Windows: plugin runtime data and paths assume POSIX ~/.hermes instead of HERMES_HOME (%LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes)

[asorry75]

Bug Description

On Windows, the memos-local-plugin resolves the Hermes home as ~/.hermes in several places, while Hermes itself uses %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes (HERMES_HOME). The result is that the plugin's runtime data lives outside the Hermes home, and several features either break or silently miss data.

Hermes' own platform resolution (hermes_constants.py):

def _get_platform_default_hermes_home() -> Path:
    if sys.platform == "win32":
        local_appdata = os.environ.get("LOCALAPPDATA", "").strip()
        base = Path(local_appdata) if local_appdata else Path.home() / "AppData" / "Local"
        return base / "hermes"
    return Path.home() / ".hermes"

The plugin hardcodes the POSIX convention instead:

• adapters/hermes/memos_provider/__init__.py:132 → Path.home() / ".hermes" / "memos-plugin"
• adapters/hermes/memos_provider/bridge_client.py:69 → agent_home = ".hermes"
• bridge.cts:96 / bridge.mts:82 → agentHome = ".hermes"
• core/config/paths.ts:32 → hermes: "{HOME}/.hermes/memos-plugin"
• server/routes/migrate.ts:70 → join(homedir(), ".hermes", "memos-state", ...)

Observed impact on Windows

1. Install writes config to the wrong place — the template config.yaml lands under the code dir instead of the runtime home the daemon reads → fix: install.ps1 writes Hermes config template to the wrong location #2211 (fixed by PR).
2. Native memory import can't find Hermes' MEMORY.md — hardcoded ~/.hermes, but Hermes stores it under %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes\memories\ → fix: resolve Hermes native memory import path on Windows #2210 (fixed by PR).
3. hermes backup may not include plugin data — Hermes' backup walks HERMES_HOME; state kept at ~/.hermes/memos-plugin is outside it, so it is only captured if the provider declares backup_paths() (see agent/memory_provider.py). On Windows this is the default layout, so a fresh install's data is at risk of being omitted from backups.
4. Data is split from the Hermes home — tools, scripts and users that follow HERMES_HOME won't find the plugin's data; the plugin creates its own ~/.hermes directory that is unrelated to the real Hermes home on Windows.

Question

Is this intentional (a cross-platform convention where the plugin keeps its data at Path.home()/.hermes regardless of the host's real home), or an oversight from POSIX-first development? If intentional, it would help to document it; if not, resolving the Hermes home through HERMES_HOME (with a platform fallback, like the fix in #2210) would make the plugin consistent with Hermes on every platform.

Environment

• OS: Windows (native, not WSL)
• Plugin: memos-local-plugin 2.0.12 (Hermes adapter)

Related

• fix: resolve Hermes native memory import path on Windows #2210 (native memory import path)
• fix: install.ps1 writes Hermes config template to the wrong location #2211 (install.ps1 runtime home)

[Memtensor-AI]

🤖 AutoDev has picked up this issue and started working on it.

Task ID: 2f340829b70656f0
Working branch: bugfix/autodev-2221-20260805075546530
Target branch: latest dev* branch
Workflow: opsp (analysis → coding → testing → PR)

I will post the PR link here once done. If I need more information, I will ask in the comments.

[asorry75]

Heads-up for whoever picks this up: two partial fixes for this exact issue are already open as PRs:

• fix: resolve Hermes native memory import path on Windows #2210 — server/routes/import-export.ts resolves the Hermes home via HERMES_HOME first (Windows %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes fallback, POSIX ~/.hermes unchanged). Reviewed and tests passed.
• fix: install.ps1 writes Hermes config template to the wrong location #2211 — install.ps1 writes the Hermes template config to the runtime home (~/.hermes\memos-plugin) instead of the code dir, matching the OpenClaw branch.

If a systemic HERMES_HOME-based resolution is implemented for this issue, please build on / incorporate those two changes so the work isn't duplicated (and note that #2210's hermesHome() helper is a ready-made shared function for the rest of the hardcoded sites listed above).

[Memtensor-AI]

✅ AutoDev task 2f340829b70656f0 completed.

Summary: Fixes #2221 (Windows: plugin runtime data assumes POSIX ~/.hermes instead of HERMES_HOME / %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes) in the apps/memos-local-plugin Hermes adapter.

Added a single canonical Hermes-home resolver on each language side that mirrors Hermes' own _get_platform_default_hermes_home (HERMES_HOME env → %LOCALAPPDATA%\hermes on win32 with ~/AppData/Local/hermes fallback → ~/.hermes elsewhere): new modules adapters/hermes/memos_provider/hermes_home.py and core/config/hermes-home.ts. All hard-coded ~/.hermes / .hermes sites now route through it: the Python provider _resolved_memos_runtime_home + _extract_child_tool_calls, bridge_client._resolved_runtime_home, bridge.cts::pidFilePath, bridge.mts::pidFilePath, core/config/paths.ts::resolveHome (hermes default), server/routes/migrate.ts::legacyDbPath, and server/routes/import-export.ts::hermesNativeMemoryPath. Non-Hermes agents keep the ~/.<agent>/memos-plugin convention; MEMOS_HOME / MEMOS_CONFIG_FILE still win over HERMES_HOME.

Test evidence: new TDD suite tests/python/test_hermes_home.py (8 tests) and tests/unit/config/hermes-home.test.ts (6 tests) cover all four resolver branches plus the Python provider / bridge_client integration paths. tests/unit/config/paths.test.ts extended with a resolveHome("hermes") + HERMES_HOME regression assertion. Full Python suite passes (109/109), full vitest suite passes (156 files / 1274 tests, 2 pre-existing skips), tsc -p tsconfig.json --noEmit clean. POSIX default (~/.hermes) is preserved when HERMES_HOME is unset, so no behaviour change on Linux/macOS.

Reviewers: @whipser030, @hijzy.

Base branch: main
Branch: bugfix/autodev-2221-20260805075546530
Commit: 4cf0a31
PR: #2224
Assigned to: @hijzy
Reviewers: @whipser030, @hijzy