# Hermes Maxi Manifesto

_Adopted 2026-04-12. This document is the canonical statement of the Timmy Foundation's infrastructure philosophy._

## The Decision

We are Hermes maxis. One harness. One truth. No intermediary gateway layers.

Hermes handles everything:
- **Cognitive core** — reasoning, planning, tool use
- **Channels** — Telegram, Discord, Nostr, Matrix (direct, not via gateway)
- **Dispatch** — task routing, agent coordination, swarm management
- **Memory** — MemPalace, sovereign SQLite+FTS5 store, trajectory export
- **Cron** — heartbeat, morning reports, nightly retros
- **Health** — process monitoring, fleet status, self-healing

## What This Replaces

OpenClaw was evaluated as a gateway layer (March–April 2026). The assessment:

| Capability | OpenClaw | Hermes Native |
|-----------|----------|---------------|
| Multi-channel comms | Built-in | Direct integration per channel |
| Persistent memory | SQLite (basic) | MemPalace + FTS5 + trajectory export |
| Cron/scheduling | Native cron | Huey task queue + launchd |
| Multi-agent sessions | Session routing | Wizard fleet + dispatch router |
| Procedural memory | None | Sovereign Memory Store |
| Model sovereignty | Requires external provider | Ollama local-first |
| Identity | Configurable persona | SOUL.md + Bitcoin inscription |

The governance concern (founder joined OpenAI, Feb 2026) sealed the decision, but the technical case was already clear: OpenClaw adds a layer without adding capability that Hermes doesn't already have or can't build natively.

## The Principle

Every external dependency is temporary falsework. If it can be built locally, it must be built locally. The target is a $0 cloud bill with full operational capability.

This applies to:
- **Agent harness** — Hermes, not OpenClaw/Claude Code/Cursor
- **Inference** — Ollama + local models, not cloud APIs
- **Data** — SQLite + FTS5, not managed databases
- **Hosting** — Hermes VPS + Mac M3 Max, not cloud platforms
- **Identity** — Bitcoin inscription + SOUL.md, not OAuth providers

## Exceptions

Cloud services are permitted as temporary scaffolding when:
1. The local alternative doesn't exist yet
2. There's a concrete plan (with a Gitea issue) to bring it local
3. The dependency is isolated and can be swapped without architectural changes

Every cloud dependency must have a `[FALSEWORK]` label in the issue tracker.

## Enforcement

- `BANNED_PROVIDERS.md` lists permanently banned providers (Anthropic)
- Pre-commit hooks scan for banned provider references
- The Swarm Governor enforces PR discipline
- The Conflict Detector catches sibling collisions
- All of these are stdlib-only Python with zero external dependencies

## History

- 2026-03-28: OpenClaw evaluation spike filed (timmy-home #19)
- 2026-03-28: OpenClaw Bootstrap epic created (timmy-config #51–#63)
- 2026-03-28: Governance concern flagged (founder → OpenAI)
- 2026-04-09: Anthropic banned (timmy-config PR #440)
- 2026-04-12: OpenClaw purged — Hermes maxi directive adopted
  - timmy-config PR #487 (7 files, merged)
  - timmy-home PR #595 (3 files, merged)
  - the-nexus PRs #1278, #1279 (merged)
  - 2 issues closed, 27 historical issues preserved

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_"The clean pattern is to separate identity, routing, live task state, durable memory, reusable procedure, and artifact truth. Hermes does all six."_