Hermes WebUI vs a native app
The Hermes WebUI is a browser dashboard you host and expose yourself. If what you actually want is to run and supervise Hermes from your phone, a native app over SSH gives you the host itself — no web server to stand up, no port to secure, and not limited to Hermes.
TL;DR
The Hermes WebUI (most commonly hermes-webui) is an excellent browser interface: chat, sessions, workspace files, token ring — often installed as a phone PWA over Tailscale. Its trade-offs are that you host it, expose it, and secure it, you work inside a browser tab, and it only knows about Hermes. Onepilot is the native iOS alternative: it configures the external channel for you in the app (Telegram, Discord, or Slack) and reaches the agent over a real SSH tunnel — interactive terminal, file browser, git diffs, cron — with nothing new exposed on a public port, plus iOS push/voice/background, and it drives OpenClaw, Claude Code, and Codex too. Use a WebUI for browser chat; use Onepilot to set up the channel and operate the host.
Skip the self-hosted WebUI — run Hermes over SSH from your iPhone. One email when Onepilot ships.
What the WebUI is great at
Credit where due: a good WebUI like hermes-webui is the fastest way to get a clean, ChatGPT-style window onto your agent in a browser. It runs as one local Python server with no build step, mirrors the CLI feature-for-feature, shows live token usage, and lets you browse the workspace and manage sessions. Installed as a PWA over a Tailscale tunnel, it feels app-like and works from any device with a browser. If your whole need is “chat with my agent from a tab,” it is hard to beat.
Where a browser WebUI runs out of room
You have to host and expose it. Someone has to run the web service, keep it updated, and decide how to reach it from outside the LAN — Tailscale, a reverse proxy, a tunnel. That is real setup and a real attack surface for a service that controls a shell-capable agent.
You only see what it exposes.A WebUI shows the panels its authors built. When you need to run an arbitrary command, restart the gateway, or read a log it doesn't surface, you are back to SSH anyway.
It's Hermes-only. A Hermes WebUI knows about Hermes. Run OpenClaw too, or drop into Claude Code, and you need another tool.
Browser limits on mobile.A PWA can't match native push, background SSH, and OS-level voice the way a real app can.
The SSH approach: the host, not a tab
Onepilot connects to the same machine the WebUI would run on, but over SSH instead of a web server. That single change is what gives you a real interactive terminal, a syntax-highlighted file browser to read the skill files Hermes writes, a git tab with real diffs, and cron — the host itself, on your phone. Nothing new listens on a public port; you reach the box the same way you always have.
And because the layer is SSH, not a Hermes-specific web app, the very same app deploys and supervises OpenClaw, and runs Claude Code and Codex once they're installed. One control surface for every agent on the box.
FAQ
What is the Hermes WebUI?
The Hermes WebUI is a browser-based interface for the Hermes agent. The most popular one, hermes-webui, is an open-source dashboard you run on the same host as the agent; it gives you a chat pane, session management, a workspace file view, and a context/token ring, all with full parity to the CLI. It is built with Python and vanilla JavaScript, runs as a single local server, and many people install it as a phone home-screen PWA reached over a Tailscale tunnel. It is the most popular way to use Hermes from a browser, and it is genuinely good at that job.
Do I need a WebUI to use Hermes on my phone?
No. A WebUI is one of three ways to reach a remote Hermes agent from a phone. The second is an external messaging channel — Telegram, Discord, or Slack — which is how Hermes delivers conversational replies and voice transcription. The third is a native app like Onepilot, which actually combines the last two: it configures the external channel for you in the app (pick one during deploy and it wires the bot) and connects to the host over SSH, so you get the conversation and the host itself — terminal, files, git, cron — instead of only what a web server chooses to expose. The WebUI is great for chat-in-a-browser; Onepilot sets up the channel and gives you shell-level control of the box.
Hermes WebUI vs a native app — what's the real difference?
A WebUI is a web page: you host it, you expose it (port-forward or Tailscale), you secure it, and you interact through whatever panels its authors built — for Hermes only. A native app over SSH connects to the machine directly. With Onepilot you get a real interactive terminal, a syntax-highlighted file browser to read the skill files Hermes writes, a git tab for real diffs, cron scheduling, plus native iOS push, voice, and background that a browser tab can't match. And the same app drives OpenClaw, Claude Code, and Codex, so you are not tied to a single framework's UI.
Is the Hermes WebUI secure to expose?
It can be, but it is on you. Putting a WebUI on the public internet means running a web server that controls an agent with shell access, so the standard advice is to never expose it directly — put it behind a private network like Tailscale, or a reverse proxy with authentication. SSH flips the model: there is no extra web service to harden, you connect over the same battle-tested protocol you already use to reach the box, and nothing new is listening on a public port.
Can I use the Hermes WebUI and Onepilot together?
Yes. They are not mutually exclusive — the agent is the same process on the same host. You might keep a WebUI bookmarked for a quick desktop chat and use Onepilot from your phone for deploys, reading skill files, inspecting git diffs, and fixing things over the terminal. Onepilot just removes the need to stand up and expose a web service when all you want is to run and supervise the agent from iOS.
Does the WebUI run the agent on my phone?
No. The WebUI is only an interface; the Hermes runtime still runs on the host (a Mac mini, Pi, Linux box, or VPS). The browser — or the native app — is always just a window onto an agent that lives somewhere with a real shell. That is true for the WebUI, for a PWA, and for Onepilot. iOS sandboxing rules out running the runtime on the device itself.
Where do I find the Hermes WebUI and the official project?
The most popular community WebUI is nesquena/hermes-webui on GitHub. The official Hermes Agent (NousResearch) project is at github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent and ships its own self-hosted dashboard. Onepilot is independent of both — it deploys the official Hermes runtime and supervises it over SSH from iOS.
Run Hermes without standing up a WebUI
Drop your email and we'll send one note when Onepilot ships on the App Store.
See also: The Hermes app, Run Hermes on iPhone, or Hermes on a Mac mini.