Android / Termux

Hermes Agent can run directly on an Android phone through Termux ↗.

It gives you a working local CLI on the phone, plus the core extras that are currently known to install cleanly on Android.

The tested Termux bundle installs:

• the Hermes CLI
• cron support
• PTY/background terminal support
• Telegram gateway support (manual / best-effort background runs)
• MCP support
• Honcho memory support
• ACP support

Concretely, it maps to:

python -m pip install -e '.[termux]' -c constraints-termux.txt

A few features still need desktop/server-style dependencies that are not published for Android, or have not been validated on phones yet:

• .[all] is not supported on Android today
• the voice extra is blocked by faster-whisper -> ctranslate2, and ctranslate2 does not publish Android wheels
• automatic browser / Playwright bootstrap is skipped in the Termux installer
• Docker-based terminal isolation is not available inside Termux
• Android may still suspend Termux background jobs, so gateway persistence is best-effort rather than a normal managed service

That does not stop Hermes from working well as a phone-native CLI agent — it just means the recommended mobile install is intentionally narrower than the desktop/server install.

---

For users who prefer a native package-manager install rather than building Python/Rust dependencies on the phone, a community-maintained APT repository is available. The repository bootstrap and packaging sources are published in adybag14-cyber/termux-python ↗, with the Hermes package build in adybag14-cyber/termux-hermes ↗.

Install the repository key/source and Hermes with:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adybag14-cyber/termux-python/main/scripts/setup_apt_repo.sh | bash
pkg install hermes-agent

The repository signing-key fingerprint currently documented by the community distribution is:

EAD24A2124EFA7393A78B7B14699F966313F7A6B

APT-managed Hermes installs are marked with install method apt. Hermes therefore does not run its Git self-updater against package-owned files; use the package manager instead:

pkg update
pkg upgrade hermes-agent

Packaging/repository/signing problems for this option should be reported to the community packaging repositories above. Hermes runtime bugs can still be reported here, keeping in mind that Android/Termux support is best-effort.

---

Hermes now ships a Termux-aware installer path:

curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash

On Termux, the installer automatically:

• uses pkg for system packages
• creates the venv with python -m venv
• attempts the broad .[termux-all] extra first and falls back to the smaller .[termux] extra (then a base install) — the curl installer matches this order automatically
• links hermes into $PREFIX/bin so it stays on your Termux PATH
• skips the untested browser / WhatsApp bootstrap

If you want the explicit commands or need to debug a failed install, use the manual path below.

---

1. Update Termux and install system packages

pkg update
pkg install -y git python clang rust make pkg-config libffi openssl nodejs ripgrep ffmpeg

Why these packages?

• python — runtime + venv support
• git — clone/update the repo
• clang, rust, make, pkg-config, libffi, openssl — needed to build a few Python dependencies on Android
• nodejs — optional Node runtime for experiments beyond the tested core path
• ripgrep — fast file search
• ffmpeg — media / TTS conversions

2. Clone Hermes

git clone https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent.git
cd hermes-agent

3. Create a virtual environment

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
export ANDROID_API_LEVEL="$(getprop ro.build.version.sdk)"
python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel

ANDROID_API_LEVEL is important for Rust / maturin-based packages such as jiter.

4. Install the tested Termux bundle

python -m pip install -e '.[termux]' -c constraints-termux.txt

If you only want the minimal core agent, this also works:

python -m pip install -e '.' -c constraints-termux.txt

5. Put hermes on your Termux PATH

ln -sf "$PWD/venv/bin/hermes" "$PREFIX/bin/hermes"

$PREFIX/bin is already on PATH in Termux, so this makes the hermes command persist across new shells without re-activating the venv every time.

6. Verify the install

hermes version
hermes doctor

7. Start Hermes

hermes

---

Configure a model

hermes model

Or set keys directly in ~/.hermes/.env.

Re-run the full interactive setup wizard later

hermes setup

Install optional Node dependencies manually

The tested Termux path skips Node/browser bootstrap on purpose. If you want to experiment with browser tooling later, what you need depends on which backend you use:

• Cloud browser providers (Browserbase, Browser Use, Firecrawl) host their own Chromium, so Node.js alone is enough — agent-browser resolves lazily via npx agent-browser on first use:

  pkg install nodejs-lts

• Local browser automation on Termux needs a real agent-browser install — the bare npx fallback is deliberately rejected in local mode as too fragile to advertise as ready:

  pkg install nodejs-lts
  npm install -g agent-browser && agent-browser install

The browser tool automatically includes Termux directories (/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin) in its PATH search, so agent-browser and npx are discovered without any extra PATH configuration.

Treat browser / WhatsApp tooling on Android as experimental until documented otherwise.

---

No solution found when installing .[all]

Use the tested Termux bundle instead:

python -m pip install -e '.[termux]' -c constraints-termux.txt

The blocker is currently the voice extra:

• voice pulls faster-whisper
• faster-whisper depends on ctranslate2
• ctranslate2 does not publish Android wheels

uv pip install fails on Android

Use the Termux path with the stdlib venv + pip instead:

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
export ANDROID_API_LEVEL="$(getprop ro.build.version.sdk)"
python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
python -m pip install -e '.[termux]' -c constraints-termux.txt

jiter / maturin complains about ANDROIDAPILEVEL

Set the API level explicitly before installing:

export ANDROID_API_LEVEL="$(getprop ro.build.version.sdk)"
python -m pip install -e '.[termux]' -c constraints-termux.txt

hermes doctor says ripgrep or Node is missing

Install them with Termux packages:

pkg install ripgrep nodejs

Build failures while installing Python packages

Make sure the build toolchain is installed:

pkg install clang rust make pkg-config libffi openssl

Then retry:

python -m pip install -e '.[termux]' -c constraints-termux.txt

---

• Docker backend is unavailable
• local voice transcription via faster-whisper is unavailable in the tested path
• browser automation setup is intentionally skipped by the installer
• some optional extras may work, but only .[termux] and .[termux-all] are currently documented as the tested Android bundles

If you hit a new Android-specific issue, please open a GitHub issue with:

• your Android version
• termux-info
• python --version
• hermes doctor
• the exact install command and full error output