Likely causes
| What you see | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| “Not available in the simulator or emulator” | Simulators and emulators can’t receive push |
| “Unavailable in this Android build” | That build of Herald has no Firebase configuration |
| “Connect to register” | Herald isn’t connected to your primary Hermes |
| “Notifications are not allowed for Herald” | Notifications are off for Herald in system settings |
| The test push arrives, real ones don’t | The plugin isn’t installed, enabled or loaded on the computer |
| No push for Telegram or terminal chats | By default the plugin only covers chats Herald manages |
Check these in order
- Use a real phone
Push can’t reach a simulator or emulator.
- Allow notifications
Turn on notifications for Herald in your phone’s settings.
- Register this phone
In Herald, open Settings › General › Push notifications and tap Register next to This phone. It should read “Registered with this Hermes”.
- Send a test push
Tap Send a test push. A banner saying “Push notifications are working on this phone.” proves the phone side works. If it doesn’t arrive, recheck the first three steps.
- Install and enable the plugin
Herald shows the install command under Settings › Connections › Add connection › Prefer to do it by hand? › Push notifications. Then enable it and restart
hermes serve.hermes plugins enable hermes-bot-push - Confirm it is enabled
This should list hermes-bot-push as enabled. The plugin also stays silent if the
HERMES_BOT_PUSH_DISABLEDenvironment variable is set.hermes plugins list
How push works
Your phone puts Herald’s connection to sleep soon after you leave the app. The plugin runs inside your Hermes, notices when a bot finishes a turn or waits for approval, and sends a short banner through Expo’s push service to Apple or Google. The banner names the bot and what happened, such as “Rev needs approval”, never the reply. Approval banners have Approve and Deny buttons.
Push comes from your primary connection. Register stores this phone’s push token and name on that Hermes, and Remove deletes them.
Push for more than Herald’s own chats
plugins:
entries:
hermes-bot-push:
settings:
platforms: [tui] # [] pushes for turns from every platform
all_sessions: false # true also pushes for sessions Herald did not create~/.hermes/config.yaml. Restart hermes serve after changing them.Questions
Do I need push at all?
Not for everything. With Settings › General › Notifications › Alerts on, Herald shows banners for the chat you have open while it is still connected in the background. Push covers the time after the connection sleeps.
What can Expo see?
Only the banner: the bot’s name and a short status such as “finished” or “needs approval”. Your conversations never go through it.
Why no push for a bot on my second computer?
Push comes from your primary connection. Make that computer primary in Settings › Connections if it is the one you want alerts from.
