	An open-source app that orchestrates a team of agents	Yes, open source and self-hosted	A team that already runs its own agents	Self-hosted on your infrastructure; cloud on a waitlist	Any provider, chosen per agent	In its own server and database, not git	Your own agents, woken by heartbeats	Board approvals, budgets, and an audit log

Kortix Hermes Agent Paperclip

The agent is a file you own

kortix.yaml

# kortix.yamlagents:  support-triage:    file: agents/support-triage.md   # what it does, in plain markdown    connectors: all                  # what it may reach

Source: https://github.com/kortix-ai/suna

That block is the whole agent definition: behavior in markdown, reach in kortix.yaml.

What Hermes Agent is, from its own page

Hermes Agent is the self-hosted personal AI agent built by Nous Research, and its own project page calls it the agent that grows with you. It keeps persistent memory, writes its own skills after complex tasks, and reaches you through one gateway that connects Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal and the CLI (hermes-agent.nousresearch.com, checked October 2026). Nous Research documents several backends for where it runs, from a five-dollar VPS to a GPU cluster or serverless infrastructure, and you switch models with one command.

Hermes Agent is built around one operator. The memory it keeps is one person's environment, the machine it lives on is one machine, and the approval model is a command prompt and DM pairing. Those are strengths for a private agent and gaps for a team.

What Paperclip is, from its own page

Paperclip calls itself the app people use to manage AI agents for work: an open-source app that turns a team of agents into an organization with a goal, an org chart and a budget (paperclip.ing). Its own repository is direct that it does not ship the agent. You bring Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw, Cursor or any runtime that can receive a heartbeat, and Paperclip coordinates the tasks between them (github.com/paperclipai/paperclip).

The agents that do the job are yours. The org, the budgets, the tickets and the history live in Paperclip's own server and database. A hosted cloud is on a waitlist, so today the install is the self-hosted one, on your infrastructure and with your model keys (paperclip.ing/product/open-source, checked October 2026).

Where Kortix fits

Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System. Your agents, skills, company memory and connectors live in one git repo you own, and each session runs on its own cloud computer. An agent is agents/<name>.md (behavior) plus an agents.<name> block in kortix.yaml (governance), so the org and what each agent may reach are files a team reviews like code.

Kortix runs the agents itself rather than orchestrating someone else's, and session work reaches main through a change request. Per-resource permissions for people and agents, roles, groups and an audit trail sit around that. Run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network. Self-host is free.

How to choose

Pick Hermes Agent when the agent belongs to one person who wants a private companion that learns on a server they control. Pick Paperclip when you already run a fleet of agents and want an org chart, budgets and a task board over them, and you accept keeping that state in its deployment. Pick Kortix when you want the agents and the system that runs them in one repo: every agent, skill, memory file and connector is a file, each session is isolated, and a person reviews what lands.

For the head-to-head with Hermes alone, read Kortix compared with Hermes. For the wider field of open-source agents, see the Hermes alternatives page.

Paperclip and Hermes Agent questions

What a buyer asks before choosing between them.

Is Paperclip an alternative to Hermes Agent?: They get compared and they do different jobs. Paperclip orchestrates other agents and does not ship its own. Hermes Agent is itself the agent, built for one person. Kortix is the open-source option when a team wants the agents and the system that runs them in one repo.
Does Kortix replace Paperclip or run next to it?: Kortix runs the agents itself, so an orchestration layer on top is optional. If you already run agents and want an org chart over them, Paperclip fits that job, and Kortix is where a team keeps its own agents, skills, memory and connectors as files.
Can I self-host all three?: Yes. Hermes Agent and Paperclip are self-hosted from their own repositories. Kortix runs on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network, and self-host is free.
Which one keeps my configuration in git?: Kortix. Agents, skills, company memory and connectors are files in a git repo you own. Hermes Agent keeps its configuration on the machine you run it on, and Paperclip keeps its org, budgets and history in its own deployment.

Put every agent in one repo you own.

Start with one job, then add the agents and the review as the team grows.

Try Kortix Compare the wider field

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