Why can I send or receive Hermes Agent Email, or I don't receive it? IMAP, App Password, and EMAIL_ALLOWED_USERS should be checked separately

In the Hermes Agent Email scenario, "can send but not receive" and "received but not replied" are usually not the same type of error. The former is mostly IMAP not opened or the password is incorrect, while the latter is more common because EMAIL_ALLOWED_USERS is not released. The order of the official email document is actually very clear: first check IMAP/SMTP, then check App Password, and finally check the allowlist.

Minimum Troubleshooting Sequence

1. When using 2FA for Gmail or Outlook, EMAIL_PASSWORD need to fill in the App Password, not the login password.
2. Check that the email service provider of IMAP host / SMTP host is 993 for IMAP and 587 for SMTP.
3. If you don't receive new emails at all, check if IMAP is enabled in your mailbox background.
4. If you can see the message but Hermes doesn't process it, check if EMAIL_ALLOWED_USERS contains the sender address.

Why "received but not returned"

Hermes filters out spontaneous emails, noreply, bulk, and some automated headers to avoid email loopbacks. So not all messages that make it to the inbox trigger a reply. Also, if you run two gateways at the same time, you may encounter duplicate replies or state confusion.

The conclusion is straightforward: authentication error, check App Password; If you receive the wrong letter, check IMAP; If you don't reply, check allowed users and filter rules. Don't confuse these three things with one "email is broken".

Official open source address: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent; Official document entry: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/.