5 Hermes questions. 3 brilliant wins.

"Is there a way to implement an awesome graphical dashboard for Hermes that is running on a VPS?"

Yes, Ayman — and it's the exact setup John Mesa is running (his win is right below). The trick is:

• Hermes runs on the VPS — the agent process lives there with all its tools, skills, and working files. Hostinger, Hetzner, DigitalOcean — pick one and spin it up.
• The Agent OS dashboard is a Next.js app — also served from the same VPS. It's just a browser surface on top of the Hermes process.
• Cloudflare Tunnel + Cloudflare Access exposes the dashboard to your devices without making it public. Tunnel = no open port. Access = login wall. Together they give you full auth + a clean URL like dashboard.yourdomain.com.
• You open the dashboard from any device — your laptop, your phone, a borrowed machine. Same Hermes, same context, same Mission Control view.

The alternative path is Tailscale — gives you a private VPN-style network so the dashboard never touches the public internet at all. Slightly more privacy, slightly more setup. Either works.

Don't expose the dashboard publicly. Don't put it on a raw IP. Tunnel it through Cloudflare or Tailscale. That's the move.

The full Agent OS install with this VPS pattern pre-wired is inside the Boardroom — see the install walk-through after you join.

"How does the Files section in Hermes Workspace work — per-project, or general knowledge base?"

Good question, Omar — and the honest answer is both. Hermes has two layers of file context, and you can use either or both depending on what you need.

• Project-level files — files dropped at the project level scope to that specific working directory + agent thread. Best for "this client", "this build", "this video script". The agent reads them when it's working on that project. Other projects don't see them.
• Agent-level files (skills + knowledge) — files attached to the agent itself, available across every chat that agent runs. Best for "my brand voice", "my pricing", "my standard SOPs", "long-term reference docs you want every response grounded in".

On the second part of your question — yes, files persist across sessions. They live on disk in the agent's working directory, not in chat session memory. You can:

• Close the chat and reopen it later — files are still there, agent still has access.
• Start a brand new chat with the same agent — same files, same context, fresh conversation. This is the most common pattern when you're switching tasks but don't want to lose the knowledge.
• Move files between projects — drag them from one project's working folder to another. Hermes picks up the change.

Practical rule of thumb: if it's evergreen, put it at the agent level. If it's about this specific job, put it at the project level. Brand voice, pricing, SOPs → agent. Client brief, transcript, current draft → project.

Bonus tip: pair this with your Obsidian vault. Auto-log every conversation. Now both Hermes AND Claude AND every other agent in your dashboard share the same memory layer. See The Goldie Brain Loop → for the full pattern.

"Does Super Grok 'Lite' work on Hermes as a provider using Auth0? Or do I have to do the $30/month plan?"

Richard — clean question, clean answer. Auth0 (xAI's OAuth flow) needs the paid tier. SuperGrok Lite on its own doesn't give you the OAuth provider access that Hermes uses. So the OAuth path = the $30 plan or above.

BUT — given your strict use case (X/Twitter searching + scraping, no images, no videos) — you have a much cheaper alternative:

• xAI standard API key — sign up at console.x.ai, top up the $5 minimum, get an API key. No subscription. Pay-as-you-go per query.
• Plug the API key into Hermes as your xAI provider. Auth0 not required when you use the direct API key route.
• Pick the cheap model — Grok 4 Fast or Grok Build is well under a cent per query for text-only search. X-Search add-on works with these.
• For pure X scraping — turn on X-Search in the request. You only pay for the queries you make. No images = no image surcharge. No videos = no video surcharge.

For your specific use case, you'll probably spend $2–$5 a month instead of $30. That's the savings on Lite-vs-Pro for someone who only needs text search.

If you ever want to go to the full OAuth flow (because you start using more advanced tools or want the higher rate limits), then upgrade. For now — API key path, save the $25 a month.

Setup details for both paths are in the Boardroom — there's a step-by-step thread on wiring xAI into Hermes.

"Server vs being local — my PC isn't powerful enough. What's the recommendation?"

Luis — three paths, ranked by what I'd actually pick if I were you:

• Path A — Lightweight local dashboard + Hermes on a VPS. This is what John Mesa did (his win is above). Run the Agent OS dashboard locally in your browser, but the actual Hermes agent runs on a Hetzner CPX31 (~€8/mo) or Hostinger VPS (~$11/mo). Connect via Cloudflare Tunnel. Your laptop becomes a dumb terminal. This is the cheapest, easiest, and what I'd recommend you start with.
• Path B — Pure local, but upgrade the machine. A base Mac mini M4 is ~$599 and runs Hermes + the whole Agent OS dashboard smoothly with the fan barely on. If you're going to spend money, this is the option that adds zero monthly bill forever after. Quiet, fast, no monthly cost.
• Path C — Tailscale + a home PC running headless. If you've got a desktop sitting at home unused, plug it in, install Tailscale, run Hermes on it, and access it from your laptop wherever you are. Best free option if the hardware already exists.

Most new members start with Path A because it's the lowest commitment. $11/month, no hardware purchase, and you can upgrade or migrate to local Mac mini later if you decide you want to.

The Agent OS dashboard itself runs in any browser — it doesn't need power. The power is in the agent process. So as long as something somewhere is running the agent, your laptop is fine for the dashboard.

Full VPS install walk-through (Hostinger + Cloudflare Tunnel) is inside the Boardroom. Members on Path A typically have it running inside 30 minutes.

"Should I migrate all my files to Obsidian first? OpenClaw breaks on my Mac. Which agent do I focus on? A bit discombobulated."

Jayson — welcome in. Annual member, ADD-guy honesty, multiple questions in one — let me unpack them in order because each one is actually a different decision.

1) Should you migrate everything to Obsidian first?

No. This is the trap that stops 90% of new builders. They decide they need to migrate three years of notes into Obsidian before they can start building Agent OS. They spend six weekends on the migration, lose momentum, and never actually build the system.

Do this instead:

• Drop 3–5 reference docs into Obsidian — your brand voice doc, your top-5 SOPs, your pricing, your current goals. That's enough context for the agent to feel grounded.
• Start the build right away. Use Hermes immediately. The vault grows as you use it — every chat auto-logs, every output saves, every artefact accumulates.
• Migrate the rest as you need it. If you reach for a specific file three times and it's not in the vault — that's the signal to import it. Not before.

2) OpenClaw breaks constantly on Mac.

Known issue, currently being worked on. Don't make OpenClaw your first focus. Use Hermes as your daily-driver agent. It's more stable on Mac right now, and the build is moving faster on the Hermes side. Add OpenClaw later when it's solid on your machine — give it 3–4 weeks. By then either it's stable or there's a new build that fixes it.

I keep saying this — start with what works. The rest joins later.

3) Which agent do you focus on?

Hermes for jobs (writing, content, research, scripts, code). Claude for chat (planning, conversation, decisions). Free Claude Code if you want the agent loop without the bill. That's your trio. The other agents (OpenClaw, Codex, Gemini, Antigravity) are bonuses that compound — but they're not where you start.

4) "Discombobulated" — that's normal. Don't fight it.

You're at the front of a wave. Every new operator feels exactly this way in week one. The cure isn't more docs. It's shipping one piece, then the next.

Your week-one plan:

• Day 1: Install Hermes. Run one prompt. Confirm it works.
• Day 2: Drop 3 reference docs into Obsidian. Have Hermes write you one thing using them.
• Day 3: Set one goal in Hermes Goal Mode. Walk away. Come back.
• Day 4: Open the Workspace tab. Notice everything you made yesterday is still there. Click around.
• Day 5: Pick one workflow you do every day. Replace it with a Hermes loop.
• Day 6–7: Sit in a live call. Watch other members debug. Realise you're past the worst of the overwhelm.

You picked the annual plan — smart move, the system rewards staying long enough to compound. The four weekly coaching calls are the fastest path through the discombobulation. See you Thursday.