# Honcho Memory

Set up and troubleshoot Honcho memory for Hermes.

- Repository: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent (259479 stars)
- Category: AI and agents
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add NousResearch/hermes-agent --skill honcho -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add NousResearch/hermes-agent --skill honcho -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add NousResearch/hermes-agent --skill honcho -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add NousResearch/hermes-agent --skill honcho -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Configure and troubleshoot Honcho memory for Hermes.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Honcho Memory for Hermes

Honcho provides AI-native cross-session user modeling. It learns who the user is across conversations and gives every Hermes profile its own peer identity while sharing a unified view of the user.

## When to Use

- Setting up Honcho (cloud or self-hosted)
- Troubleshooting memory not working / peers not syncing
- Creating multi-profile setups where each agent has its own Honcho peer
- Tuning observation, recall, dialectic depth, or write frequency settings
- Understanding what the 5 Honcho tools do and when to use them
- Configuring context budgets and session summary injection

## Setup

Honcho is a plugin-catalog memory provider maintained by Plastic Labs. Install it once per machine (homes upgraded from a release that bundled Honcho get it automatically):

```bash
hermes plugins install honcho
```

### Cloud (app.honcho.dev)

```bash
hermes memory setup honcho
# select "cloud", paste API key from https://app.honcho.dev
```

### Self-hosted

```bash
hermes memory setup honcho
# select "local", enter base URL (e.g. http://localhost:8000)
```

See: https://docs.honcho.dev/v3/guides/integrations/hermes#running-honcho-locally-with-hermes

### Verify

```bash
hermes honcho status    # shows resolved config, connection test, peer info
```

## Architecture

### Base Context Injection

When Honcho injects context into the system prompt (in `hybrid` or `context` recall modes), it assembles the base context block in this order:

1. **Session summary** -- a short digest of the current session so far (placed first so the model has immediate conversational continuity)
2. **User representation** -- Honcho's accumulated model of the user (preferences, facts, patterns)
3. **AI peer card** -- the identity card for this Hermes profile's AI peer

The session summary is generated automatically by Honcho at the start of each turn (when a prior session exists). It gives the model a warm start without replaying full history.

The rest: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/blob/HEAD/optional-skills/autonomous-ai-agents/honcho/SKILL.md