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Hermes TUI Chat via Dashboard ​

Fresh Hermes

Enable the in-browser Chat tab, use Sessions as your recovery board, and stop starting over when the visible TUI clears.

Enable the Hermes Dashboard Chat tab, recover any session from the Sessions board, and continue work safely instead of starting over.

The flow: enable Chat, click play, resume history, continue safely.

First steps: enable TUI Chat before you try to recover sessions ​

Start by making sure the Dashboard Chat tab exists. You can do that manually in the terminal, or ask your Hermes agent to handle the setup and report back what changed.

Option A: do it manually ​

Step 01 - make sure dashboard + PTY extras exist. If Hermes says the dashboard or Chat dependencies are missing, install the web and PTY extras. If your agent already configured this, you may not need to run it yourself.

bash
pip install 'hermes-agent[web,pty]'

Step 02 - launch with TUI Chat enabled. The Chat tab is intentionally off during a plain dashboard launch. Turn it on with the flag, or set the environment variable when you want it enabled by default.

bash
hermes dashboard --tui
# or:
HERMES_DASHBOARD_TUI=1 hermes dashboard

Step 03 - open the local dashboard. By default the dashboard starts locally at 127.0.0.1:9119. Keep it local unless you deliberately know how you are securing the machine.

Option B: ask your agent ​

Use this when you want Hermes to inspect the current setup, install missing dependencies, and tell you how to reopen Chat next time.

text
I'd like to enable the built-in TUI chat for my Hermes dashboard. Please install
it and enable it by running the `hermes dashboard --tui` command. Make sure it's
always on in the background so that even if our host PC restarts, the dashboard
comes back online and the TUI chat tab is always enabled.

Check before you rely on it ​

Do not stop at "the dashboard opened." The real test is whether Chat appears and remains available after the way you normally close and reopen the dashboard.

  • Chat is enabled - you launched with hermes dashboard --tui or HERMES_DASHBOARD_TUI=1, not a plain dashboard start.
  • You can see the Chat tab - the browser dashboard shows Chat as a first-class tab that opens the terminal-style Hermes interface.
  • It survives a close + reopen - close the dashboard, reopen it the way you plan to use it, and confirm the Chat tab is still available.
  • Sessions are visible - open Sessions before recording so you know where the play-button recovery path lives.

Restore any session: the play button is the recovery path ​

When a tab switch, hard refresh, or cleared TUI makes the work look gone, go to Sessions instead of starting a new chat. The play icon next to a session routes through /chat?resume=<id> and starts the TUI with --resume.

  • What disappeared is the visible chat surface: a browser pane cleared, a terminal refreshed, or the tab reopened blank. That is an interface problem, not proof the work disappeared.
  • What you recover is the session history. Use Sessions as the recovery board, resume the right thread, ask for current state, and continue without splitting context.

Find the session by recency, name, preview, agent, model, message count, or status. Click the play icon. If a session has a newer continuation, Hermes may route you to the latest descendant.

Recovery prompts ​

Resume prompt:

text
Continue from where we left off. First, summarize the current state in five
bullets, then continue with the next unfinished step.

Checkpoint prompt:

text
Before you continue, write a short checkpoint: current task, last verified
state, next action, and anything I need to approve before you proceed.

Session naming prompt:

text
This session is for [workflow name]. Keep your updates tied to that goal, and
mention the workflow name when you write checkpoints or status summaries.

Wrong-session check:

text
Before doing new work, tell me what task this session was handling, the last
useful result, and the next action. If the context does not match, stop.

Operating rules ​

  • Do not expose the dashboard casually. The default localhost binding is the safe path. The --insecure option can expose secrets and should only be used with deliberate network controls.
  • Windows users need WSL2 for Chat. The rest of the dashboard can work on native Windows, but the embedded /chat pane needs a POSIX PTY. Use WSL2 for that feature.
  • Use Sessions as the operating board. Recent sessions show conversation previews, message count, model, token usage, and activity. Scan this before creating another chat.
  • A reopened Chat tab starts fresh unless you resume. Closing the browser tab reaps the PTY cleanly. To continue history, resume from Sessions instead of opening a blank Chat tab.