Export Hermes profiles for OpenBot

Make one .zip file that the user opens in OpenBot at Server settings → Import → Hermes Agent. OpenBot reads it on the user's computer. Nothing is uploaded. Each Hermes profile becomes one OpenBot agent. The format is strict: OpenBot rejects the whole file when the manifest is invalid, so follow the format below exactly.

Workflow

1. Find the profiles. The Hermes folder is $HERMES_HOME, or ~/.hermes when it is not set. When $HERMES_HOME ends in /profiles/<name>, the Hermes folder is two levels up.

   • The default profile is the Hermes folder itself.
   • Each named profile is a folder in <Hermes folder>/profiles/. Skip profiles/.deleted.
   • A folder is a profile when it has SOUL.md or config.yaml.

   hermes profile list shows the same list.

2. Read each profile. Read only these files:

   • SOUL.md: the persona. Ignore HTML comments. When only a heading is left, the profile has no persona of its own.
   • memories/MEMORY.md and memories/USER.md: entries are separated by a line with only §.
   • skills/: each folder with a SKILL.md, at skills/<name>/ or skills/<category>/<name>/. Skip folders whose name starts with .. Skip each skill whose frontmatter name is in skills/.bundled_manifest (one name:hash per line): those come with Hermes. Skip this skill (openbot-export).
   • cron/jobs.json: {"jobs": [...]}. Each job has name, prompt, schedule, enabled and state.

   Do not read .env, auth.json, state.db, sessions/, mcp-tokens/ or vault/. They hold keys and chat history, which OpenBot does not import from a file.

3. Ask which profiles. Show the profiles with their number of memories, skills and cron jobs. Ask: "Export all profiles, or only some?" Wait for the answer before you continue.

4. Map each profile to one agent in openbot-import.json (see Format):

   • key: the profile name, with _ changed to -. The default profile has the key hermes.
   • name: Hermes for the default profile. For a named profile, its name as words with the first letter in capitals: research-desk becomes Research desk.
   • description: the persona. When it is longer than 2,000 characters, write the full text to agents/<key>/files/SOUL.md, set files, and write a short summary here that ends with "Read imported/SOUL.md before your first task." With no persona, write one sentence about what the profile does from its memories and skills.
   • memories: each entry, 500 characters or fewer. Split a longer entry into short facts. At most 64.
   • skills: copy each skill folder to agents/<key>/skills/<name>/.
   • routines: one for each cron job (see Schedules). Set active to false when enabled is false or state is paused. Skip a job that has a script or has no_agent set: it runs a script, not the agent. Tell the user which jobs you skipped.

5. Remove secrets. Do not copy .env files, private keys, API keys, tokens, passwords or cookies, in files or in text. Replace a secret in a persona or a memory with <ask the user for …>. OpenBot rejects the archive if it contains a file named .env* or *private*key*, a nested archive (.zip, .tar, .gz, .7z, .rar), or a .git or node_modules folder. A skill that has one of these is left out: tell the user.

6. Build the folder in a new temporary folder outside the Hermes folder (see Format). Write openbot-import.json last.

7. Check it with the checklist below. Then zip the folder contents into ~/Downloads/.openbot-export-hermes-<YYYY-MM-DD>.zip.part, with openbot-import.json at the root of the zip. Python works everywhere: python3 -c "import shutil,sys; shutil.make_archive(sys.argv[1], 'zip', sys.argv[2])" <base> <folder> writes <base>.zip, so rename it to the .zip.part name. When the zip is complete, rename it to ~/Downloads/openbot-export-hermes-<YYYY-MM-DD>.zip. The rename replaces an older export with the same name in one step, so OpenBot never reads a half-written file. Then delete the temporary folder.

8. Tell the user, only after the rename: the path, the number of agents, and what you left out. MCP servers and keys stay in Hermes: to bring the MCP servers too, the user chooses Read this computer in OpenBot instead. Tell them to open OpenBot, go to Server settings → Import → Hermes Agent, and choose the file.

Format

openbot-import.json
agents/<key>/skills/<skill>/SKILL.md    one folder for each skill
agents/<key>/files/SOUL.md              only for a persona longer than 2,000 characters

<key> is lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, 64 characters or fewer, and does not start or end with a hyphen. Each key is unique. All paths for an agent start with agents/<key>/.

openbot-import.json:

{
  "format": "openbot-agent-import",
  "version": 1,
  "source": { "app": "hermes-agent", "exportedAt": "2026-10-21T10:00:00Z" },
  "agents": [
    {
      "key": "hermes",
      "name": "Hermes",
      "title": "",
      "description": "You are Hermes, a calm personal assistant. Keep answers short…",
      "avatar": null,
      "skills": ["agents/hermes/skills/daily-brief"],
      "routines": [
        {
          "name": "Morning brief",
          "instruction": "Write my morning brief.",
          "active": true,
          "timezone": "Europe/Warsaw",
          "schedule": { "kind": "custom", "expression": "30 7 * * *" }
        }
      ],
      "memories": ["The user keeps notes in Obsidian.", "The daily brief goes out at 07:30."],
      "files": null
    }
  ]
}

Field rules:

The whole archive must be 500 MB and 5,000 files or fewer.

Schedules

A Hermes job's schedule has a kind:

A schedule cannot run more often than every 3 minutes. OpenBot skips a routine with an invalid schedule and tells the user; the rest of the agent still imports.

Checklist

• openbot-import.json is at the root of the zip, not inside a subfolder.
• format is openbot-agent-import, version is 1, and source.app is hermes-agent.
• Each key is unique and 64 characters or fewer, and each path starts with agents/<key>/.
• Each skill folder has SKILL.md with frontmatter, and no skill is openbot-export.
• No skill that comes with Hermes is in the export.
• No secrets, .env files, auth.json, keys, nested archives, .git or node_modules.