Hermes Agent Mission Control

Skill by ara.so — Hermes Skills collection

Minions is a mission control interface for Hermes Agent that provides a Kanban board to create, supervise, and review autonomous work. It solves the problem of juggling multiple terminal sessions and losing track of long-running tasks by providing a visual board with task status (in progress, in review, done), live streaming of agent work, and human-in-the-loop verification.

Installation

Prerequisites: Node.js 18+ and Hermes Agent

Quick start with npx (no installation required):

npx minionsai

Or install globally:

npm install -g minionsai

Then run:

minions

The server starts on http://localhost:6969 by default.

Data Storage

Minions creates a local SQLite database on first run:

• Database and state stored in ~/.minions/
• Chat transcripts live in Hermes's session database
• Task metadata, status, and settings stored in Minions SQLite DB
• Completely local-first by default (no cloud dependency)

CLI Commands

# Start the server
minions

# Check version
minions --version

# Compare with latest NPM version
npm view minionsai version

Key Features & Usage

Task Management

Each task in Minions is a persistent Hermes root session:

1. Create tasks: Describe what you want in chat
2. Autonomous execution: Agent decides how to get it done
3. Live streaming: Watch tool calls, reasoning, and responses in real-time
4. Completion judge: Lightweight LLM evaluates whether task is done after each turn
5. Human verification: Review agent's proposed completion before moving to "Done"

Kanban Board States

• In Progress: Tasks actively being worked on
• In Review: Tasks completed by agent, awaiting human verification
• Done: Verified and closed tasks

Per-Task Configuration

Override model and reasoning settings on individual tasks:

// Task metadata structure
interface Task {
  id: string;
  title: string;
  description: string;
  status: 'in_progress' | 'in_review' | 'done';
  sessionId: string; // Hermes session ID
  model?: string; // Override default model
  reasoningEffort?: number; // Override reasoning effort
  createdAt: string;
  updatedAt: string;
}

Routines

Create and manage recurring Hermes jobs:

• Schedule regular agent tasks
• Track execution history
• Review output from each run
• Useful for monitoring, data collection, reporting

File Browser

View files created by agents in the workspace directory without leaving the interface.

Configuration

Check settings in the web UI Settings page:

• View running Minions server version
• Configure Hermes Agent connection
• Set default model and reasoning effort
• Manage workspace directory path

Architecture

Minions is built with TypeScript and uses:

• SQLite for local task metadata storage
• Hermes Agent sessions for chat transcripts
• Real-time WebSocket connections for live streaming
• Kanban board UI for task visualization

// Example: Task state transitions
// 1. User creates task → status: 'in_progress'
// 2. Agent completes work → status: 'in_review'
// 3. Human verifies → status: 'done'

// The completion judge runs after each agent turn
interface CompletionCheck {
  isComplete: boolean;
  reasoning: string;
  confidence: number;
}

Common Patterns

Delegating Long-Running Work

# Start Minions
npx minionsai

# In the web UI:
# 1. Create new task: "Research top 10 AI tools launched this month"
# 2. Walk away - agent executes autonomously
# 3. Return later to review in "In Review" column
# 4. Verify and move to "Done"

Managing Multiple Projects

// Each task is independent:
// - Separate Hermes session
// - Independent model/effort settings
// - Parallel execution supported

// Example workflow:
// Task 1: "Write blog post about TypeScript 5.4 features"
// Task 2: "Analyze competitor pricing pages"
// Task 3: "Generate test data for user onboarding flow"
// All run concurrently, visible on one board

Routine Monitoring

# Set up daily routine:
# "Check GitHub stars and create summary report"

# Minions will:
# 1. Execute on schedule
# 2. Store execution history
# 3. Make output reviewable
# 4. Alert if intervention needed (roadmap feature)

Integration with Hermes Agent

Minions acts as a control layer over Hermes:

// Minions doesn't replace Hermes CLI usage
// It complements it by providing:
// - Visual task organization
// - Persistent session management
// - Completion detection
// - Human review workflow

// You can still use Hermes directly:
hermes chat "quick question"

// Or use Minions for longer work:
// Create task in UI → Minions manages Hermes session

Troubleshooting

Port Already in Use

# Default port is 6969
# If occupied, check for existing Minions process:
lsof -i :6969
kill -9 <PID>

# Then restart
npx minionsai

Database Issues

# Database location
ls -la ~/.minions/

# Reset database (WARNING: deletes all tasks)
rm -rf ~/.minions/
npx minionsai  # Creates fresh database

Connection to Hermes Agent

Ensure Hermes Agent is properly installed and accessible:

# Verify Hermes installation
which hermes
hermes --version

# Check Hermes can start sessions
hermes chat "test"

Task Stuck in "In Progress"

• Check Hermes session logs for errors
• Review agent's last output in live stream
• Manually intervene in chat
• Adjust model/reasoning effort settings
• Close and recreate task if necessary

Hosted Option

Self-hosting is recommended for privacy, but a hosted option is available at Agent37.

Limitations

• Currently Hermes-only (OpenClaw adapter planned)
• Notifications not yet implemented (roadmap)
• Skills library not yet available (roadmap)