🤖HermesBlog
Hermes Feature Guides · Part 18/9/2026

Skins & Themes — Customize the Interface

Skins & Themes — Customize the Interface — easy-to-understand guide based on official docs

Just like swapping your phone’s wallpaper to match your mood, Hermes Agent lets you re-skin its entire command-line look in seconds.


Skin ≠ Personality: Two Different Things

Hermes cleanly separates what the AI says from how the terminal looks:

  • Personality controls tone and word choice — polite, blunt, poetic, whatever you prefer.
  • Skin changes only the visual layer: border colors, loading animations, even the brand name displayed.

This means you can keep your AI assistant sounding professional while the interface goes full neon-dark or crisp daylight-bright.


Switching Skins: Three Commands

Inside any Hermes conversation, just type:

/skin                # show current skin + list all available
/skin ares           # switch to the built-in "ares" skin
/skin mytheme        # load a custom skin from ~/.hermes/skins/mytheme.yaml

Want a skin applied automatically every time? Edit ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

display:
  skin: default

Now Hermes boots straight into your chosen look.


Built-in Skins: From “Golden Cute” to “Volcano Eruption”

Skin Vibe Highlights
default Gold + kawaii Classic Hermes look, warm gold borders, cute emoji in loading text
ares Deep red + bronze War-god style; verbs like “forging” and “marching,” plus sword-and-shield ASCII art
mono Pure grayscale Zero color — perfect for minimal terminals or screen recordings
slate Cool blue Developer-focused, royal blue borders, calm and professional
daylight Light theme Dark text + blue borders, designed for white backgrounds
warm-lightmode Warm brown light Parchment tones for users who like cozy bright themes
poseidon Sea-god teal Deep ocean gradients, “probing depth” loading text, trident ASCII art
sisyphus Grayscale + persistence Boulder theme; loading text says “pushing the rock uphill”
charizard Volcanic orange Flame gradients, “measuring burn” loading text, dragon ASCII art

Custom Skins: Every Color Is Yours

All skins are built around a colors: block. You can tweak any value using hex codes:

colors:
  banner_border: "#CD7F32"   # banner border color
  banner_title: "#FFD700"    # title text color
  banner_accent: "#FFA500"   # section heading color

Configurable keys include banner borders, titles, accent text, status bars, and tool-activity prefixes. Just drop a new YAML file into ~/.hermes/skins/ and you’ve got your own personal theme.


Summary & Practical Tips

The skin system makes Hermes feel genuinely yours — whether you want beauty, focus, or better readability on camera.

Pro tip: If you often use your terminal outdoors in bright sunlight, go straight for daylight or warm-lightmode. And if you’re recording a tutorial, mono keeps viewers’ eyes on the commands, not the rainbow. Start with a built-in skin to get a feel, then experiment with your own colors — it’s the easiest way to make Hermes truly yours.

📖 Official Docs

This article is based on the official Hermes Agent documentation:Official docs › user-guide/skins-themes