README

Hermes Standby (HA add-on)

Bare-bones Hermes Agent so there is still an assistant when joe-host is down. Runs hermes gateway run with HERMES_HOME=/config/hermes-standby.

Why

joe-host is a VM on Proxmox. When it dies, everything on it dies with it, including the primary Hermes. This add-on is the out-of-band brain: separate physical box, own Telegram bot, own identity.

Layout

• /config/hermes-standby/ (HA config share, survives add-on rebuilds)
  • .env secrets, seeded from joe-host (600)
  • config.yaml Hermes config, seeded from joe-host
  • workspace/ clone of Joe’s workspace
  • skills/, memories/
• /data/options.json HA-managed; only holds the Telegram token.

Trade-offs (deliberate)

• Debian SQLite 3.40 instead of upstream’s pinned 3.53: accepted for build speed; SQLite use here is light. Revisit if the standby ever writes heavily.
• No browser, no Docker, no Google/MCP tooling: it is a brain, not a worker.