Optional desktop runtime · Not required to begin
Hermes is a separate, free, open-source desktop runtime from Nous Research and an optional host for Nurse AI OS. This page covers that optional installation path from the official site. You do not need Hermes for the browser-first product.
The one rule of installation
Nurse AI OS does not host Hermes installers, and neither should anyone else. Mirrored copies go stale, break, and can't be trusted the way the source can. Get Hermes directly from Nous Research — the team that builds and maintains it — and you'll always have the current version and the current instructions.
Get Hermes (official site) → Official installation docs
The nurse-made companions: Hermes Essentials Guide (PDF) — students and budget-smart staff, run it nearly free · The Hermes Power Guide (PDF) — profiles, scheduled jobs, and model routing for power users and leaders. Both provide advisory Directive v1.1 guidance; neither guide proves EDENA enforcement. Once Hermes is installed, Understanding Hermes Configuration — The Handbook walks every settings screen in nurse language, with the safe defaults.
Hermes is open source — you can read the code on GitHub anytime. Prefer paper at your elbow? The one-page cheat sheet covers install and first launch.
Platform by platform
Menus and buttons move as Hermes updates — when this page and the official docs disagree, the official docs are the truth. These notes cover what stays constant.
Download the Mac installer from the official site and open it like any other app. If macOS asks whether you're sure about an app downloaded from the internet, that's a standard prompt — confirm it only because you downloaded it from the official site yourself.
First launch: when Hermes asks about an AI model or provider, you have two routes — the Nous subscription (the default; simplest) or Full Setup → Bring Your Own Keys (most cost-effective, can be nearly free with an OpenRouter key and a spending limit — §1.7 of the Pre-Procedure Checklist walks you through it). Either works; you can change later.
Download the Windows installer from the official site and run it. If Windows shows a security prompt for a newly downloaded app, the same rule applies: proceed only because the download came straight from the official site.
First launch: open Hermes and begin carefully. It works like a chat, but it can also use files, commands, and other tools when configured. Keep approvals on and review permissions. For the model/provider question, the same two routes apply: the Nous subscription or Full Setup → Bring Your Own Keys (§1.7 of the Pre-Procedure Checklist explains the boundary).
Type like you'd text a colleague. A good opener: "I'm a nurse setting up my Nurse AI OS. I'll give you my SOUL file next — treat it as my standing instructions." (Your SOUL file is Step 2, back on Start Here.)
The phrase that keeps your hand on every decision: "Show me your plan before you do anything."
Check the official installation docs first — they track the current version. Still stuck? Bring it to the monthly Lamp Huddle or email robert@nurse-ai-os.org — a human answers.
Rather not install anything yet? That's Door 1 — most nurses start there. Follow the four browser-safe steps in ChatGPT or Claude; do not use the Hermes-only local-folder or dashboard-editing steps. The two doors →
Plain language
Hermes Agent is an open-source AI agent framework by Nous Research. Depending on how you configure it, it can use memory, skills, tools, files, and automations. Nurse AI OS is not a replacement for Hermes — it's the nurse-led layer you build around it.
Think of Hermes as the engine that can read, write, search, remember, and carry out tasks when a human permits it.
Nurse AI OS gives Hermes a nursing-centered purpose: no-PHI boundaries, your SOUL file, EDENA gates, dashboards, prompts, and starter folders.
Hermes may propose, organize, summarize, or draft. The nurse decides what is true, safe, appropriate, and ready to use.
You're done here
Everything after installation — the SOUL Quiz, your Starter Kit, your dashboard, your first prompts — is steps 2–5 of the same page you came from. One evening, and you're done.
Continue with Step 2 on Start Here →
Two pointers for later, so you don't hunt for them: your Starter Kit includes a private, browser-only Local HTML Life Dashboard — you'll personalize it in Step 4, and it's the recommended first dashboard because it needs no account, no server, and no setup. A Notion version and other advanced options live in Resources once the local one feels too small — not before.
The safety perimeter
Do not enter patient names, charts, screenshots, identifiers, room numbers, employer secrets, passwords, account numbers, or patient-specific clinical details into Hermes, the quizzes, dashboards, or any AI tool — unless an approved institutional environment and accountable governance explicitly allow it.
Hermes can help with learning, organization, drafting, research support, project planning, and reflection. It does not carry a license, validate competency, approve clinical deployment, replace educators, or make patient-care decisions.
Agents propose. Humans judge. Nurses steward. Gray areas? Bring them to the monthly Lamp Huddle — a question asked early beats an incident reported late.