# CoWork-OS vs Hermes Agent

> Side-by-side comparison of two projects in the OpenClaw ecosystem.

Canonical HTML: https://shelldex.com/compare/cowork-os-vs-hermes/
JSON: https://shelldex.com/api/compare/cowork-os-vs-hermes.json

| Field | CoWork-OS | Hermes Agent |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Tagline | Security-first operating system for personal AI agents | The agent that grows with you |
| Language | typescript | python |
| Status | active | active |
| Stars | 318 | 163k |
| Forks | 52 | 26728 |
| Open issues | 6 | 13267 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Last commit | 2026-05-22T09:25:09Z | 2026-05-23T03:15:11Z |
| 7d growth | 20 | 11664 |
| MCP support | no | yes |
| Requires LLM | yes | yes |
| Platforms | server, messaging | server, messaging |
| Categories | self-hosted, messaging, security | memory, self-hosted, multi-platform |
| Health score | 90/100 | 75/100 |
| Leaderboard rank | #38 | #2 |

## Key differences

- Hermes Agent has 514x more stars (163k vs 318), indicating significantly broader adoption.
- Hermes Agent is growing faster with +12k stars this week vs +20 for CoWork-OS.
- CoWork-OS is written in TypeScript while Hermes Agent uses Python, which may influence your choice depending on your stack.
- Hermes Agent has MCP (Model Context Protocol) support while CoWork-OS does not.
- CoWork-OS focuses on messaging, security while Hermes Agent targets memory, multi-platform.
- CoWork-OS scores higher on project health (maintenance activity, issue management, release cadence).

## Descriptions

### CoWork-OS

Multi-channel (WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, iMessage), multi-provider (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Ollama) personal AI agent OS. Fully self-hosted with a security-first architecture. TypeScript, MIT licensed.

### Hermes Agent

Persistent personal AI agent by Nous Research with multi-level growing memory, self-authored skills, and multi-platform messaging. Learns your projects and builds reusable knowledge over time.