🦐 U-Hermes

A portable, plug-and-play AI coding agent on a USB drive.
Based on NousResearch Hermes Agent, packaged for both Linux and Windows.

Two editions

Free open-source Linux Live USB Β· Commercial Windows edition (China-only)

🐧 Linux Live USB (Free, MIT)

Ubuntu 24.04 Live + Hermes Agent. Fully open source, build your own.

$0 / BYO USB drive
  • Full Hermes Agent CLI + Web UI
  • Built-in ollama (local Qwen / DeepSeek-R1)
  • Any OpenAI-compatible API (bring your own key)
  • 100% open source (MIT)
  • ⚠ Requires manual USB imaging + setup

Core capabilities

Real autonomous AI agent, not just a chatbot

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Autonomous Agent

Shell commands, file I/O, browser automation, multi-step reasoning β€” like a coworker in your workstation

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Multi-provider

OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, Ollama β€” swap freely

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Local models

Ollama integration for offline Qwen / DeepSeek-R1 / Llama

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Fully portable

All config / chat history / skills on the USB β€” move between computers seamlessly

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Provider panel

Windows edition ships a GUI to switch between configured providers in one click

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China-optimized

Direct access to Chinese models (DeepSeek, Qwen) without a VPN; commercial USB includes paid credits

🐧 DIY: Linux Live USB

Build your own Hermes boot drive in ~30 min

Quick recipe

# 1. Install Ventoy to your USB drive (clears it)
wget https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/releases/download/v1.0.99/ventoy-1.0.99-linux.tar.gz
tar xf ventoy-1.0.99-linux.tar.gz
cd ventoy-1.0.99
sudo ./Ventoy2Disk.sh -i /dev/sdX

# 2. Copy Ubuntu ISO to the data partition
sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt/usb
sudo cp ubuntu-24.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso /mnt/usb/

# 3. Create a persistence file (20GB for Python venv + models)
sudo truncate -s 20G /mnt/usb/ventoy-persistence-casper.dat
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L casper-rw /mnt/usb/ventoy-persistence-casper.dat

# 4. Enable persistence (see README for ventoy.json)
# 5. Copy U-Hermes scripts onto the USB
sudo cp setup-hermes.sh start-hermes.sh /mnt/usb/u-hermes-linux/

# 6. Boot target PC β†’ Ubuntu Live β†’ run ./setup-hermes.sh

Full docs β†’ github.com/dongsheng123132/u-hermes/linux

Why U-Hermes?

Hermes Agent itself is open source and excellent. We add:

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Zero-setup portability

Pre-bundled Python + Node + Hermes + Web UI on a USB

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Native Windows launcher

Electron tray app, config UI, auto port management (commercial edition)

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Bundled AI credits

Alipay-powered prepaid AI quota system for Chinese users (commercial edition)