7 Minute Security · 2026-06-12 · 22 min
Hello friends! I've been on a bit of an AI agent journey lately, and today I'm sharing my experience ditching OpenClaw and going all-in on Hermes - a self-hosted AI agent built by Nous Research . A Network Chuck video sold me on it, I wiped my Mac Mini (again), and baby's first Hermes adventure began! Here's what we get into today: Why I left OpenClaw - After getting the Mac Mini set up, OpenClaw left me feeling pretty meh: burning through API requests, random mid-conversation shutdowns, and a marketplace where the top listings were flagged as "potentially malicious." Hard pass. Network Chuck's five reasons Hermes rocks - His video summarized why Hermes stands out: (1) Nous Research has serious open source model cred predating OpenClaw, (2) more flexible persistent memory via markdown files + optional Honcho integration for building a profile of you over time, (3) a mission around humanistic and democratic AI, (4) a self-improvement loop where it writes its own skills after figuring things out, and (5) it just doesn't break - it feels like a product, not a project.
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