hermes-aside-browser
Hermes Agent uses the signed-in Aside browser when the Aside CLI is installed, and keeps its own browser as the fallback.
Aside's CLI already speaks MCP (exec, repl, memory_search) and ships a thin skill for Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenCode. Hermes is not in that installer. This repo is the Hermes package: a plugin toolset, a skill, and the catalog entry that puts Aside in Connectors.
What Hermes does with it
When Aside is ready, browser work goes to Aside instead of browser_navigate. Logged-in sites, the current Aside tab, and localhost stay in the user's real browser. If the CLI is missing or the app is closed, the agent says so once and uses Hermes's built-in browser or web_extract. Nothing here downloads or installs Aside.
Install
Plugin (Tools + Skills):
hermes plugins install leonphull/hermes-aside-browser --enable
Connector (the vendor MCP tools):
hermes mcp add aside --command aside --args mcp
If aside is not on the PATH Hermes uses, pass the absolute path. On macOS that is often ~/.local/bin/aside. Start a new Hermes session after either install. The connector tools are mcp__aside__exec, mcp__aside__repl, and mcp__aside__memory_search.
Skill only, from this tap:
hermes skills tap add leonphull/hermes-aside-browser
hermes skills install leonphull/hermes-aside-browser/aside-browser
Do not point aside skills install at Hermes. That installer does not know Hermes, and its skill tells the agent to run a remote installer script. This package refuses to do that.
Choose the subscription
Each Hermes profile keeps its own choice. Empty means Aside's own default, which is whatever you set in Aside (plan model or a connected provider).
hermes aside models
hermes aside use default
hermes aside use xai-grok-oauth/grok-4.7
hermes aside use standard
hermes aside host local
hermes aside host clear
hermes aside account u0
hermes aside permission ask
hermes aside status
hermes aside permission takes ask, guard, or full-access (clear resets to ask). Run it once with the level you want. It is a user-only profile setting, defaults to ask, and is not a tool argument. hermes aside host local pins the literal host local. hermes aside host clear (or default) removes the pin, and Aside's own default host applies; hermes aside account clear does the same for the account. The plugin tools have no host, account, or permission arguments. Any such value a model sends anyway is removed before the profile settings are merged, so an unset host or account cannot be redirected by a hidden value. A different model, effort, or speed named for one turn still wins over the matching profile pin. The tool argument profile is an Aside browser profile id on the selected host (see aside host profiles); it is not a Hermes profile and not an Aside account.
hermes aside models lists only the Aside default, presets, and custom models from settings.json. The plugin never opens models.json, which holds provider configurations and may contain keys.
Surfaces
| Hermes UI | What you get |
|---|---|
| Plugins | aside-browser, tools aside_status, aside_exec, aside_repl, aside_session, aside_memory |
| Connectors | aside MCP server |
| Skills | aside-browser |
If both the connector and plugin tools are loaded, the skill always uses plugin aside_exec, so the user's permission setting (effective default ask) and pins apply. It uses plugin aside_repl when a host or account is pinned, and plugin aside_memory when an account is pinned. With no such pin, the connector's repl and memory_search are allowed (repl state persists there). Session list, stop, archive, and delete use the plugin (the account pin applies).
Existing sessions are not continued through this plugin. aside session resume, steer, and queue accept only --account, and the plugin has no verified way to read an existing session's permission or host, so aside_exec with session_id and aside_session with resume, steer, or queue fail closed with POLICY_UNVERIFIED before anything runs. Start a new aside_exec without session_id instead; it applies the permission setting and the host, account, and model pins. If the profile policy is unreadable or holds an invalid value, the tools that apply it (aside_exec, aside_repl, aside_session, aside_memory) fail closed with POLICY_INVALID before anything runs (the permission defaults to ask only when it is unset). aside_status does not fail closed: it still probes Aside and reports POLICY_INVALID in its output.
The permission setting applies to aside_exec only. aside_repl runs vendor JavaScript scripting, and the vendor MCP connector and the terminal run the aside CLI directly; all of these are outside this wrapper's guarantees, so ask does not protect everything Aside can do. The connector is a separate vendor surface. mcp__aside__exec and the other connector tools are outside these protections; the skill routes work to the plugin tools, but that is guidance and does not technically lock the connector. Remove the connector (hermes mcp remove aside) if you need that enforced.
Disclosure
Installing this runs the local aside executable and can drive the user's real browser, including signed-in sites. It can read page text, screenshots saved by a script, and Aside memory snippets. It does not read Hermes credential files, browser cookies, or password stores, and it does not send telemetry. The plugin never opens or parses ~/.aside/u/*/models.json. The aside connector is not covered by the plugin's permission, host, or account protections. Network access happens inside Aside, not in this package. Permission is a user profile setting that defaults to ask, not a tool argument. Archive and delete require confirm=true.
Catalog
catalog/optional-mcps/aside/manifest.yaml is the Connectors entry for a pull request to NousResearch/hermes-agent. A plugin-catalog pin belongs in a follow-up once this repo has a reviewed commit SHA.
Development
python3 -m unittest tests/test_aside_cli.py
hermes plugins validate .