Simplicio Agent

Hermes speed. Simplicio determinism. Verified delivery.

The local-first autonomous agent that reasons broadly, executes through a Rust control plane,
gates every consequential action, and proves the work before it says “done”.

Why Simplicio · vs Hermes · Architecture · Install · Star History

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Why Simplicio

Most agents optimize the conversation. Simplicio optimizes the entire delivery path.

Pillar	What Simplicio adds	Why it matters
⚡ Speed	Streaming, fast JSON/serde paths, lazy schemas, warm daemon, deterministic routing, token-aware working set	Less waiting and less context waste
🛡️ Determinism	Compiled Rust runtime, action gate, mechanical edits, checkpoints and undo	The model proposes; the runtime controls effects
✅ Proof	HBP evidence chain, watcher recomputation, receipts, progressive validation and delivery gates	“Done” becomes auditable evidence, not a sentence
🧠 Memory	Project guardian, runtime guardian, durable attempts, skill memory and local retrieval	The agent reuses what worked and avoids oscillation
🌐 Reach	CLI, MCP, desktop, messaging gateways, plugins, skills and model/provider freedom	One governed agent across the surfaces you already use
🏠 Ownership	Local-first execution, local model ladder and user-owned state	Your machine, your data, your rules

flowchart LR
    A["Intent"] --> B["Map + retrieve"]
    B --> C["Reason + plan"]
    C --> D{"Action gate"}
    D -->|authorized| E["Deterministic execution"]
    D -->|blocked| C
    E --> F["Validate"]
    F --> G{"Watcher recomputes"}
    G -->|mismatch| H["Checkpoint / correct"]
    H --> C
    G -->|verified| I["Receipt + delivery"]

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Hermes → Simplicio Agent

Simplicio Agent is an independent, public fork of NousResearch/hermes-agent. It keeps the upstream strengths—broad tools, provider choice, skills, messaging, learning and fast interaction—then evolves the execution model around the Simplicio Runtime.

This is inheritance plus evolution: Hermes remains the origin and receives attribution; Simplicio is the product identity, control plane and delivery contract.

flowchart LR
    H["Hermes Agent foundation<br/>tools · providers · skills · gateways"]
    T["Turbo layer<br/>streaming · hot paths · warm daemon · token economy"]
    R["Simplicio Runtime<br/>Rust gate · checkpoints · receipts · deterministic edit"]
    A["Simplicio Agent<br/>fast · governed · reversible · verifiable"]
    H --> T --> A
    R --> A

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Simplicio vs official Hermes Agent

Comparison snapshot: 15 July 2026, against the public main branch of official Hermes Agent. “Simplicio advantage” means a capability present and documented in this repository; it does not imply that Hermes is weak or unsuitable for its own goals.

Measured shared hot paths

Reproduce with python3 scripts/benchmark_vs_upstream.py --upstream ../hermes-agent. Methodology and limits are documented in docs/performance.md.

Shared probe	Simplicio Agent	Official Hermes	Measured gain
JSON encode, tool result	2.8 µs	33.1 µs	12.0×
JSON decode, tool args	0.6 µs	1.8 µs	3.1×
Canonicalize tool args	1.2 µs	5.2 µs	4.5×
Token estimate, 200 messages	634 µs	677 µs	1.07×
CLI cold import	66.4 ms	117.6 ms	1.77×

These are focused microbenchmarks captured on Linux/Python 3.11, not a claim that every end-to-end task is 12× faster. Run the benchmark on your hardware.

Difference-by-difference

Area	Official Hermes Agent	Simplicio Agent advantage
Product core	Python agent runtime	Hermes-derived agent fused with the compiled Simplicio Rust control plane
Canonical CLI	hermes	simplicio-agent; hermes remains a deprecated compatibility alias
Effect control	Tool/runtime policies	Unified mutation classification and fail-closed action gate
Mechanical changes	Model/tool-written operations	Zero-token deterministic edit plans when the change is mechanical
Recovery	Task-specific retries	Checkpoints, undo paths and transaction-aware recovery
Completion	Agent decides it is finished	Evidence-gated loop plus independent watcher recomputation
Evidence	Logs and tool results	Typed receipts plus append-only HBP evidence lineage
Performance posture	General-purpose defaults	Fast installers enable serde, fast JSON and uvloop by default
JSON/serialization	Standard shared path	orjson/msgspec fast path with pure-Python fallback
Native hot paths	Python-first	Optional PyO3 hot path plus compiled Rust execution kernel
Startup	Standard CLI lifecycle	Lazy boot path plus optional warm daemon
Context economy	Compression and memory	Working-set LRU, cold references, TF-IDF scoring, token cache and prefetch
Tool output economy	Normal tool payloads	TOON boundary and token-saver compaction with telemetry
Routing	Model/tool routing	Deterministic no-LLM route first, then local/remote escalation ladder
Repository context	Agent reads tools/files	Runtime map + mapper + zero-copy orientation pack
Runtime knowledge	Loaded instructions	Helo guardian ranks runtime capabilities and mutation paths
Project knowledge	Conversation/project memory	Isa guardian ranks project docs, examples and local memory
External discovery	Web tools when selected	Levi is explicitly gated: external lookup only after local guardians miss
Parallel work	Subagents and tool concurrency	Governed fan-out, leases, worktree isolation, backpressure and receipts
Orchestration	Agent loop	Bounded simplicio-loop with converge/drain modes and anti-oscillation journal
Self-modification	General development workflow	Explicit self-mutation isolation, promotion and handoff contract
Validation	Tests selected by workflow	Progressive validation, watcher gate, DoD and delivery certificate surfaces
Observability	Logs, sessions and integrations	Stage timers, token savings, lane readiness, receipts and runtime status
Local execution	Supports local and remote models	Local-first decision ladder with governed shared inference pool
Contracts	Tool/API conventions	Versioned simplicio.* /v1 envelopes across task, progress, effects and evidence
Safety at scale	Host/tool safeguards	CPU, disk, queue, timeout, iteration and “never explode” caps
Compatibility	Upstream ecosystem	Keeps upstream capabilities while migrating toward native Simplicio identity

Verified execution, not performative autonomy

Every consequential run follows a bounded path. Authorization is separated from possibility; evidence is part of execution; rollback is designed in rather than improvised afterward.

sequenceDiagram
    participant U as User
    participant A as Simplicio Agent
    participant R as Rust Runtime
    participant W as Watcher
    participant E as Evidence Ledger
    U->>A: Goal + constraints
    A->>R: Typed task and proposed effects
    R->>R: Gate + checkpoint
    R-->>A: Authorized receipts
    A->>R: Execute + validate
    R->>W: Claimed result
    W->>W: Recompute independently
    alt evidence matches
        W->>E: Append verified receipt
        E-->>U: Auditable delivery
    else mismatch
        W-->>A: Correct or roll back
    end

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Architecture

flowchart TB
    subgraph Interfaces["Interfaces"]
      CLI["CLI"]
      MCP["MCP"]
      MSG["Messaging"]
      DESK["Desktop / TUI"]
    end
    subgraph Agent["Simplicio Agent"]
      REASON["Reasoning + provider freedom"]
      SKILLS["Skills + plugins"]
      MEMORY["Isa · Helo · Levi"]
      LOOP["Evidence-gated loop"]
    end
    subgraph Runtime["Simplicio Runtime — Rust"]
      MAP["Map + contracts"]
      GATE["Action gate"]
      EDIT["Mechanical edit"]
      CHECK["Checkpoint / undo"]
      VERIFY["Validate + HBP receipts"]
    end
    Interfaces --> Agent
    REASON --> LOOP
    SKILLS --> LOOP
    MEMORY --> LOOP
    LOOP --> Runtime
    MAP --> GATE --> EDIT --> CHECK --> VERIFY

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The narrow waist is intentional: the model reasons and coordinates; the runtime owns deterministic effects, evidence and recovery.

Quick install

macOS, Linux, WSL2 and Termux

curl -fsSL https://simpleti.com.br/simplicio/install.sh | sh
simplicio-agent setup
simplicio-agent doctor

From source

git clone https://github.com/wesleysimplicio/simplicio-agent.git
cd simplicio-agent
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[fast]"
simplicio-agent setup

The hermes command remains available temporarily for compatibility, but new automation should use simplicio-agent.

Start here

# Interactive agent
simplicio-agent

# Diagnose the fast stack and Runtime binding
simplicio-agent doctor

# Inspect the Runtime's live capability contract
simplicio runtime map --for-llm markdown --repo .

Useful references:

• docs/SIMPLICIO_OPERATIONAL_MANUAL.md — execution and safety model
• docs/performance.md — benchmark methods and reproducible numbers
• docs/SIMPLICIO_AGENT_CAPABILITY_CONTRACT.md — capability inventory
• docs/architecture/INDEX.md — architectural decisions
• CONTRIBUTING.md — contribution guide
• SECURITY.md — security policy

Star History

Lineage, license and community

Simplicio Agent is licensed under the MIT License and derives from the excellent work of Nous Research and the Hermes Agent contributors. See the repository history and license notices for attribution.

• ⭐ Star this repository if verified, local-first autonomy is the direction you want.
• 💬 Join the Simplicio Discord.
• 🐛 Open an issue with a reproducible case.
• 🔧 Send a focused PR with tests and evidence.

Simplicio Agent — possibility is cheap; action is gated; completion is proved.