Ubuntu, but you talk to it.
HermesOS is a Linux distribution built on Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS whose primary interface is a conversation with Hermes Agent, running a local open-weight model. No cloud. No cryptic errors. Nothing changes on your computer without asking you first, in plain English.
Status: v0.1 design phase. Documents first, code second.
1. It is very hard to break. The agent runs unprivileged and can only invoke a fixed, reviewed set of operations. Every system change asks permission with a card the system writes — not the model. Everything is snapshotted, everything is logged, and "undo that" always works.
2. It is genuinely for beginners. If you have never used Linux, you should be able to install this and be productive in ten minutes by typing sentences. The terminal is still there, one word away, for when you want it.
| Doc | What's in it |
|---|---|
| 00-overview | Vision, design contract, non-goals |
| 01-architecture | Layers, components, privilege model, boot flow |
| 02-safety-model | Capabilities, approvals, audit, rollback, threat model |
| 03-ux-model | Tone, error translation, conversation surface |
| 07-first-boot | The first-boot wizard, screen by screen |
| 04-tools | The 61 shipped verbs, wrappers, forbidden set |
| 05-soul | Hermes' personality (notes) |
| 06-install | ISO + converter, plan screen, uninstall |
Also: ROADMAP · CONTRIBUTING
Hermes (unprivileged, user hermes) can't call sudo. It can only send
structured requests to hermesctl, a broker that validates them against a
closed set of typed verbs, dry-runs them, takes a btrfs snapshot, shows you a
plain-English approval card, executes via execve with no shell involved, and
writes a hash-chained audit record. If a verb doesn't exist, the action is not
possible — not discouraged, impossible.
Nous Research or Canonical. This is an independent distribution built on their work.