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Control Repository Discovery in Hermes Desktop

Hermes Desktop can discover local Git repositories for the Projects sidebar by scanning your home directory to a bounded depth. That convenience should follow an intentional workspace policy: scan only the roots you actually use, exclude sensitive or noisy subtrees, or disable automatic scanning entirely.

Official documentation: Open the official guide

Choose the smallest useful discovery scope

Repository discovery is profile-scoped. Configure it in Settings → Workspace or under the desktop section of that profile's config.yaml:

desktop:
  repo_scan_enabled: true
  repo_scan_roots:
    - ~/Projects
    - ~/Workspaces
  repo_scan_exclude_paths:
    - ~/Projects/archives
    - ~/Workspaces/private-mirrors

An empty repo_scan_roots list preserves the default home-directory scan. Set repo_scan_enabled: false when you want no filesystem scan. Explicit projects and repositories inferred from intentional Hermes sessions can remain available even when automatic scanning is off.

Configuration checklist

  • Select the correct Hermes profile before changing Workspace settings.
  • Prefer a short list of project roots over a broad home-directory scan.
  • Exclude archives, vendor mirrors, backups, mounted volumes, and sensitive trees.
  • Disable scanning if explicit projects are sufficient.
  • Use Hide from sidebar for curation; do not confuse it with a scan-policy exclusion.
  • Reopen the Projects sidebar and confirm only expected repositories appear.

Common pitfalls

  • Treating Hide from sidebar as a privacy boundary. It is a per-item display choice, while roots and exclusions control discovery.
  • Editing the wrong profile. Each profile has its own scan policy and cache.
  • Scanning an entire home directory by habit. That can add noise and reveal project names in screenshots or screen shares.
  • Expecting old results to remain forever. A policy change invalidates that profile's disk-discovery cache and starts a compliant refresh.

Verification

Record the active profile, expected roots, excluded test directory, and visible project list. The gate is simple: an allowed repository appears, an excluded repository does not, and switching profiles does not silently reuse the other profile's discovery policy.

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