Hermes Agent's chat history is no longer primarily in scattered text, but in the ~/.hermes/state.db SQLite database. The official Sessions and Session Storage documentation are clearly written: session metadata, full message history, and full-text search indexes are all in this library. The gateway scenario also writes an additional JSONL transcription file under ~/.hermes/sessions/.
Where should you look first?
- For the full history: see
~/.hermes/state.db - Want to see the original transcription of the gateway: see
~/.hermes/sessions/ - Want to list sessions: Run
hermes sessions list - Want to export a backup: Use
hermes sessions export
Why state.db is a priority now
Because Hermes Agent has built search and session management on SQLite + FTS5, the database is the primary index. JSONL is more like raw transcription and supplementary material than the only source of truth.
Shortest conclusion: Look for chat history and keep an eye on ~/.hermes/state.db first, don't just flip through the sessions directory.
Official open source address: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent; Official document entry: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/.
