Is HermesMarkdown the same as Hermes Agent?

No. HermesMarkdown is a browser-based Markdown editor. Hermes Agent is a separate AI agent project that uses files like SOUL.md and memory.md. They share a name and nothing else — here's the actual difference.

HermesMarkdown, in one sentence

HermesMarkdown is a Markdown editor that runs entirely in your browser and reads/writes files directly on your local disk. There's no account, no cloud sync, and no server in the middle — you open a folder of .mdfiles (including an existing Obsidian vault, if you have one) and edit it in place. It has no relationship to any AI agent's memory system.

What Hermes Agent's markdown files are

Hermes Agent (from NousResearch) is an unrelated AI agent project. It stores agent memory, personas, and plans in specific markdown files:

  • SOUL.md — custom personality/behavior definitions for the agent
  • memory.md — persistent memory and context the agent stores across sessions
  • Plan-mode markdown files — structured goals, assumptions, and steps the agent generates before executing changes
  • hermes.md / .hermes.md — project-context filenames used by Hermes Agent and compatible tools, similar in purpose to AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md

None of these are created, read, or required by HermesMarkdown. HermesMarkdown doesn't define special filenames at all — it edits whatever Markdown already exists in the folder you open, whether that's an Obsidian vault, a docs folder, or a plain notes directory.

NoteHermes Agent (NousResearch) and HermesMarkdown are unrelated projects that happen to share the Hermes name. If you landed here looking for SOUL.md, memory.md, or plan-mode setup, this isn't that — you likely want Hermes Agent's own documentation.

If you're looking for agent-readable notes

If what you actually want is a way to keep a human-edited knowledge base in sync with what an AI agent reads, HermesMarkdown does have a feature for that — though it works differently from Hermes Agent's single-file memory convention.

Instead of one memory file, HermesMarkdown generates a .hermes/ folder inside any vault you open. The folder holds:

  • AGENTS.md— a generated, agent-facing document that describes the vault's frontmatter schema and file tree. An agent reads this first rather than scanning all your notes individually.
  • index.yaml— a flat index of every note's frontmatter (scope, read_when, title, status) with no file body content — so an agent can skim hundreds of notes without opening them.
  • schema.yaml— the vault's frontmatter schema, editable from the editor's settings panel.

See .hermes/ architecture and Agent context protocol in the documentation for the full mechanics.

Try the editorRead the agent-context docs