Quick take
Hermes Agent and Paperclip are not rivals. Paperclip runs Hermes as one of its built-in agents. Hermes is a personal agent from Nous Research that remembers you, writes its own skills and answers in your chat apps. Use Hermes alone for one personal agent, and add Paperclip when a whole team shares Hermes next to Claude Code or Codex.
At a glance
Scroll sideways to see both columns
| Capability | Paperclip | Hermes |
|---|---|---|
| Works with the other product | Yesruns Hermes as a built-in agent, locally or by invite | Yesjoins Paperclip with one invitation prompt |
| Shared by a whole team | Yespeople and agents share one org chart, with the same tasks, threads and history | Partiala personal agent. Allowlists let several people message it, and the paid Nous Business plan adds roles and a team skill library |
| Private projects and tasks | Yeschoose which people and agents can see each one | Nonot in its docs. A board belongs to one user’s profiles |
| Apps and connections with a rule for each action | Yes40+ apps and any MCP server, each action Off, Ask first or Allowed | Partialapproval and deny rules for shell commands, and tool filters for each MCP server |
| Shared skills | Yesone library for the whole company, written and tested in Skill Studio | Yesa Skills Hub, and a team skill library on the paid Business plan |
| Is an agent itself | NoPaperclip runs agents from other vendors | Yeswith its own memory and skills |
| Runs Claude Code, Codex and other coding agents | YesClaude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, OpenCode, Hermes and more | Partialhands coding to Claude Code or Codex through bundled skills, and to OpenCode through an optional skill |
| Memory across sessions | Nocontext lives in tasks, threads and documents | Yesit remembers you and your projects and searches past sessions |
| Task board | Yestasks with one owner, a thread and a project | Yesa Kanban board with named profiles |
| Git worktree for each task | Yesopt-in with Isolated Workspaces | Yesa disposable worktree for a run or a board task |
| Review and approval built into every task | Yespeople or agents approve the work before it ships, and changes go back to the agent | Yesa review status on the board, with an agent reviewer or a person |
| Budget with a hard stop | Yescompany, agent or project, pauses at 100% | Partialan optional turn cap and spend limits on paid MCP tools. Spend caps for each member are on the paid Business plan |
| Routines: scheduled and webhook-triggered work | Yesroutines with schedules, webhooks and Run now, each run is a task | Yesa built-in scheduler that delivers results to any chat app |
| Chat channels | Yesexperimental: Slack, Discord, Teams, Telegram, GitHub and email | Yesone gateway for Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, email and more |
| Native desktop app | Noinstallable web UI | YesHermes Desktop for macOS, Windows and Linux |
| Mobile | Yesresponsive web app you can install on your phone | Partialyou reach it from chat apps on your phone. No native mobile app in its docs |
| Hosted option | YesPaperclip Cloud, join the waitlist | YesHermes Cloud, one agent included in Nous Portal plans from $20 a month |
| Open source | YesMIT | YesMIT |
What Hermes does well
Hermes has memory that grows. It remembers you and your projects across sessions, and it can search its past conversations. Paperclip has nothing like this for a single agent.
It writes its own skills. After a complex job, Hermes can save what it learned as a skill and improve that skill with use.
It lives where you already talk. One gateway connects Hermes to Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, email and more than 20 platforms in total. A built-in scheduler can send a daily brief or a report to any of them.
It runs almost anywhere, with almost any model. Hermes works with Nous Portal, OpenRouter, OpenAI, local models and your own endpoint. It can run on your machine, in Docker, over SSH or in a cloud sandbox. Hermes Desktop is a native app for macOS, Windows and Linux, and Hermes Cloud is a hosted agent that is always on.
Hermes also has its own Kanban board now, with named agent profiles, a review status and worktrees. A board card can wait until the pull request’s required checks pass. For one person’s agents, that board covers a lot.
On November 12, 2026 Hermes Agent had 262,948 GitHub stars.
Where Paperclip differs
A shared space with permissions
Hermes is personal first. Its Kanban board is shared across one user’s Hermes profiles, and its team features are on the paid Nous Business plan. Enterprise adds SSO and runs on your own infrastructure. Paperclip is multi-player in the free app. People and agents share one org chart, and everyone sees the same tasks, threads and run history. Roles and permissions decide who can do what, and you can mark a project or a task private.
Agents from several vendors on one team
A Hermes board coordinates Hermes profiles. A Paperclip team mixes vendors. Hermes can sit next to Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode, each with a role and a manager. A coding agent can write the change, and a different agent can review it.
Budgets in money
A Paperclip budget applies to the company, one agent or one project, in money. It warns at 80% by default and pauses the agent at 100%. The open-source Hermes agent can cap the turns in a run. Money caps for each member are part of the paid Business plan. When Paperclip starts Hermes itself, Hermes reports its cost, so a budget can pause it.
One record of the work
Each Paperclip task has a thread that the whole team can read. When Paperclip runs Hermes through the gateway, each task gets its own Hermes session, so one task’s conversation does not carry into another. Each run is recorded on the task.
Use them together
Paperclip runs Hermes in two ways. Both are built in.
If Hermes already runs somewhere, invite it. In Paperclip, choose New Agent, then Invite an external agent, then Hermes. Paste the invitation prompt into Hermes and approve its join request. Paperclip then sends tasks to the Hermes API server.
If you want Paperclip to start Hermes on its own machine, create an agent with the Hermes card. Hermes keeps its own model setting, memory and skills.
The steps are in the Hermes integration guide and in Invite a Hermes agent.
- A teammate assigns the task
- Anyone comments, the agent wakes
- The reviewer approves
- TaskOne owner. A thread for the plan and results.
- The agent runsWoken by the task, a comment or a schedule.
- Work productPosted in the task thread with the diff or files.
- Review stageA named reviewer, a person or an agent, approves or requests changes.
- ApprovedThe task closes only after approval.
When to choose Hermes
- You want one personal agent that remembers you and answers in your chat apps.
- You want scheduled personal jobs, such as a daily brief, sent to Telegram or Slack.
- You work alone, and the Hermes board and profiles cover your needs.
- You want an agent that writes and improves its own skills.
- You want a hosted personal agent today.
When to choose Paperclip
- Your whole team shares the agents, with roles, review and approval, budgets, and private projects and tasks for sensitive work.
- You want Hermes on the same team as Claude Code, Codex and other agents.
- You want a budget in money on each agent and project.
- You want one task history that every teammate can read.
- You want these team features in the free MIT-licensed app.
FAQ
Is Hermes an alternative to Paperclip?
No. Hermes is an agent, and Paperclip runs agents. Many people use both: Hermes does the work, and Paperclip gives it tasks, a manager and a team.
How do I connect Hermes to Paperclip?
Invite a running Hermes with one prompt, or let Paperclip start Hermes on its own machine. The Hermes integration guide has the steps.
Hermes has a Kanban board. Do I still need Paperclip?
For one person’s Hermes agents, the Hermes board may be enough. Paperclip adds a shared space for a team, permissions, budgets in money and agents from other vendors.
Does Hermes work for a team?
Partly. Several people can message one Hermes through its chat allowlists. Roles, spend caps and a team skill library are on the paid Nous Business plan.
How do Hermes, OpenClaw and Paperclip fit together?
Hermes and OpenClaw are agents. Paperclip is the team space that can run both. See Paperclip vs OpenClaw.
Sources
- Hermes Agent, homepage, docs index, Kanban, skills, security, Hermes Desktop, Hermes Cloud and Nous Business, checked November 12, 2026
- GitHub, NousResearch/hermes-agent README, 262,948 stars, checked November 12, 2026
- Paperclip, README, Hermes adapter and Hermes Gateway adapter, 113,373 stars, checked November 12, 2026
