Tutorial 11: Running Hermes on Android (Termux)

Welcome back, agent builders! Today we’re doing something fun: turning your Android phone into a pocket-sized AI agent machine. Thanks to Termux, you can run Hermes directly on your phone — no cloud server, no desktop required. Let’s get you set up.

A Quick Heads-Up

Before we dive in, one honest note: Android/Termux is what we call a Tier 2 platform. That means the installer and docs are maintained on a best-effort basis. It works great, but occasionally a new commit to the main repo might break something. If that happens, don’t panic — just check for updates or ask in the community.

What Works on Android?

The tested Termux bundle gives you a solid, phone-native CLI experience. Here’s what’s included:

The full Hermes CLI
Cron support for scheduled tasks
PTY/background terminal support
Telegram gateway (manual, best-effort background runs)
MCP support
Honcho memory support
ACP support

The magic command that installs all of this is:

python -m pip install -e '.[termux]' -c constraints-termux.txt

What’s Not Ready Yet?

Some features need desktop-style dependencies that don’t have Android versions yet:

The full .[all] extra isn’t supported on Android
Voice features are blocked because ctranslate2 (needed by faster-whisper) doesn’t publish Android wheels
Automatic browser/Playwright setup is skipped
Docker-based terminal isolation isn’t available
Android may suspend background jobs, so gateway persistence is best-effort

But don’t let that discourage you — Hermes works beautifully as a phone-native CLI agent. It’s just intentionally narrower than the desktop install.

Option 1: The One-Line Installer

The easiest way to get started is with our Termux-aware installer:

curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash

This smart installer automatically:

Uses pkg for system packages
Creates a Python virtual environment
Tries the broader .[termux-all] extra first, then falls back to .[termux], then base
Links hermes into $PREFIX/bin so it’s always on your PATH
Skips the untested browser/WhatsApp setup

Option 2: Manual Install (For Control Freaks)

If you prefer explicit commands or need to debug something, here’s the manual path.

Step 1: Update Termux and install dependencies

pkg update
pkg install -y git python clang rust make pkg-config libffi openssl nodejs ripgrep ffmpeg

These packages handle everything from building Python dependencies (clang, rust, make) to file searching (ripgrep) and media conversion (ffmpeg).

One important catch: Hermes requires Python >=3.11,<3.14, but current Termux ships Python 3.14.x, which is outside that range. The installer detects this and automatically tries the Termux User Repository (TUR) for a supported interpreter. For a manual install, grab one yourself:

pkg install tur-repo
pkg install python3.13

Then use python3.13 in place of python in the commands below (e.g. python3.13 -m venv venv).

Step 2: Clone and set up

git clone https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent.git
cd hermes-agent
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
export ANDROID_API_LEVEL="$(getprop ro.build.version.sdk)"
python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel

That ANDROID_API_LEVEL line is important — it helps Rust-based packages like jiter build correctly.

Step 3: Install the tested bundle

python -m pip install -e '.[termux]' -c constraints-termux.txt

Or for just the minimal core:

python -m pip install -e '.' -c constraints-termux.txt

Step 4: Put hermes on your PATH

ln -sf "$PWD/venv/bin/hermes" "$PREFIX/bin/hermes"

Now hermes works in any new shell without re-activating the venv.

Step 5: Verify and start

hermes --version
hermes doctor
hermes

Community-Maintained APT Option

There’s also a community-maintained APT repository if you prefer native package management. Important: this is run by @adybag14-cyber, not officially by NousResearch. You’re trusting their signing key, so use at your own discretion.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adybag14-cyber/termux-python/main/scripts/setup_apt_repo.sh | bash
pkg install hermes-agent

Updates go through the package manager:

pkg update
pkg upgrade hermes-agent

Next Steps After Installation

Once Hermes is running, configure your model:

hermes model

Or set keys directly in ~/.hermes/.env. You can re-run the full setup wizard anytime with hermes setup.

That’s it! You now have a working AI agent in your pocket. Go build something awesome — right from your phone.