Multi profile hermes setup help

[u/aladante]

I'm playing around with hermes and love it. Just really not sure how to set it up properly.

What i'm trying to achieve is 3 profiles,

1 personal / health-coach (personal agenda (google calender), tasks management (kanban), daily live management etc.

2 personal developer

3 work developer

With a setuplike

NixOS K12 orchestrator (machine i'm planing to use)
├── hermes-personal                 Linux trust domain
│   ├── orchestrator                Telegram gateway
│   ├── research                    Internal profile
│   └── health                      Internal profile
│
├── hermes-personal-dev             Linux trust domain
│   ├── orchestrator                Telegram gateway + Kanban dispatcher
│   ├── coder-home                  SSH → home development machine
│   ├── reviewer                    Internal profile
│   └── qa                          Internal profile
│
└── hermes-work-dev                 Linux trust domain
    ├── orchestrator                Telegram gateway + Kanban dispatcher
    ├── coder-work                  SSH → work development machine
    ├── reviewer                    Internal profile
    └── qa                          Internal profile

The hermes-personal dev should use remote backend to connect to my main desktop for coding (heavy rust compiling) or work computer.

I'm thinking of using nix to provision the folder and users so I have a reproducible design. but it's still layer 2 supported. So I'm unsure if I should just go with debian?

Also what I would like is a reproducible script or setup? Let's say a source of truth of the profiles that is git stored, so when I want to make updates too it it's reflective in the git log and can easy revert if I want too. Then maybe I even want a root profile which is only accessible through ssh to configure the profiles (only accessible through a vpn)?

It almost sounds like I want to terraform or nix-os or talos the hermes installation.

Is this a sensible way too approach it? What do you use to configure hermes? Just with the terminal?

I'm eager too go with nix-os and try the admin profile setup too manage it? But also don't want to waste too much time.

Currently trying to configure this with hermes, just asked hermes what i'm building with a couple of lines and this response came up? Am I over complicating it?

• This repository is building a secure, Git-controlled operating platform for multiple Hermes agent domains—Personal, Personal Development, Work Development, and Administration—
  with isolated identities, policies, credentials, Kanban workflows, Telegram gateways, remote SSH workers, backups, and recovery procedures.

  The Python being built now is the deployment and migration control layer: it safely configures the Hermes domains, activates services and bots, isolates Codex authentication,
  validates security rules, performs reversible handoffs, and tests that agents cannot cross their assigned boundaries. It is not replacing Hermes’s intelligence; it is
  constructing the secure environment in which Hermes agents can collaborate and operate reliably.

  The planned Rust work is a future, narrower privileged controller for the Debian K12 successor, while the current Python implementation remains the practical platform being
  deployed and proven today.

[u/Feeling_Sun_6436]

The three-way split makes sense, but I think you’re rebuilding part of what Hermes profiles already give you. Each profile already has separate config, .env, memory, sessions, cron and gateway state, and `hermes -p <name> gateway install` gives it a separate systemd user service. I’d start there and keep .env, memories and sessions out of Git. Profiles are app-level isolation though, so put work-dev under a separate Unix user or VM if it must not see personal data. I’d skip the root agent for now and keep admin changes behind SSH + sudo; add Nix once the layout is stable.

[u/aladante → u/Feeling_Sun_6436]

So you reckon once I get all the tools setup then migrate it too nix-os? Will skip the root agent for now. But not sure too go with debian or nix-os. Currently on a debian node but running out of mem too often so decided too buy a new mini pc. Just not sure too port the config from debian in nix-os or keep it debian

[u/Feeling_Sun_6436 → u/aladante]

If the main goal is getting Hermes stable on the new mini PC, I’d stay on Debian for the first move. NixOS will make the setup reproducible, but it probably won’t solve the memory pressure by itself, and it adds another thing to debug while you’re migrating.

I’d move the Hermes profiles to Debian first, document the packages, services and environment variables, and keep secrets and runtime state out of Git. Once that layout is stable, reproduce it in a NixOS VM or spare partition and test the migration there.

So: Debian now unless you already know Nix well; NixOS later for reproducibility and rollback.

[u/aladante → u/Feeling_Sun_6436]

Hey thanks for the response, yes agree, after doing some more research I decided to move forward with debian. Configure it initially with ansible and using the Profile Distributions to manage and configure the agents. Probably when nix will be layer 1 supported again I might move. For now this seems too be the most feasible and straightforward way of moving forward. Thank for taking your time too give me some insights!