Hermes Agent memory and MCP: one wiki for all your profiles

Updated September 28, 2026

Hermes Agent, by Nous Research, keeps its own memory in each profile: a few short notes it loads into every session, plus a searchable record of past sessions. This guide explains that memory, then shows how to connect Hermes to Dexio over MCP so all your profiles share one wiki.

What Hermes Agent remembers on its own

Hermes keeps two small files in the profile’s memories folder. MEMORY.md holds the agent’s own notes on your environment, conventions and lessons learned. USER.md holds your preferences and communication style. By default MEMORY.md is limited to 2,200 characters and USER.md to 1,375.

The agent adds, replaces and removes entries with its memory tool. When a write would go over the limit, the tool returns an error and the agent consolidates entries to make room. Both files are loaded into the system prompt as a frozen snapshot when a session starts, so a fact saved mid-session is written to disk at once and appears in the next session.

Hermes also stores every CLI and messaging session in a SQLite database with full-text search. The agent looks up earlier conversations with its session_search tool.

Memory belongs to a profile. Each profile is a separate Hermes home with its own config, .env, memories, sessions and skills. The Hermes docs advise against pointing two agents at the same home, and suggest an external memory provider plugin, which runs alongside the built-in files, when agents need shared memory. Hermes also ships a bundled llm-wiki skill (research/llm-wiki) for building and querying an interlinked markdown knowledge base. How skills work, and how to share them between profiles, is in the Hermes Agent skills guide.

Dexio adds one hosted wiki that every profile reaches over MCP. You read it at https://app.dexio.wiki as a link graph, with broken links flagged.

Connect Hermes Agent to Dexio

Hermes runs commands, so one message is enough. Send this to Hermes in the CLI or in any chat where it answers you:

Connect yourself to my Dexio wiki. Read the steps with curl -s https://dexio.wiki/agents.md and follow them.

Hermes starts a sign-in and gives you a link and a code. Open the link, sign in or create a free account, check that the page shows the same code, pick the workspace and click Allow access. If you already have a Dexio API key, which starts with dxk_, put it in the message and Hermes skips the sign-in.

Its file tools cannot edit config.yaml, so Hermes writes the connect script from the Hermes section of agents.md to a file and runs it. The script saves the API key to the profile’s .env as MCP_DEXIO_API_KEY without printing it, runs hermes mcp add dexio, and deletes itself so the key is not left behind.

Then the tools load:

In the Hermes CLI, the new server loads on its own once the agent’s turn ends.
Behind a chat gateway (Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp and so on), send /reload-mcp. The Dexio tools appear after that, with no restart.

Check that it works

From a terminal, test the connection:

hermes mcp test dexio

It reports what the server answered. Inside a session, ask Hermes to call the list_pages tool. A result listing your pages, even none yet, means it works. HTTP 401 means the API key is wrong or was revoked.

Tell Hermes Agent to use the wiki

Hermes loads project instructions from AGENTS.md (or .hermes.md) in the working directory when a session starts. Add a few lines there:

## Dexio wiki
- Keep project knowledge in the Dexio wiki.
- Before writing, use search_pages and read_page, and update the page that exists.
- Link related pages with [[wikilinks]].
- Pass base_version when you edit, and name yourself in the agent field.

For a rule that follows the profile everywhere, ask Hermes explicitly to use the memory tool to save one line, such as “keep project knowledge in the Dexio wiki”. The AGENTS.md guide covers the file in more detail.

Troubleshooting

The Dexio tools do not appear in a chat. Behind a chat gateway, send /reload-mcp.
The script says it is still waiting. It polls for two minutes. Ask Hermes to run it again.
401 from hermes mcp test dexio or list_pages. The API key is wrong or was revoked in Settings. Send the one message again, or give Hermes a key your other agents use.
One profile has Dexio and another does not. Each profile has its own config and .env; connect each one.
Hermes forgot something it said it saved. Memory persists only when the model calls the memory tool. Check the profile’s memories/MEMORY.md; a save shows up in the next session.

Several agents, one wiki

Hermes users often run several profiles, such as a coder, a researcher and a chat bot, on one machine or several. They can share one Dexio API key: sign in once, then connect every other profile with the same key. Running OpenClaw as well? See Hermes Agent vs OpenClaw.

On one machine, the connect script runs once per profile with HERMES_HOME set to that profile’s directory, for example:

HERMES_HOME=~/.hermes/profiles/research python3 /tmp/dexio_connect.py

The script deletes itself after each run, so Hermes writes it again for the next profile. On another machine, send that Hermes the one message with the key included.

Each agent names itself in the agent field on every change, so page_history shows which profile wrote what, even with one shared key. Passing base_version on edits means one agent never overwrites another’s change. Revoking the key in Settings disconnects every agent that uses it. More in the Dexio docs.

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