# Daily Harness Update — Hermes + OpenClaw

Date: 2026-03-28
Audience: Alexander Whitestone
Purpose: Brief on what changed upstream, what is true locally, and where Timmy can extract leverage next.

---

## Executive Summary

Short version:

- Hermes is still the body.
- OpenClaw is still the sidecar.
- Hermes has no newer formal release than `v2026.3.23`, but upstream main is shipping fast reliability fixes that matter to local-first operation.
- OpenClaw local install is already on `2026.3.24`, which still appears to be the latest release, while upstream main is churning on provider/runtime stabilization and channel-memory regressions.

The practical call for today:

- Leverage Hermes for core local runtime, heartbeat, trajectory export, and long-session stability.
- Leverage OpenClaw for channel shell, operator UX, and session bus experiments.
- Do not confuse OpenClaw convenience with Timmy's governing authority.
- Do not move Timmy's conscience or training center out of Hermes.

---

## Current Local Truth

### Hermes local state

Local repo inspected:
- `~/worktrees/gemini-base-rockachopa-hermes-agent`

Local head:
- `4daad65` — `feat: fallback chain with recovery — Groq, Kimi, local Ollama`

Important local context:
- Timmy config now defaults to local llama.cpp after merged PR `timmy-config#77`
- Current Timmy-side config points primary runtime to:
  - provider: `custom`
  - model: `hermes4:14b`
  - base URL: `http://localhost:8081/v1`

Meaning:
- Hermes is where the real sovereignty work is paying off right now.
- The center of gravity is correctly shifting toward local runtime instead of cloud default.

### OpenClaw local state

Installed command:
- `/opt/homebrew/bin/openclaw`

Installed version:
- `OpenClaw 2026.3.24 (cff6dc9)`

Local OpenClaw config says:
- last touched version: `2026.3.24`
- gateway port: `18789`
- gateway mode: `local`
- workspace: `/Users/apayne/.openclaw/workspace`
- agent identity: `Timmy Time`
- current OpenClaw primary model: `openai-codex/gpt-5.4`

Meaning:
- OpenClaw is installed and alive.
- But its current primary model is still Codex, not local inference.
- So OpenClaw remains operationally useful, but not yet aligned with the sovereignty target.

---

## Hermes Upstream Update

### Formal release state

Latest formal release still appears to be:
- `v2026.3.23`
- release name: `Hermes Agent v0.4.0 (v2026.3.23)`

So there is no newer tagged release than the one already covered in the prior architecture spike.

### What upstream main is doing right now

Recent Hermes commits are mostly reliability and operator-safety work, which is exactly what matters for Timmy's current phase.

Notable latest commits:
- `9d4b3e547` — harden `hermes update` against diverged history, non-main branches, and gateway edge cases
- `6ed974044` — prevent unbounded growth of `_seen_uids` in EmailAdapter
- `290c71a70` — scope progress-thread fallback to Slack only
- `09796b183` — fix Alibaba provider default endpoint and model list
- `15cfd2082` — cap context pressure percentage at 100%
- `03f24c1ed` — session_search fallback preview on summarization failure
- `83043e9aa` — add timeout to subprocess calls in context_references
- `b6b87dedd` — discover plugins before reading plugin toolsets
- `8fdfc4b00` — detect thinking-budget exhaustion on truncation, skip useless retries
- `658692799` — guard auxiliary LLM calls against None content + fallback + retry
- `ab09f6b56` — curated Hugging Face model picker with OpenRouter analogues

### High-value post-release work already in upstream main

From the release-to-main compare, notable leverage items include:
- custom provider preservation instead of silent remapping
- model-switching / `/model` overhaul
- macOS Homebrew path fixes
- better streaming/tool-generation callbacks
- supply-chain cleanup on compromised dependencies
- stronger context and provider handling around local/custom endpoints

### What this means for Timmy

Hermes upstream is not screaming "new platform direction."
It is screaming "make the existing body more reliable."

That fits us.

### Where we can leverage Hermes right now

1. **Heartbeat through real local sessions**
   - Best current leverage issue: `timmy-config#75`
   - Why: upstream reliability work around context, search fallback, and thinking-budget exhaustion makes long-running local sessions less brittle.

2. **Trajectory export + sanitized training handoff**
   - Best current leverage issue: `timmy-config#74`
   - Why: Hermes is still the natural source of training artifacts. That remains true.

3. **Model health and local throughput visibility**
   - Best current leverage issue: `timmy-config#76`
   - Why: if local is primary, the harness must show it clearly.

4. **Deterministic context compaction**
   - Best current leverage issue: `the-nexus#675`
   - Why: upstream context-pressure and session-search fixes create a better substrate for our own low-cost compaction layer.

5. **Safer updates on a divergent sovereign branch**
   - Why: the `hermes update` hardening work is directly relevant because Timmy is not running vanilla upstream. We should use or study that before the next major upstream sync.

### Hermes recommendation today

Recommended stance:
- **Selective leverage, not blind update.**

What to pull mentally from upstream now:
- update-hardening ideas
- context timeout fixes
- session_search fallback behavior
- custom-provider handling
- thinking-budget exhaustion detection

What not to do yet:
- do not thrash the local sovereign branch just because upstream main is hot
- do not let formal release lag create version panic

Hermes remains the harness to invest in first.

---

## OpenClaw Upstream Update

### Formal release state

Latest release still appears to be:
- `v2026.3.24`
- release name: `openclaw 2026.3.24`

Local install matches this release.
That is good. We are not behind the latest release line.

### What `2026.3.24` emphasized

The current OpenClaw release leaned into:
- better OpenAI-compatible API coverage (`/v1/models`, `/v1/embeddings`)
- explicit model-override forwarding
- better visibility into tools actually available right now
- more Control UI and skills/install ergonomics
- Teams, Slack, outbound media, and channel routing polish
- CLI/container quality-of-life
- runtime/install hardening

This is still very much the pattern from yesterday's spike:
- OpenClaw is getting stronger as a gateway/operator shell.

### What upstream main is doing right now

Recent OpenClaw commits are focused on runtime normalization, provider discovery, and regression cleanup.

Notable latest commits:
- `aa9454f27` — restore xAI pricing cache fallback
- `aa33d585b` — repair package contract and boundary drift
- `1c5a4d2a2` — stabilize implicit provider discovery merges
- `e34a770b8` — keep provider discovery on mockable lazy runtime paths
- `ff01d749f` — keep provider normalization on local sync paths
- `2030c814c` — auto-enable channel setup registry loads
- `63e35b2d9` — auto-enable memory runtime loads
- `f4f492a41` / `c5a48a8c8` / other tests — stabilize provider/auth/profile migration behavior
- `4b69c6d3f` — add CJK/Kana/Hangul support to memory MMR tokenization
- `faae213ab` — route WhatsApp monitor through channel runtime

### What this means for Timmy

OpenClaw upstream is still doing what it does best:
- gateway polish
- routing polish
- provider/runtime polish
- channel/runtime recovery from regressions

That is useful.
But it does not change the core architectural truth:
- OpenClaw is still not the soul
- OpenClaw is still not the training center
- OpenClaw is still not where Timmy's final authority belongs

### Where we can leverage OpenClaw right now

1. **Operator shell / control surface**
   - Local install already works.
   - Leverage current release for clean operator UX while Hermes remains the body.

2. **MCP registration experiments**
   - Existing Timmy issue lineage: old `timmy-config#55`
   - Why: OpenClaw's gateway/control posture is still a natural place to test tool surfacing and session orchestration ergonomics.

3. **Heartbeat vs cron separation**
   - Old lineage: `timmy-config#59`
   - Why: OpenClaw remains useful as a reference implementation for strict scheduled tasks versus ambient continuity.

4. **Session bus / multi-agent routing experiments**
   - Old lineage: `timmy-config#60`
   - Why: if we want Timmy → Reflex → Pilot message passing ergonomics, OpenClaw remains one of the better sidecar surfaces to study.

5. **Nostr / channel shell work**
   - Old lineage: `timmy-config#61`
   - Why: OpenClaw is still stronger as a communications shell than as an inner mind.

6. **Provider-local migration testbed**
   - Very relevant now because local OpenClaw still defaults to Codex in our config.
   - The recent provider discovery/normalization fixes suggest this path is becoming easier to wire cleanly.

### OpenClaw recommendation today

Recommended stance:
- **Stay on released `2026.3.24` for now.**
- **Exploit what it already gives us.**
- **Do not chase main-branch churn today.**

Best immediate use:
- keep OpenClaw as a sidecar operator shell
- use it for channel/gateway experiments
- use it for session-bus experiments
- revisit model routing only after proving a clean local provider path there

Most important caution:
- OpenClaw local config still says `openai-codex/gpt-5.4` as primary model
- so despite being locally installed, its mind path is still not sovereign

That is the next meaningful leverage point if we choose to push deeper on OpenClaw.

---

## Side-by-Side: What Each Harness Is Best For Today

### Hermes

Best for:
- Timmy's actual body
- local-first runtime
- heartbeat and long-session cognition
- trajectory export and training loop artifacts
- tools, skills, MCP, memory, delegation
- anything identity-critical or doctrine-adjacent

Use today for:
- `timmy-config#74`
- `timmy-config#75`
- `timmy-config#76`
- `the-nexus#675`

### OpenClaw

Best for:
- operator shell
- channel routing
- polished control UI
- cron/session UX
- sidecar experimentation
- proving ingress/egress patterns before they are absorbed elsewhere

Use today for:
- validating gateway/channel patterns
- MCP visibility experiments
- session bus ergonomics
- local-provider migration experiments in a contained sidecar context

---

## Morning Call

If the question is: "Where should we spend the next unit of effort?"

The answer is still Hermes first.

Recommended order:
1. `timmy-config#74` — trajectory export + sanitized handoff
2. `timmy-config#75` — heartbeat through local Hermes sessions
3. `timmy-config#76` — throughput/freshness visibility
4. then use OpenClaw as a sidecar lab for provider/channel/session experiments

If the question is: "Should we update both harnesses right now?"

Answer:
- **Hermes:** selectively study/pull reliability fixes, especially around custom providers, context timeouts, update safety, and session-search fallback
- **OpenClaw:** stay pinned to `2026.3.24` for the moment; leverage the release you already have instead of chasing today's main-branch churn

---

## Bottom Line

Today's harness update is not a story of replacement.
It is a story of role clarification.

- Hermes keeps getting stronger where Timmy most needs strength: reliability, local routing, context handling, and operational depth.
- OpenClaw keeps getting stronger where it is already strongest: gateway polish, runtime discovery, and operator-facing shell behavior.

That means the strategy still holds:
- Hermes for the body
- OpenClaw for the sidecar
- Timmy for the soul

---

Sources consulted:
- local Hermes worktree: `~/worktrees/gemini-base-rockachopa-hermes-agent`
- local OpenClaw install and config: `~/.openclaw/openclaw.json`
- prior local research reports in `~/.timmy/reports/notebooklm/2026-03-27-hermes-openclaw/`
- GitHub API for latest releases, compare state, and recent commits on both upstream repos
