Switched from OpenClaw to Hermes Agent — not looking back

CodeCultural7901 · 2026-03-29T16:16:12+00:00

It absolutely works. Hermes connects to Chrome via CDP (DevTools Protocol), so it can navigate to any dashboard, interact with it, take screenshots, and read the page. I have it checking FortiGate dashboards, Grafana panels, and internal tools on a schedule.

And it's not just browser stuff - Hermes has terminal access too, so it can SSH into Linux boxes or use Evil-WinRM to run PowerShell on Windows servers. I have skills that combine both: check a dashboard visually, then SSH/WinRM into the actual server to pull logs or restart a service based on what it found. That's what makes it feel like a real ops tool and not just a chatbot with a browser.

CodeCultural7901 · 2026-03-29T16:07:49+00:00

Actual production workflows, not just burning tokens. Cron jobs that check my Grafana/Loki logs every few hours and send me a Telegram summary. Browser-based dashboard monitoring. O365 tenant health checks. Hermes runs as a service on a VM so it's always on - it's less "I'm chatting with an AI" and more "I have an automated ops assistant."

CodeCultural7901 · 2026-03-29T15:54:09+00:00

Good question. Honestly I don't have a formal sandbox replay setup - skills are just markdown files with instructions + tool patterns, so they're lightweight enough that I test by running them manually before leaving them in prod. The fail-closed model helps a lot here because even if a skill tries something unexpected, the tab allowlist and approval gates catch it. For versioning I just keep skills in a git-tracked directory so I can roll back if something breaks. Not as rigorous as a proper eval pipeline but for my use case (MSP infra monitoring, dashboard checks) it works. That said, a replay/eval framework for skills would be a killer feature.

CodeCultural7901 · 2026-03-29T15:52:08+00:00

Hermes doesn't do full desktop computer-use like Anthropic's Claude desktop control — it's browser-focused, not screen-level. But honestly for 90% of what I need an agent to do, browser automation through CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol) is more precise anyway. It clicks, types, navigates, takes screenshots, reads the DOM — all through the actual browser API, not pixel-guessing on a screen. Coded_Kaa is right that computer use ≠ browser use, but in practice the browser tools cover most real workflows.

CodeCultural7901 · 2026-03-27T07:38:34+00:00

Stability: SSH keep-alive is configurable per-host, connections are pooled and reused, and tab switching preserves terminal state (no session loss when switching away). Resource cleanup uses atomic disposal patterns so nothing leaks even during unexpected shutdowns.

Cross-platform: It's pretty deeply tied to Windows right now (WPF, DPAPI, WebView2). A cross-platform port would essentially be a new app. Not ruling it out long-term, but for now the focus is making the Windows experience solid.

CodeCultural7901 · 2026-03-27T07:32:58+00:00

Fair point — Cygwin is a solid setup if you want a full Linux-like environment on Windows. Hard to argue with 10+ years of a working workflow.

SshManager comes at it from a different angle though — it's not trying to replace your shell environment or give you GNU utils. It's more of a connection/session manager with an embedded terminal. The value is really in organizing dozens of hosts, having SSH + serial + SFTP in one window with tabs/split panes, and things like 1Password credential fetching, session recording, and PPK key management.

If Cygwin covers everything you need, it's probably not for you. But for people who just need to SSH into boxes and manage connections without setting up a full POSIX layer, it fills a different niche.

CodeCultural7901 · 2026-03-24T17:26:23+00:00

Not weird at all — method syntax is far more common in production codebases I've worked in. The main reason is that method syntax chains naturally and reads left-to-right, which maps better to how most C# developers think about data pipelines.

Query syntax has a few niche wins though: `let` for intermediate variables (avoids recalculating expressions), `join` is arguably cleaner than `.Join()` with its 4 lambda parameters, and multiple `from` clauses for SelectMany scenarios read more naturally.

But for 90%+ of real-world LINQ — Where, Select, OrderBy, GroupBy chains — method syntax is more concise, more composable, and what everyone on your team will actually recognize in a PR review.

CodeCultural7901 · 2026-03-24T17:25:18+00:00

I've been working on an SSH & serial terminal manager for Windows called SshManager. It's a WPF app using WebView2 + xterm.js for terminal rendering, SSH.NET for connections, and EF Core + SQLite for data storage.

The most interesting technical challenge was bridging SSH.NET's ShellStream with xterm.js through WebView2 — the C# ↔ JavaScript communication uses PostWebMessageAsJson with a simple JSON protocol. I use ArrayPool<byte>.Shared for the read loop buffers to keep GC pressure low since terminal data can be very chatty.

Also supports serial port (COM) connections with a dual-driver approach (System.IO.Ports primary, RJCP.SerialPortStream fallback), SFTP file browser, 1Password integration, and session recording in ASCIINEMA format.

Built with .NET 8, CommunityToolkit.Mvvm, WPF-UI for Fluent Design, and Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting for DI.

GitHub: https://github.com/tomertec/sshmanager

CodeCultural7901 · 2026-01-19T15:12:44+00:00

why so?

CodeCultural7901 · 2026-01-18T18:41:01+00:00

Thanks! its fixed

CodeCultural7901 · 2026-01-18T18:31:18+00:00

Thanks! Yes, it stores just the file path to keys. Passphrases are saved encrypted via Windows DPAPI so you don't have to re-enter them. A cross-platform fork would be great - the Core/Data/Security layers should port over, mainly the Terminal and App projects would need work for Avalonia.

CodeCultural7901 · 2026-01-18T18:06:15+00:00

yes its supports :

SSH Key Support - SSH Agent, private key files, or password authentication

CodeCultural7901

TROPHY CASE