Your machine + Desktop
Day-one runtime: this PC and Hermes Desktop. Advanced hosts stay in Settings until you need them.
Day one (this course)
Use Hermes Desktop on the computer you use every day. Chat, profiles, tools, gateway, and cron share one UI. Complete Part I on this path before always-on hosts.
- Machine: your PC (awake when Telegram or cron must answer)
- App: Hermes Desktop installer, not a CLI-first install for this course
- Files: Hermes home on disk; back up by copying folders
Model location is separate
Where Hermes runs is not where the model runs. Most learners keep Hermes local and call a cloud provider. Fully local models are optional and do not change the Desktop path.
Advanced options (map only, do not configure yet)
Docker, remote terminals, and always-on hosts are real product features. They appear inside Desktop when relevant, not as alternate day-one curricula.
- Settings → Advanced: terminal backend / Docker (isolate tool commands)
- Providers: cloud APIs or local OpenAI-compatible endpoints
- Gateway: messaging surfaces; later, the same profile can run on a host that stays awake
- Phone-only paths (e.g. Termux) exist in official docs, not the course cockpit
You can state the day-one path (Desktop on this PC), that Hermes home is a folder on disk, and where Advanced / Providers / Gateway live for later.
Stored on this device only, not sent anywhere.