How-To Series · Episode 14 / 59 · Module 3: Make It Yours

Hermes · It Remembers You

Tell it once. It never asks again. Persistent memory in two markdown files the agent curates itself.

After this videoYou can now train Hermes about you, permanently.

Hermes remembers across sessions. Two files at ~/.hermes/memories/: MEMORY.md (what the agent learned about your setup) and USER.md (who you are). Both load into the system prompt at the start of every session. The agent curates them itself via the memory tool — you don't run anything. Bounded on purpose, consolidates when full, and one quirk: mid-session saves appear in the prompt next session, not this one.

About these resources. One docs page contributed every claim: the Memory feature page. It covers the two-file model, the location, the curation behavior, the size limits, the consolidation rule, and the mid-session-save quirk.

Sources · What this video distills

1 docs page · the full memory story

Primary · two-file model, location, agent self-curation, ~2,200/1,400 char bounds, consolidation, the mid-session-save-appears-next-session quirk

Memory

Commands shown · Copy and paste

each shows the source doc it came from

Save a preference (any chat)from Memory ↗

"I prefer TypeScript for new projects."

Save an environment factfrom Memory ↗

"On this box, Docker runs without sudo."

Correct a behaviorfrom Memory ↗

"Stop adding semicolons in my JS files."

Inspect agent notesfrom Memory ↗

cat ~/.hermes/memories/MEMORY.md

Inspect your profilefrom Memory ↗

cat ~/.hermes/memories/USER.md

Going deeper · Related Hermes docs

further reading · not sources of facts shown above

Memory Providers

Plug in Honcho or Mem0 for semantic search across thousands of past chats (covered in E17).

FTS5 search across every past conversation, when something's older than memory holds.

Next in the series · Episodes that build on this

E15

Drop Files In With @

E16

AGENTS.md · Project-Specific Brain

E17

Memory Providers

E18

Curator: Hermes Grooms Itself