Profile Commands Reference

Profile Commands Reference

This page covers all commands related to Hermes profiles. For general CLI commands, see CLI Commands Reference.

hermes profile

hermes profile <subcommand>

Top-level command for managing profiles. Running hermes profile without a subcommand shows help.

Subcommand	Description
list	List all profiles.
use	Set the active (default) profile.
create	Create a new profile.
delete	Delete a profile.
show	Show details about a profile.
alias	Regenerate the shell alias for a profile.
rename	Rename a profile.
export	Export a profile to a tar.gz archive.
import	Import a profile from a tar.gz archive.

hermes profile list

hermes profile list

Lists all profiles. The currently active profile is marked with *.

Example:

$ hermes profile list
  default
* work
  dev
  personal

No options.

hermes profile use

hermes profile use <name>

Sets <name> as the active profile. All subsequent hermes commands (without -p) will use this profile.

Argument	Description
<name>	Profile name to activate. Use default to return to the base profile.

Example:

hermes profile use work
hermes profile use default

hermes profile create

hermes profile create <name> [options]

Creates a new profile.

Argument / Option	Description
<name>	Name for the new profile. Must be a valid directory name (alphanumeric, hyphens, underscores).
--clone	Copy config.yaml, .env, and SOUL.md from the current profile.
--clone-all	Copy everything (config, memories, skills, sessions, state) from the current profile.
--clone-from <profile>	Clone from a specific profile instead of the current one. Used with --clone or --clone-all.
--no-alias	Skip wrapper script creation.

Creating a profile does not make that profile directory the default project/workspace directory for terminal commands. If you want a profile to start in a specific project, set terminal.cwd in that profile’s config.yaml.

Examples:

# Blank profile — needs full setup
hermes profile create mybot

# Clone config only from current profile
hermes profile create work --clone

# Clone everything from current profile
hermes profile create backup --clone-all

# Clone config from a specific profile
hermes profile create work2 --clone --clone-from work

hermes profile delete

hermes profile delete <name> [options]

Deletes a profile and removes its shell alias.

Argument / Option	Description
<name>	Profile to delete.
--yes, -y	Skip confirmation prompt.

Example:

hermes profile delete mybot
hermes profile delete mybot --yes

This permanently deletes the profile’s entire directory including all config, memories, sessions, and skills. Cannot delete the currently active profile.

hermes profile show

hermes profile show <name>

Displays details about a profile including its home directory, configured model, gateway status, skills count, and configuration file status.

This shows the profile’s Hermes home directory, not the terminal working directory. Terminal commands start from terminal.cwd (or the launch directory on the local backend when cwd: ".").

Argument	Description
<name>	Profile to inspect.

Example:

$ hermes profile show work
Profile: work
Path:    ~/.hermes/profiles/work
Model:   anthropic/claude-sonnet-4 (anthropic)
Gateway: stopped
Skills:  12
.env:    exists
SOUL.md: exists
Alias:   ~/.local/bin/work

hermes profile alias

hermes profile alias <name> [options]

Regenerates the shell alias script at ~/.local/bin/<name>. Useful if the alias was accidentally deleted or if you need to update it after moving your Hermes installation.

Argument / Option	Description
<name>	Profile to create/update the alias for.
--remove	Remove the wrapper script instead of creating it.
--name <alias>	Custom alias name (default: profile name).

Example:

hermes profile alias work
# Creates/updates ~/.local/bin/work

hermes profile alias work --name mywork
# Creates ~/.local/bin/mywork

hermes profile alias work --remove
# Removes the wrapper script

hermes profile rename

hermes profile rename <old-name> <new-name>

Renames a profile. Updates the directory and shell alias.

Argument	Description
<old-name>	Current profile name.
<new-name>	New profile name.

Example:

hermes profile rename mybot assistant
# ~/.hermes/profiles/mybot → ~/.hermes/profiles/assistant
# ~/.local/bin/mybot → ~/.local/bin/assistant

hermes profile export

hermes profile export <name> [options]

Exports a profile as a compressed tar.gz archive.

Argument / Option	Description
<name>	Profile to export.
-o, --output <path>	Output file path (default: <name>.tar.gz).

Example:

hermes profile export work
# Creates work.tar.gz in the current directory

hermes profile export work -o ./work-2026-03-29.tar.gz

hermes profile import

hermes profile import <archive> [options]

Imports a profile from a tar.gz archive.

Argument / Option	Description
<archive>	Path to the tar.gz archive to import.
--name <name>	Name for the imported profile (default: inferred from archive).

Example:

hermes profile import ./work-2026-03-29.tar.gz
# Infers profile name from the archive

hermes profile import ./work-2026-03-29.tar.gz --name work-restored

hermes -p / hermes --profile

hermes -p <name> <command> [options]
hermes --profile <name> <command> [options]

Global flag to run any Hermes command under a specific profile without changing the sticky default. This overrides the active profile for the duration of the command.

Option	Description
-p <name>, --profile <name>	Profile to use for this command.

Examples:

hermes -p work chat -q "Check the server status"
hermes --profile dev gateway start
hermes -p personal skills list
hermes -p work config edit

hermes completion

hermes completion <shell>

Generates shell completion scripts. Includes completions for profile names and profile subcommands.

Argument	Description
<shell>	Shell to generate completions for: bash or zsh.

Examples:

# Install completions
hermes completion bash >> ~/.bashrc
hermes completion zsh >> ~/.zshrc

# Reload shell
source ~/.bashrc

After installation, tab completion works for:

• hermes profile <TAB> — subcommands (list, use, create, etc.)
• hermes profile use <TAB> — profile names
• hermes -p <TAB> — profile names

See also

• Profiles User Guide
• CLI Commands Reference
• FAQ — Profiles section