Use the Hermes Desktop Terminal and Add Output to Chat

Hermes Desktop includes a real terminal in the right sidebar. It is a human-operated shell surface, separate from the agent's terminal tool, with persistent sessions and a deliberate Add to chat bridge for selected output.

Official documentation: Open the official guide

Keep shell work attached to the right conversation

Press Ctrl+ to show the terminal and open one when needed. Ctrl+Shift+ creates another terminal. Move between terminals with Ctrl+Shift+Down/Up and close the active terminal with Ctrl+Shift+W.

Hiding the panel does not end the shell. Open terminals keep their scrollback and running processes until explicitly closed. That persistence is useful, but it also means a hidden terminal may still be doing work.

To give terminal evidence to Hermes, select only the relevant lines and use Add to chat. Inspect the selection first. Shell output can contain access tokens, environment values, private paths, repository names, personal information, or enormous logs that waste context.

Safe handoff checklist

Confirm the terminal's current directory and target environment.
Check for a still-running process before starting another copy.
Select the smallest output slice that proves the issue.
Redact secrets, credentials, private URLs, and personal data before Add to chat.
Include the command and the error boundary, not an unbounded scrollback dump.
Verify the correct chat is focused before inserting the selection.
Close shells you no longer need rather than assuming a hidden pane stopped them.

Common pitfalls

Confusing the embedded terminal with agent tool execution. The approval and audit path can differ.
Pasting the entire log. Excess output obscures the useful lines and consumes context.
Leaking environment values. Treat command output as sensitive until reviewed.
Forgetting persistent processes. Hidden terminals can continue servers, watchers, or expensive jobs.

Verification

Run a harmless command that prints a few test lines, hide and reopen the panel, and confirm scrollback persists. Add only one safe line to a disposable chat and verify the composer contains exactly the intended text. Finally close the test terminal and confirm its process is no longer active.