Hermes Workspace V2 Release Notes (Everything Changed)

Hermes Workspace V2 release notes are a wall of bullet points and I've spent the last fortnight figuring out which ones actually matter — this post is the honest, plain-English changelog.

I'm not rewriting what the workspace is — the Hermes Workspace overview and the Hermes Agent Workspace deep dive already cover that.

This is purely a V2 release notes breakdown.

Why The V2 Release Matters

Most release notes are noise.

V2 is different because it's the version where Hermes Workspace stopped being a UI experiment and became something I actually rely on every day.

The team rewrote big chunks of the underlying architecture.

The gateway is new.

The profile system is new.

The skills architecture is new.

The whole chat experience is new.

If you read the official changelog and felt overwhelmed, this post translates it into what matters and what doesn't.

Major Change 1 — The New Gateway

V1 had no gateway — the UI talked to your Hermes setup through a loose RPC layer that was fragile and slow.

V2 introduces a proper native gateway that sits between the UI and Hermes.

It routes requests to the right model provider, handles authentication, manages session state, and recovers from connection drops automatically.

In practice this means the UI feels noticeably faster.

Long-running agent calls don't time out anymore.

Reconnecting after a sleep/wake cycle just works.

The gateway also enables the multi-profile system because each profile gets its own routed session.

This is the foundation change that makes everything else possible.

Major Change 2 — Chat Becomes First-Class

In V1 the chat was an afterthought — you could send messages but the UI was clearly built around the dashboard, not the conversation.

V2 builds the entire UI around chat.

The chat panel is the default landing screen.

It supports full markdown, code blocks, image attachments, file uploads, and inline tool call rendering.

The agent can paste back images and screenshots.

Conversation history is preserved per profile across sessions, which V1 absolutely did not do.

If you're coming from the Hermes Agent HUD UI world, this is what the HUD always wanted to be.

Major Change 3 — The Profile System

This is the V2 feature that changes how you work.

V1 had one Hermes setup that you reconfigured every time you wanted to do something different.

V2 has profiles — each with its own session, skills, memory, and context settings.

You create as many profiles as you want and switch with a click.

I run separate profiles for SEO research, content writing, code review, and personal admin.

Each one has its own loadout of skills and its own memory store.

Switching profiles is instant.

Context bleed between tasks is gone.

This alone is worth the upgrade.

Major Change 4 — Visual Skills Manager

V1 managed skills through config files.

V2 has a visual card-based UI for the 2,000+ available skills.

Each skill is a card with a toggle, a description, and an "edit prompt" button.

You can create new skills inside the UI with a form — no YAML, no terminal.

You can also group skills into "skill packs" and assign packs to profiles.

This is a big deal because skill management was the most annoying part of V1.

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Major Change 5 — Inspector Goes Live

V1 had logs.

V2 has a live inspector that shows you agent reasoning step-by-step as it happens.

You see every tool call, every model response, every token count, every timing breakdown.

If your agent does something weird, the inspector tells you exactly why.

This dramatically shortens the "why is my agent broken" debug loop.

For anyone running production workflows, this is non-negotiable.

Major Change 6 — Memory Becomes Editable

V1 stored memory as files you had to edit in a terminal.

V2 has a visual memory browser with inline editing.

Search across all memories, tag them, group them by folder, edit them in place.

You can bulk-import from markdown files or an Obsidian vault.

If you've been building a Hermes second brain, V2 lets you actually use it visually instead of through commands.

Major Change 7 — Kanban Task Board

This is genuinely new — V1 had no concept of tasks.

V2 ships with a Kanban board with Backlog, To Do, In Progress, Review, and Done columns.

You drag tasks between columns.

Agents work the tasks in the background.

I use it as my AI todo list — I dump things in Backlog, drag them to To Do when I'm ready, and the agent works them while I focus on something else.

The dedicated Hermes Kanban post covers this panel in more depth.

Major Change 8 — Mobile Progressive Web App

V1 was desktop-only.

V2 installs as a progressive web app on iOS and Android.

Same UI, same features, just on your phone.

The chat experience on mobile is genuinely good — better than most native AI chat apps.

I use it on trains and during walks for quick research questions.

Breaking Changes You Need To Know About

V2 isn't backward compatible with everything.

Global Config Is Gone

V1's global config file is deprecated.

All settings now live per-profile.

If you have custom config, you need to migrate it into a default profile.

V1 Plugins Need Porting

The plugin system is folded into the new skills architecture.

Old V1 plugins won't load in V2.

The skill schema is simpler so porting takes under an hour for most plugins.

Legacy Dashboard Port Is Deprecated

The old dashboard at the V1 default port still works for now but it's deprecated.

The V2 UI runs on a different default port.

If you have bookmarks, update them.

Skill Format Changed

V1 skills used a YAML-based format.

V2 skills use a JSON schema with a stricter validator.

Most V1 skills migrate cleanly — there's a one-command migration tool that ships with V2.

A handful of V1 skills with custom hooks need manual rework.

Community Q&A On The V2 Release

I did a live Q&A with the community covering the release notes, the upgrade path, and the migration gotchas.

Worth watching if you're on the fence about upgrading or hitting migration issues.

Minor Changes Worth Knowing

A few smaller things in the release that are easy to miss but worth knowing about.

Theme System

V2 ships with 8 visual themes — V1 had 3.

The dark themes are noticeably easier on the eyes during long sessions.

Multi-Model Provider Support

V2 supports cloud models (Claude, GPT, Gemini), local models via Ollama, and Atomic Chat for local model running.

You switch providers per-profile with a dropdown.

V1 made you reconfigure to switch providers — that's gone.

File Manager Improvements

The file panel now shows which files are in agent context.

You can mark files as "always include" or "exclude".

This is small but it stops you accidentally including huge files that blow your token budget.

Context Budget Per Profile

V2 lets you set a max token budget per profile.

If you blow past it, the agent compacts automatically instead of running up a model bill.

Virtual Office View

This is more "fun" than essential, but the round-table/grid/office views show your agents as visual entities working together.

Useful when you're orchestrating a multi-agent swarm.

What Got Removed Or Deprecated

A few V1 features are gone in V2.

The custom theme builder is deprecated — you get 8 themes, take it or leave it.

The chat-with-Telegram bridge from V1 is removed (the V2 chat replaces it).

The standalone settings file is deprecated in favour of per-profile settings.

If you used any of these, plan around the removal.

V2 vs V1 — Quick Reference Table

Area	V1	V2
Gateway	RPC layer	Native gateway
Chat	Side feature	First-class
Memory editing	Terminal	Visual editor
Skills	YAML config	Visual cards
Profiles	None	Full system
Inspector	Log files	Live UI
Tasks	None	Kanban board
Mobile	None	PWA
Themes	3	8
Multi-model	Reconfigure each time	Per-profile dropdown
Plugin format	YAML	JSON skill schema

Should You Read The Official Release Notes?

Honest answer — no, you don't need to.

The official notes are written for developers contributing to the project, not for daily users.

This post and the original Hermes Workspace post cover everything that matters for users.

If you're contributing to the project, then yes, read them.

Everyone else can skip them.

Real Impact On My Daily Workflow

V2 changed how I use Hermes more than any release before.

Before V2 I opened the terminal, ran commands, and waited.

After V2 I open the chat panel, talk to whichever profile fits the task, and let the inspector show me what's happening.

The mobile PWA means I can keep chatting on the train.

The Kanban board means I have an actual AI todo list.

The profile system means no more context bleed.

The skills UI means I stop accidentally leaving the wrong skills enabled.

All of these are small wins individually.

Stacked together, V2 is the most productive Hermes setup I've ever run.

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Migration Plan I'd Recommend

If you're upgrading from V1, do it in this order.

First, install V2 alongside V1 — they can coexist.

Second, set up a default profile in V2 and import your V1 memories.

Third, run the skill migration tool to port your V1 skills.

Fourth, test V2 in parallel with V1 for a week.

Fifth, cutover when you're confident — retire V1.

Don't do this on a deadline day.

Plan a weekend for the migration if you have a complex V1 setup.

V2 In The Wider Hermes Ecosystem

Where V2 fits in the broader Hermes stack.

The Hermes Desktop App is the standalone macOS/Windows app.

The Hermes MCP Server is the integration layer.

Hermes Agent Swarm covers multi-agent setups.

V2 ties all of these together with a unified UI.

If you're running Hermes seriously, V2 is the layer that makes the rest of the stack actually usable.

FAQ — Hermes Workspace V2 Release

What's the biggest change in Hermes Workspace V2?

The native gateway + profile system. Together they make the whole experience faster and let you run multiple agents cleanly.

Are there breaking changes in Hermes Workspace V2?

Yes — V1 plugins need porting to the new skill format, and the global config is deprecated in favour of per-profile settings.

Is the Hermes Workspace V2 upgrade worth it?

For daily users, yes. The chat experience + profile system alone justify the migration time.

How long does it take to migrate from V1 to V2?

A few hours for a simple setup, a weekend for complex setups with custom plugins.

Does Hermes Workspace V2 support local models?

Yes, via Ollama and Atomic Chat — switch per-profile with a dropdown.

Can I run Hermes Workspace V2 and V1 at the same time?

Yes, they coexist on different ports. Run them in parallel during migration.

About Julian

I'm Julian Goldie — AI entrepreneur, SEO expert, and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom (3,000+ members). I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation, and SEO.