v2026.8.19

# Hermes Agent v0.20.5 (v2026.8.19)

**Release Date:** August 19, 2026

> Patch release. This tag rolls up the ~323 PRs merged since v0.20.4 into a stable tagged release for downstream consumers (Docker images, hosted deployments, fresh installs).

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## About this release

Since v0.20.4 (v2026.8.18, tagged August 18), this window landed **~746 commits** across **~1,250 files** (+111,500 / −20,701) — **~323 merged PRs** including Bot Mode group-room threads, foldable conversation summaries, blob-face avatars, and PDF/file attachments with drag & drop; the keyless web tier (5-vendor free rotation with ring failover, web search on fresh installs with zero keys); a CLI polish wave (fuzzy /model picker, Ctrl+P command palette, richer /status); execution-discipline and runtime stall guards from the Composio eval findings; `hermes update` receipts and fleet `--plan` verification; `hermes worktree list/prune`; the opencode-free zero-auth provider; multi-question clarify; desktop perf work (paint-first Bot Mode hydration, compositor spinners, React Compiler in both renderers); and cron jobs gaining persistent memory and per-job reasoning effort.

**Full curated release notes for this window will ship with v0.21.0**, which will document everything from v0.20.0 onward — highlights, feature areas, and complete contributor credits. Nothing in this window is skipped.

## Updating

- `hermes update` from an existing install
- Fresh install: `curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash`

**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/compare/v2026.8.18...v2026.8.19