Hermes plugin catalog install

What it is

A catalog plugin is not a skill file under ~/.hermes/skills/. The install command is hermes plugins, not hermes skills.

The plugins guide fetched this run says a bare name resolves to a reviewed pin in the Hermes plugin catalog. Search, then install:

hermes plugins search telegram
hermes plugins install homeassistant

homeassistant is the concrete case from this week. The docs commit 0f7a95f1 on October 3, 2026 moved that integration out of core and onto the catalog. The same install shape is what the guide documents for other catalog names. Do not invent a name that hermes plugins search does not return.

What the guide says happens next

General plugins and user-installed backends are disabled by default. Install is not the same as enable. The guide says hermes plugins install goes through a consent flow, and that declining leaves declared capabilities off.

A chat link does not skip that. The guide documents:

hermes://plugin/install?catalog=NAME
hermes://plugin/install?repo=owner/repo

It also says deep links never auto-install. Agent-plugin installs go through the same hermes plugins install consent flow. enable=1 on a link is still not a silent bypass.

Capabilities you have not granted stay off across an update. The guide says a plugin update cannot silently turn new capabilities on. Check with:

hermes plugins capabilities
hermes plugins list

Trust, stated plainly

The guide says plugins run as in-process Python. A granted capability is a statement of trust in the author. It is not a code audit, and Hermes has not reviewed the plugin's code. Install from a source you trust. Isolation mode exists in the same guide (plugins.isolation). The default described there is not a sandbox that makes an untrusted plugin safe.

If security.allow_lazy_installs is off, the Home Assistant docs say the automatic first-start install is skipped and you install the plugin yourself.

When to use it

Use the catalog command when the thing you want used to be "just in Hermes" and the current docs call it a plugin. Use hermes skills only when the artifact is a skill. Mixing the two commands is how a profile ends up with neither.

Sources

• Plugins guide: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/plugins
• Home Assistant move, October 3, 2026: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/commit/0f7a95f1