The Anatomy of ~/.hermes Folder

A walkthrough of the ~/.hermes folder structure that controls an AI agent's identity, memory, skills, and automation. The folder contains config files (config.yaml, SOUL.md for agent personality), memory files (MEMORY.md, USER.md injected into system prompts), a skills directory with 687 bundled skills across 18 categories, runtime state via SQLite with FTS5, scheduled jobs via cron, and extension hooks. The memory layer is built on Graphiti (a real-time knowledge graph), Neo4j, and a self-hosted MCP server via Docker. Understanding this layout enables customization beyond treating the agent as a black box.