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Language Packs

Hermes ships 17 UI languages (display.language). The list is pluggable: a language pack is a plugin (or a folder in your Hermes home) that adds a new language or overrides the wording of an existing one — for the Python side (CLI approval prompts, gateway replies, tool verbs, tips), the hermes --tui interface and the Desktop app, all from one pack.

What a pack translates is the static UI text. Agent responses, tool output, logs and slash-command names stay as they are; to make the agent itself answer in another language, say so in your prompt.

Where languages come from​

When Hermes looks up a string it walks these layers, top first, and takes the first hit:

  1. Plugin language packs — every installed plugin that declares provides_locales (the last one loaded wins when two packs cover the same key).
  2. Your overlay — <HERMES_HOME>/locales/<lang>.yaml (per profile: each profile home has its own locales/ folder).
  3. Bundled — the locales/<lang>.yaml files shipped with Hermes.
  4. The same three layers for English, then the raw key.

Every layer may be partial: a pack or overlay only needs the keys it changes.

hermes config set display.language <id> accepts any id one of these layers supplies. Unknown ids are refused with the list of available languages:

$ hermes config set display.language pl
✗ Unknown language 'pl' for display.language. Available: en, af, ar, de, es, ...
  Install a language pack plugin (hermes plugins install <pack>) or drop <HERMES_HOME>/locales/<id>.yaml to add one.

Using a pack​

hermes plugins install https://github.com/teknium1/hermes-lang-pl   # or a catalog name
hermes config set display.language pl

Restart running gateways/TUIs so they pick up the pack. The TUI and Desktop language switchers list bundled languages, your overlay languages and every installed pack by their native name (endonym). The HERMES_LANGUAGE entry in .env still overrides display.language.

Writing a pack​

A pack needs no Python code. Minimal layout:

hermes-lang-pl/
  plugin.yaml
  locales/
    pl.yaml            # core: Python-side strings (approval.*, gateway.*, cli.*, display.*, slash.*, tips.*, ...)
    pl.tui.yaml        # optional: hermes --tui strings
    pl.desktop.yaml    # optional: Hermes Desktop strings

plugin.yaml:

name: hermes-lang-pl
version: 1.0.0
description: Polish language pack for Hermes
provides_locales:
  - id: pl            # lowercase BCP-47-style tag: pl, pt-br, zh-hant
    endonym: Polski   # shown in language switchers
    rtl: false        # true for right-to-left scripts (flips the Desktop layout)

provides_locales entries can also be plain ids (- pl); the endonym then defaults to the id. When the manifest declares provides_locales, the plugin loader registers every locales/<lang>[.tui|.desktop].yaml automatically.

Files and keys​

  • pl.yaml (core) mirrors the structure of the bundled locales/en.yaml. Nested YAML flattens to dotted keys (approval.denied, gateway.goal_cleared). Copy en.yaml, translate the values, delete what you do not want to override.
  • pl.tui.yaml / pl.desktop.yaml mirror the English catalogs of the TUI and Desktop apps. The key sets are exported to locales/_keys.tui.json and locales/_keys.desktop.json in the Hermes repo, which is what the validator checks against.
  • YAML values must be text. A number, list, true/false or empty value is rejected.
  • Never use YAML reserved words (on, off, yes, no) as keys.

Placeholders​

  • Core (Python) strings use named placeholders exactly as English does: "⏳ Draining {count} active agent(s)...". Keep every {name} from the English value; a missing or misspelled placeholder makes Hermes fall back to the untranslated string for that key.
  • TUI and Desktop entries whose English value is a function (it takes arguments) are written in YAML as strings with positional placeholders: "{0} of {1} sessions".

Validate​

hermes plugins validate ./hermes-lang-pl

The validator checks that every declared id has locales/<id>.yaml, that each file parses and is text-only (a non-text value is an error), and warns — listing them — about keys that do not exist in the English catalog for that surface (they are harmless but do nothing). The .tui.yaml / .desktop.yaml checks run when the corresponding _keys.*.json export is present.

Register from Python (optional)​

A plugin that already has Python code can register catalogs itself:

from pathlib import Path

def register(ctx):
    here = Path(__file__).parent
    ctx.register_locale("pl", here / "locales" / "pl.yaml", endonym="Polski")
    ctx.register_locale("pl", {"approval": {"denied": "      ✗ Odrzucono"}})          # dict, nested or flat
    ctx.register_locale("pl", here / "locales" / "pl.tui.yaml", surface="tui")
    ctx.register_locale_dir(here / "locales")                                         # everything at once

register_locale(lang, source, *, endonym=None, rtl=False, surface="core") takes a YAML path or a mapping; surface is core, tui or desktop. Registration is undone when the plugin unloads and never changes display.language.

Personal overrides without a plugin​

Drop a partial file into your Hermes home:

# ~/.hermes/locales/en.yaml — only the keys you want to change
approval:
  denied: "      ✗ Nope."

The overlay applies to that profile only (~/.hermes/profiles/<name>/locales/ for a named profile). Overlay files for a language Hermes does not bundle make that language selectable too. Edits are read on the next start or the next display.language change.

Troubleshooting​

  • Unknown language ... for display.language — the pack is not installed or not enabled (hermes plugins list), or the id in provides_locales does not match the file name (pl needs locales/pl.yaml).
  • A translated string still shows in English — the key is not in the English catalog (run hermes plugins validate; unknown keys are listed), or the placeholder set differs from English.
  • Language listed but the TUI/Desktop is still English — the pack has no .tui.yaml / .desktop.yaml; those surfaces render English plus whatever the pack provides. For the 16 bundled languages the TUI ships its own locales/<lang>.tui.yaml in the Hermes tree (the Desktop bundles its translations in-app), so a pack for one of those only needs the keys it wants to override.