Hermes Update Node Dependency Stalls | Generated by AI

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Question: Why does hermes update get stuck at “→ Updating Node.js dependencies…”?

Answer:

This is a known issue with hermes update. The process hangs at the → Updating Node.js dependencies... step because it runs npm install --silent under the hood, and npm install can be slow or appear to hang for several reasons:

Root Cause

In hermes_cli/main.py, when a package.json is found, the update script runs:

subprocess.run(["npm", "install", "--silent"], cwd=PROJECT_ROOT, check=False)

The --silent flag suppresses all output, so it looks like it’s frozen even when it’s actively working.

This is the main reason it appears stuck — there is no progress output, and npm install can take a long time (minutes) to resolve and download the full Node.js dependency tree.

Common Reasons It Actually Hangs or Is Very Slow

  1. Slow npm registry — npm install fetches packages from the npm registry, which can be slow depending on your network or region.

  2. Large dependency tree — After running, npm install can produce a 2000+ line diff in package-lock.json, indicating a large and complex dependency tree that takes time to resolve.

  3. Inconsistent lockfile — The committed package-lock.json may not be fully consistent with package.json, so npm install silently re-resolves the whole graph instead of doing a fast install.

  4. Node.js version mismatch — The repo enforces node >=20, so if you’re on an older Node.js version, installs may fail silently or behave unexpectedly.

How to Fix / Workaround

Option 1: Wait it out It is likely just working silently. Give it 3–5 minutes before concluding it’s truly stuck.

Option 2: Run the npm install manually with visible output

cd ~/.hermes/hermes-agent
npm install

This will show progress and errors, unlike the silent subprocess call.

Option 3: Use npm ci instead (faster, deterministic) The recommended fix from the GitHub issue is to replace npm install --silent with npm ci --silent, which installs exactly from the lockfile without re-resolving dependencies — making it faster and not dirtying the working tree.

You can manually do this:

cd ~/.hermes/hermes-agent
npm ci

Option 4: Check your Node.js version

node --version

Make sure it is v20 or higher (v22 LTS is recommended).

Option 5: Run hermes doctor

hermes doctor

This checks Node.js dependencies and surfaces any specific issues.

Summary

The update is not truly frozen in most cases — it just has no visible output because of --silent. The underlying npm install is re-resolving a large dependency tree. The safest immediate fix is to cd ~/.hermes/hermes-agent && npm ci manually to see what’s happening.

References:

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