Skins & Themes

Skins control the visual presentation of the Hermes CLI: banner colors, spinner faces and verbs, response-box labels, branding text, and the tool activity prefix.

Conversational style and visual style are separate concepts:

• Personality changes the agent's tone and wording.
• Skin changes the CLI's appearance.

Change skins

/skin                # show the current skin and list available skins
/skin ares           # switch to a built-in skin
/skin mytheme        # switch to a custom skin from ~/.hermes/skins/mytheme.yaml

Or set the default skin in ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

display:
  skin: default

Built-in skins

Skin	Description	Agent branding	Visual character
default	Classic Hermes — gold and kawaii	Hermes Agent	Warm gold borders, cornsilk text, kawaii faces in spinners. The familiar caduceus banner. Clean and inviting.
ares	War-god theme — crimson and bronze	Ares Agent	Deep crimson borders with bronze accents. Aggressive spinner verbs ("forging", "marching", "tempering steel"). Custom sword-and-shield ASCII art banner.
mono	Monochrome — clean grayscale	Hermes Agent	All grays — no color. Borders are #555555, text is #c9d1d9. Ideal for minimal terminal setups or screen recordings.
slate	Cool blue — developer-focused	Hermes Agent	Royal blue borders (#4169e1), soft blue text. Calm and professional. No custom spinner — uses default faces.
daylight	Light theme for bright terminals with dark text and cool blue accents	Hermes Agent	Designed for white or bright terminals. Dark slate text with blue borders, pale status surfaces, and a light completion menu that stays readable in light terminal profiles.
warm-lightmode	Warm brown/gold text for light terminal backgrounds	Hermes Agent	Warm parchment tones for light terminals. Dark brown text with saddle-brown accents, cream-colored status surfaces. An earthy alternative to the cooler daylight theme.
poseidon	Ocean-god theme — deep blue and seafoam	Poseidon Agent	Deep blue to seafoam gradient. Ocean-themed spinners ("charting currents", "sounding the depth"). Trident ASCII art banner.
sisyphus	Sisyphean theme — austere grayscale with persistence	Sisyphus Agent	Light grays with stark contrast. Boulder-themed spinners ("pushing uphill", "resetting the boulder", "enduring the loop"). Boulder-and-hill ASCII art banner.
charizard	Volcanic theme — burnt orange and ember	Charizard Agent	Warm burnt orange to ember gradient. Fire-themed spinners ("banking into the draft", "measuring burn"). Dragon-silhouette ASCII art banner.

Complete list of configurable keys

Colors (colors:)

Controls all color values throughout the CLI. Values are hex color strings.

Key	Description	Default (default skin)
banner_border	Panel border around the startup banner	#CD7F32 (bronze)
banner_title	Title text color in the banner	#FFD700 (gold)
banner_accent	Section headers in the banner (Available Tools, etc.)	#FFBF00 (amber)
banner_dim	Muted text in the banner (separators, secondary labels)	#B8860B (dark goldenrod)
banner_text	Body text in the banner (tool names, skill names)	#FFF8DC (cornsilk)
ui_accent	General UI accent color (highlights, active elements)	#FFBF00
ui_label	UI labels and tags	#4dd0e1 (teal)
ui_ok	Success indicators (checkmarks, completion)	#4caf50 (green)
ui_error	Error indicators (failures, blocked)	#ef5350 (red)
ui_warn	Warning indicators (caution, approval prompts)	#ffa726 (orange)
prompt	Interactive prompt text color	#FFF8DC
input_rule	Horizontal rule above the input area	#CD7F32
response_border	Border around the agent's response box (ANSI escape)	#FFD700
session_label	Session label color	#DAA520
session_border	Session ID dim border color	#8B8682
status_bar_bg	Background color for the TUI status / usage bar	#1a1a2e
voice_status_bg	Background color for the voice-mode status badge	#1a1a2e
completion_menu_bg	Background color for the completion menu list	#1a1a2e
completion_menu_current_bg	Background color for the active completion row	#333355
completion_menu_meta_bg	Background color for the completion meta column	#1a1a2e
completion_menu_meta_current_bg	Background color for the active completion meta column	#333355

Spinner (spinner:)

Controls the animated spinner shown while waiting for API responses.

Key	Type	Description	Example
waiting_faces	list of strings	Faces cycled while waiting for API response	["(⚔)", "(⛨)", "(▲)"]
thinking_faces	list of strings	Faces cycled during model reasoning	["(⚔)", "(⌁)", "(<>)"]
thinking_verbs	list of strings	Verbs shown in spinner messages	["forging", "plotting", "hammering plans"]
wings	list of [left, right] pairs	Decorative brackets around the spinner	[["⟪⚔", "⚔⟫"], ["⟪▲", "▲⟫"]]

When spinner values are empty (like in default and mono), hardcoded defaults from display.py are used.

Branding (branding:)

Text strings used throughout the CLI interface.

Key	Description	Default
agent_name	Name shown in banner title and status display	Hermes Agent
welcome	Welcome message shown at CLI startup	Welcome to Hermes Agent! Type your message or /help for commands.
goodbye	Message shown on exit	Goodbye! ⚕
response_label	Label on the response box header	⚕ Hermes
prompt_symbol	Symbol before the user input prompt	❯
help_header	Header text for the /help command output	(^_^)? Available Commands

Other top-level keys

Key	Type	Description	Default
tool_prefix	string	Character prefixed to tool output lines in the CLI	┊
tool_emojis	dict	Per-tool emoji overrides for spinners and progress ({tool_name: emoji})	{}
banner_logo	string	Rich-markup ASCII art logo (replaces the default HERMES_AGENT banner)	""
banner_hero	string	Rich-markup hero art (replaces the default caduceus art)	""

Custom skins

Create YAML files under ~/.hermes/skins/. User skins inherit missing values from the built-in default skin, so you only need to specify the keys you want to change.

Full custom skin YAML template

# ~/.hermes/skins/mytheme.yaml
# Complete skin template — all keys shown. Delete any you don't need;
# missing values automatically inherit from the 'default' skin.

name: mytheme
description: My custom theme

colors:
  banner_border: "#CD7F32"
  banner_title: "#FFD700"
  banner_accent: "#FFBF00"
  banner_dim: "#B8860B"
  banner_text: "#FFF8DC"
  ui_accent: "#FFBF00"
  ui_label: "#4dd0e1"
  ui_ok: "#4caf50"
  ui_error: "#ef5350"
  ui_warn: "#ffa726"
  prompt: "#FFF8DC"
  input_rule: "#CD7F32"
  response_border: "#FFD700"
  session_label: "#DAA520"
  session_border: "#8B8682"
  status_bar_bg: "#1a1a2e"
  voice_status_bg: "#1a1a2e"
  completion_menu_bg: "#1a1a2e"
  completion_menu_current_bg: "#333355"
  completion_menu_meta_bg: "#1a1a2e"
  completion_menu_meta_current_bg: "#333355"

spinner:
  waiting_faces:
    - "(⚔)"
    - "(⛨)"
    - "(▲)"
  thinking_faces:
    - "(⚔)"
    - "(⌁)"
    - "(<>)"
  thinking_verbs:
    - "processing"
    - "analyzing"
    - "computing"
    - "evaluating"
  wings:
    - ["⟪⚡", "⚡⟫"]
    - ["⟪●", "●⟫"]

branding:
  agent_name: "My Agent"
  welcome: "Welcome to My Agent! Type your message or /help for commands."
  goodbye: "See you later! ⚡"
  response_label: " ⚡ My Agent "
  prompt_symbol: "⚡ ❯ "
  help_header: "(⚡) Available Commands"

tool_prefix: "┊"

# Per-tool emoji overrides (optional)
tool_emojis:
  terminal: "⚔"
  web_search: "🔮"
  read_file: "📄"

# Custom ASCII art banners (optional, Rich markup supported)
# banner_logo: |
#   [bold #FFD700] MY AGENT [/]
# banner_hero: |
#   [#FFD700]  Custom art here  [/]

Minimal custom skin example

Since everything inherits from default, a minimal skin only needs to change what's different:

name: cyberpunk
description: Neon terminal theme

colors:
  banner_border: "#FF00FF"
  banner_title: "#00FFFF"
  banner_accent: "#FF1493"

spinner:
  thinking_verbs: ["jacking in", "decrypting", "uploading"]
  wings:
    - ["⟨⚡", "⚡⟩"]

branding:
  agent_name: "Cyber Agent"
  response_label: " ⚡ Cyber "

tool_prefix: "▏"

Hermes Mod — Visual Skin Editor

Hermes Mod is a community-built web UI for creating and managing skins visually. Instead of writing YAML by hand, you get a point-and-click editor with live preview.

What it does:

• Lists all built-in and custom skins
• Opens any skin into a visual editor with all Hermes skin fields (colors, spinner, branding, tool prefix, tool emojis)
• Generates banner_logo text art from a text prompt
• Converts uploaded images (PNG, JPG, GIF, WEBP) into banner_hero ASCII art with multiple render styles (braille, ASCII ramp, blocks, dots)
• Saves directly to ~/.hermes/skins/
• Activates a skin by updating ~/.hermes/config.yaml
• Shows the generated YAML and a live preview

Install

Option 1 — Pinokio (1-click):

Find it on pinokio.computer and install with one click.

Option 2 — npx (quickest from terminal):

npx -y hermes-mod

Option 3 — Manual:

git clone https://github.com/cocktailpeanut/hermes-mod.git
cd hermes-mod/app
npm install
npm start

Usage

1. Start the app (via Pinokio or terminal).
2. Open Skin Studio.
3. Choose a built-in or custom skin to edit.
4. Generate a logo from text and/or upload an image for hero art. Pick a render style and width.
5. Edit colors, spinner, branding, and other fields.
6. Click Save to write the skin YAML to ~/.hermes/skins/.
7. Click Activate to set it as the current skin (updates display.skin in config.yaml).

Hermes Mod respects the HERMES_HOME environment variable, so it works with profiles too.

Operational notes

• Built-in skins load from hermes_cli/skin_engine.py.
• Unknown skins automatically fall back to default.
• /skin updates the active CLI theme immediately for the current session.
• User skins in ~/.hermes/skins/ take precedence over built-in skins with the same name.
• Skin changes via /skin are session-only. To make a skin your permanent default, set it in config.yaml.
• The banner_logo and banner_hero fields support Rich console markup (e.g., [bold #FF0000]text[/]) for colored ASCII art.