brethof-brain + Hermes Agent

brethof-brain is Hermes's long-term memory through a MemoryProvider — the one plugin type Hermes selects with memory.provider. Its lifecycle is the whole ambient contract:

Hermes calls	brethof-brain does	When
`initialize()` → `system_prompt_block()`	your brain's briefing (rules, projects, last notes) into the system prompt	session start
`prefetch()`	ambient recall — the records that bear on this prompt	every turn
`sync_turn()`	the turn archived into memory	after every turn

Stdlib only; nothing to pip-install. Every path is fail-open: memory can never block or break a run.

Install

hermes plugins install BrethofAI/brethof-brain-client/adapters/hermes --no-enable
hermes config set memory.provider brethof-brain

(--no-enable only skips the general plugin prompt — memory providers are activated by memory.provider, not by plugins.enabled.)

Put your key in ~/.hermes/.env:

BRETHOF_BRAIN_API_KEY=bmv2_...
BRETHOF_BRAIN_ENDPOINT=http://127.0.0.1:8610      # your local box (default)
# BRETHOF_BRAIN_ENDPOINT=https://memory.brethof.cloud/t/<tenant>   # hosted
BRETHOF_BRAIN_PROJECT=my-agent                     # the project this agent works in
# hosted memory only — it locks after idle; the provider unlocks it itself:
# BRETHOF_BRAIN_UNLOCK_PASSPHRASE=...
# BRETHOF_BRAIN_LOCK_AFTER_MINUTES=30              # 5-60

hermes memory setup walks the same fields interactively. The provider also reads ~/.brethof-brain/config.json (api_key, endpoint, default_project, unlock_passphrase), the file every brethof-brain adapter shares. Restart Hermes; hermes memory status shows brethof-brain active.

Explicit memory tools (recommended)

The provider handles the ambient loop only. For the agent to search and save memory on demand, add the Brain's MCP server with Hermes's native client — one block in ~/.hermes/config.yaml, the full customer toolset:

mcp_servers:
  brethof-brain:
    url: "http://127.0.0.1:8610/v1/mcp"          # hosted: https://memory.brethof.cloud/t/<tenant>/v1/mcp
    headers:
      Authorization: "Bearer bmv2_..."

/reload-mcp inside a session, or restart Hermes.

Skills (optional)

skills/ carries the three skills /recall, /onboard and /curate — the same three the Claude Code plugin ships as commands. Copy them into your skills tree to make them visible to the agent:

cp -r ~/.hermes/plugins/brethof-brain/skills/* ~/.hermes/skills/

Run onboard once on a fresh memory. Memory curates itself as you work — curate is for closing a session deliberately.

Notes

One BRETHOF_BRAIN_PROJECT per Hermes agent: Hermes resolves the provider once per session, so the project is the agent's, not the prompt's. Address other projects with the MCP tools (search_brain(project=...)).
Cron runs and subagents read memory but never archive as you (agent_context other than primary skips writes).
Hermes's built-in MEMORY.md/USER.md keeps working alongside; the external provider is additive by Hermes's design.