hermes-lang-ko

hermes-lang-ko

Korean language pack for Hermes Desktop.

한국어 문서: README.ko.md

Hermes already ships Korean for the CLI and messaging gateway (locales/ko.yaml) and for the TUI (ko.tui.yaml). The Desktop app is the one surface without Korean. This pack fills only that gap with locales/ko.desktop.yaml, and leaves the bundled Korean catalogs in charge of everything else.

It is a text-only language pack: two YAML files, a plugin.yaml, and an __init__.py whose register() does nothing (see below). The Hermes backend serves the strings to Desktop over i18n.catalog, where they are merged over the bundled English catalog. Any string the pack does not cover stays in English.

Requirements

• Hermes Agent 0.21.6 or later, for both the backend and the Desktop app. Language packs (provides_locales) arrived in hermes-agent #126296; older versions skip the pack.

Install

Option A — Hermes Desktop

Capabilities → Plugins → Install from Git, enter https://github.com/dandacompany/hermes-lang-ko, then Review repository and Install. Then set the language (Option B's last line, or the Desktop language switcher) and restart Desktop.

Option B — hermes plugins install

hermes plugins install hermes-lang-ko          # from the plugin catalog
hermes plugins install dandacompany/hermes-lang-ko   # directly from this repository
hermes config set display.language ko

Restart Desktop (and any running gateway or TUI) so it reloads the language list. Korean then appears as 한국어 in the Desktop language switcher.

Plugins are per profile. Install the pack in the profile your Desktop backend runs, or pass -p <profile>.

Option C — personal overlay, no plugin

Copy locales/ko.desktop.yaml to <HERMES_HOME>/locales/ko.desktop.yaml. A plugin pack takes precedence over the overlay when both exist.

Verify

hermes plugins list            # hermes-lang-ko, enabled
hermes config get display.language   # ko

Coverage

| Surface | Source | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CLI, gateway replies, approval prompts | bundled locales/ko.yaml | maintained in hermes-agent |
| TUI | bundled locales/ko.tui.yaml | maintained in hermes-agent |
| Desktop | this pack, locales/ko.desktop.yaml | 5,282 of 5,384 keys on v0.22.5 and main cb757fac59 (98.1%) |

Checked against v0.22.5 and main cb757fac59 on 2026-10-23. Version 0.2.4 adds 349 translations for the catalog, subagent routing, usage and billing, chat commands and recovery messages, and updates four existing strings whose English source changed. The file contains 5,373 entries, including 91 legacy keys retained for older Hermes versions; newer versions ignore those keys.

The remaining 102 keys split in two. 69 need no translation: brand names, identifiers, example URLs and pure placeholders such as {0} · {1}. The other 33 require conditional wording, optional fragments, or array/object values that the text-only pack cannot express faithfully. Examples include on/off labels, optional reset times and rotating composer placeholders. Those keep their English wording until Desktop supports a richer override or ships Korean itself. Values identical to English are deliberately left out, so they follow the current English catalog. Desktop entries whose English value is a function are written as positional strings ("{0}분 전"), as the pack format requires.

Coverage counts the main Desktop catalog, not every visible string. For example, Add context is still hardcoded in upstream apps/desktop/src/app/chat/use-chat-bar-state.ts, and plugin-specific interfaces use their own catalogs; this language pack cannot override those.

locales/ko.yaml is intentionally empty: the bundled core catalog already covers it, and the validator requires the file to exist.

What this plugin does and does not do

• No executable code: __init__.py holds only a register() that returns immediately. It exists because Desktop's Install from Git check requires it beside plugin.yaml; the backend registers locales/ from the manifest before register() runs. No JavaScript, no network access, no shell commands, no background processes, no stored credentials.
• Registering the pack never changes display.language. You opt in with hermes config set display.language ko.
• The install scanner reports caution findings for a few UI strings that mention sudo passwords or show the official one-line installer command. They are display text copied from the English catalog's meaning, not executable content.

Updating to a new Hermes version

locales/ko.desktop.yaml is the source of truth and is edited directly. When Desktop keys change, align the pack with the target version's key set:

node tools/sync-keys.mjs --keys <hermes-agent>/locales/_keys.desktop.json --missing missing.txt   # report
node tools/sync-keys.mjs --keys <hermes-agent>/locales/_keys.desktop.json --fix                   # drop stale keys
hermes plugins validate .

missing.txt lists all keys absent from the pack, including the intentional fallbacks above. Review the English values and translate compatible entries by hand. --fix removes older-version keys too; omit it when keeping backward compatibility. Also compare English values with the previous audited revision: a key can stay the same while its meaning changes.

Translation and attribution

The Korean strings are an independent translation by Dante Labs, prepared with AI assistance from the English Desktop catalog only. Corrections from Korean users are welcome as issues or pull requests.

Releases up to 0.1.1 were generated from the Korean Desktop locale in NousResearch/hermes-agent#40716 by @dalgme and contributors, and keep that attribution. Since 0.2.0 the pack contains none of those strings. This pack does not replace #40716: once Korean ships inside Desktop, the pack will carry only what is still missing, or be retired. See NOTICE.

License

MIT

Built by Dante Labs · YouTube @dante-labs · dante@dante-labs.com · Discord · Buy Me a Coffee

README from the reviewed commit 4543641; it updates when the author re-pins.