Discord vs Herald for using your Hermes Agent

Different tools for different rooms

Discord is where Hermes meets other people. Through the messaging gateway, Hermes answers every DM, replies in server channels when you @mention it, keeps a separate session for each person in a shared channel and gives each thread its own history. It can also join a voice channel, listen and talk back.

Herald is built for you and your own computers. It connects straight to Hermes, shows every bot as a chat, and adds phone features built around your bots: a wake word, a Lock Screen Live Activity, an Apple Watch roster and CarPlay. You can run both, because the gateway keeps serving Discord while Herald talks to Hermes directly.

Discord and Herald side by side

Stay with Discord if…

• You share Hermes with other people, in DMs or a server, with an allowlist of who can talk to it.
• You want Hermes in voice channels, listening and talking back.
• You like threads: each Discord thread keeps its own Hermes session.
• You want a different model or prompt per channel, which the gateway supports through channel_overrides.
• You want it free and on every device Discord runs on.

Add Herald when…

• You want a personal view: every bot on every computer in one roster, with presence dots showing who is awake or working.
• You want group chats where your own bots @mention each other, including bots on different machines.
• You want to talk without typing: “Hey Herald”, voice notes, read-aloud and CarPlay.
• You want to see a bot’s progress on your Lock Screen, Dynamic Island or Apple Watch with Hermes Pet.
• You want screens for kanban, schedules, plugins and MCP, and Bot Screen to watch a bot’s Linux desktop.

Set up the Discord gateway

1. Create an application

   In the Discord Developer Portal, choose New Application, add a bot and copy its token.

2. Turn on Message Content Intent

   Hermes needs it to read messages. The setup wizard tells you if it is off and links straight to the switch.

3. Run the wizard

   Pick Discord and paste the token. Hermes checks it, prints an invite link for your server and allowlists you as the owner.

   hermes gateway setup

4. Invite and test

   Open the invite link, add the bot to your server, then message it directly or @mention it in a channel.

Add Herald alongside

Run npx herald-setup on the computer with Hermes. It sets a dashboard username and password, starts hermes serve if needed, uses Tailscale when it is installed and prints a QR code. Discord keeps working through the gateway.

Herald’s Sessions list shows a bot’s other conversations, such as Telegram, terminal and desktop sessions, so you can pick them up on the phone. See sessions.

Price

Discord and the gateway are free. Herald is $12.99 once with no subscription; one App Store purchase covers iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and CarPlay, and Google Play is separate.