Custom Skins: Personalize Hermes Agent

Hermes supports custom skins to change its appearance, personality, and branding. From ASCII art to color schemes to greeting messages — make it yours.

What Skins Control

• ASCII art banner
• Color scheme (text, prompts, highlights)
• Agent name and personality
• Greeting messages
• Command prefix

Built-In Skins

hermes skin list

Applying a Skin

hermes skin set cyberpunk

Or in config:

# config.yaml
ui:
  skin: cyberpunk

Creating Custom Skins

Skins are YAML files in ~/.hermes/skins/:

# ~/.hermes/skins/my-brand.yaml
name: my-brand
display_name: "My Company Assistant"

ascii_art: |
   __  __        _____                                      
  |  \/  |_   _ / ____|___  _ __ ___  _ __   __ _ _ __  _   _ 
  | |\/| | | | | |    / _ \| '_ ` _ \| '_ \ / _` | '_ \| | | |
  | |  | | |_| | |___| (_) | | | | | | |_) | (_| | | | | |_| |
  |_|  |_|\__, |\_____\___/|_| |_| |_| .__/ \__,_|_| |_|\__, |
          |___/                      |_|                |___/ 

colors:
  primary: "#00D4AA"      # Main accent
  secondary: "#7B68EE"    # Secondary accent
  background: "#1A1A2E"   # Terminal background hint
  text: "#E4E4E4"         # Default text
  prompt: "#00D4AA"       # Input prompt
  error: "#FF6B6B"        # Error messages
  success: "#4ADE80"      # Success messages

greeting: |
  Welcome to MyCompany Assistant!
  Type /help to get started.

personality:
  name: "Assist"
  tone: "professional"  # casual | professional | friendly
  emoji_usage: "minimal" # none | minimal | frequent

prompts:
  user: "You → "
  assistant: "Assist → "

Applying Your Custom Skin

hermes skin set my-brand

Skin Components

ASCII Art

Keep it under 10 lines for best display:

ascii_art: |
  ╔═══════════════════════════╗
  ║   MY CUSTOM ASSISTANT     ║
  ╚═══════════════════════════╝

Color Codes

Supports hex colors or ANSI names:

colors:
  primary: "#FF5733"  # Hex
  secondary: cyan     # ANSI name
  error: red

Personality Settings

Affects how the agent communicates:

personality:
  tone: casual
  emoji_usage: frequent  # 😊 More emojis in responses
  formality: low        # "Hey!" vs "Hello,"

Sharing Skins

Export:

hermes skin export my-brand > my-brand-skin.yaml

Import:

hermes skin import < my-brand-skin.yaml

Publish to Skills Hub:

hermes skin publish my-brand

Team Skins

For consistent branding across team:

# Shared network location
ui:
  skin_dir: /shared/hermes/skins
  skin: company-standard

Dynamic Skins

Change skin based on context:

ui:
  dynamic_skin:
    enabled: true
    rules:
      - platform: telegram
        skin: minimal     # Compact for mobile
      - platform: cli
        skin: cyberpunk   # Full experience
      - time: "22:00-06:00"
        skin: dark-mode   # Easy on eyes at night

Related Guides

• Shell Hooks
• Platform Integrations