Remote access

How to reach a self-hosted Hermes WebUI from another machine or your phone.

Accessing from a remote machine

The server binds to 127.0.0.1 by default (loopback only). If you are running Hermes on a VPS or remote server, use an SSH tunnel from your local machine:

ssh -N -L <local-port>:127.0.0.1:<remote-port> <user>@<server-host>

Example:

ssh -N -L 8787:127.0.0.1:8787 user@your.server.com

Then open http://localhost:8787 in your local browser.

start.sh will print this command for you automatically when it detects you are running over SSH.

Accessing on your phone with Tailscale

Tailscale is a zero-config mesh VPN built on WireGuard. Install it on your server and your phone, and they join the same private network -- no port forwarding, no SSH tunnels, no public exposure.

The Hermes Web UI is fully responsive with a mobile-optimized layout (hamburger sidebar, sidebar top tabs in the drawer, touch-friendly controls), so it works well as a daily-driver agent interface from your phone.

Preferred: Tailscale Serve

Tailscale Serve exposes the WebUI at a tailnet-only HTTPS/MagicDNS URL while Hermes keeps listening on 127.0.0.1. Serve owns the network front door; continue launching Hermes WebUI through the maintained start.sh or systemd path.

Install Tailscale on your server and your iPhone/Android.
Before publishing anything, enable application authentication. Prefer configuring a strong password through Settings while reaching WebUI only over loopback or an SSH tunnel; Settings stores a password hash rather than a plaintext password. Keep the Serve cookie setting in the checkout's owner-only .env:
```
umask 077
touch .env
chmod 600 .env
```
```
HERMES_WEBUI_SECURE=1
```
If Settings is unavailable, the same owner-only file can carry the password:
```
HERMES_WEBUI_PASSWORD='replace-with-a-long-random-password'
HERMES_WEBUI_SECURE=1
```
start.sh sources .env as shell syntax. Keep the password single-quoted and do not use a literal single quote in this path; use Settings for an arbitrary generated password. Serve terminates HTTPS before proxying to the local HTTP backend, so HERMES_WEBUI_SECURE=1 keeps the session cookie HTTPS-only.
Restart WebUI through the same lifecycle owner that already manages it. A process listening on 0.0.0.0:8787 also answers the loopback health probe, so start.sh would otherwise report "already running" without applying the new host or reloading HERMES_WEBUI_SECURE=1.

For a daemon started by ctl.sh, keep ownership with the controller:
```
./ctl.sh stop
./ctl.sh start 8787 --host 127.0.0.1
```
For a direct start.sh launch, stop the exact listener using the PID instructions that start.sh prints, verify it has stopped, then run:
```
./start.sh 8787 --host 127.0.0.1
```
For systemd, launchd, supervisord, runit, or s6, use that supervisor's stop, unload, or down action from the supervisor guide, update its configured launch command with 8787 --host 127.0.0.1, and start it again through the same supervisor. Do not launch start.sh directly while a supervisor owns the service. For example, a systemd unit uses:
```
ExecStart=/bin/bash %h/hermes-webui/start.sh 8787 --host 127.0.0.1 --foreground
```
Do not rely on systemd Environment= entries to override conflicting values in .env: start.sh loads that file after the service environment. Keep the password (unless it is already configured through Settings) and HERMES_WEBUI_SECURE=1 in the checkout's .env; do not rely on systemd Environment= entries to override that later-loaded file. Stop the unit, edit it, run systemctl --user daemon-reload, and start it again. Do not continue until the selected lifecycle owner reports the new process running.

For a different trusted reverse proxy that sets X-Forwarded-Proto: https, HERMES_WEBUI_TRUST_FORWARDED_PROTO=1 is the alternative. Keep the explicit HERMES_WEBUI_SECURE=1 setting for Tailscale Serve.
Open http://127.0.0.1:8787 locally or through an SSH tunnel and confirm that an unauthenticated browser receives the login screen. Do not publish the Serve endpoint until this check succeeds. Use the local HTTP URL only for this preflight; sign in through the HTTPS Serve URL after publishing.
On Linux, allow the unprivileged account that runs WebUI to manage Tailscale. This is a one-time administrator action:
```
sudo tailscale set --operator="$USER"
```
As that operator account, publish the loopback service in the background:
```
tailscale serve --bg 8787
```
The command prints the tailnet-only HTTPS URL to open on your phone. Background Serve configuration persists across device reboots and tailscale down / tailscale up restarts.
Verify the active mapping:
```
tailscale serve status
```
To remove all Serve mappings from this device, run:
```
tailscale serve reset
```

Serve requires HTTPS support in the tailnet. If it is not enabled yet, the command can print an interactive consent URL for enabling the prerequisite. Tailnet encryption and access-control rules narrow exposure, but they do not replace HERMES_WEBUI_PASSWORD.

Serve, not Funnel: Serve is available only inside your tailnet. Tailscale Funnel is public on the internet and is not the recommended path for Hermes WebUI.

For the full CLI and Linux permission contracts, see the official tailscale serve reference and Linux operator permission guide. The Simplified Chinese companion tracked in #7393 should mirror the HERMES_WEBUI_SECURE=1 Serve requirement when translated.

Fallback: direct tailnet IP

If Serve is disabled for your tailnet or you cannot configure an operator, complete the password setup and login-screen check above, bind WebUI to all interfaces with an explicit launcher override, then access it through the server's Tailscale IP. Because this fallback uses plain HTTP, change the cookie setting before restarting WebUI while keeping the password non-empty:

HERMES_WEBUI_PASSWORD='replace-with-a-long-random-password'
HERMES_WEBUI_SECURE=0

Stop and restart through the same lifecycle owner described in step 3, changing that owner's host argument to 0.0.0.0. For a direct launch only, run:

./start.sh 8787 --host 0.0.0.0

Open http://<server-tailscale-ip>:8787 in your phone's browser (find the IP in the Tailscale app or with tailscale ip -4 on the server).

Never bind Hermes WebUI to 0.0.0.0 without HERMES_WEBUI_PASSWORD. 0.0.0.0 listens on every interface, not only Tailscale, so keep the host firewall restricted as well. Traffic inside the tailnet is encrypted, but the application still needs its own authentication boundary. You can add the page to your home screen for an app-like experience.

Community field report: ARM64 Android via AVF

A community report in #2364 documents Hermes Agent + WebUI running on a mid-range ARM64 Android phone inside a Debian 12 VM via Android Virtualization Framework (AVF). The reported setup used a Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro 4G, 3.8 GiB RAM allocated to the VM, 8 visible CPU cores, Chrome on Android at localhost:8787, and cloud-hosted inference.

This is not an official support baseline or provider/model benchmark, but it is a useful compatibility signal for mobile ARM64 experiments: the WebUI rendered smoothly in Chrome, ARM64 Debian worked for the agent stack, and the total local footprint was about 1.7 GB. Practical caveats from the report: first install can take longer when dependencies compile from source, Android browser tabs may reload when switching apps, and disabling battery optimization for the terminal or VM host may be needed for longer-running sessions.

Tip: If using Docker, set HERMES_WEBUI_HOST=0.0.0.0 in your docker-compose.yml environment (already the default) and set HERMES_WEBUI_PASSWORD.

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