Yolo Mode in Hermes | Generated by AI
Here’s the full breakdown of what was changed and how yolo mode works in Hermes.
What changed
In /home/xiaoxin/.hermes/config.yaml, at line 406-407:
approvals:
mode: false # ← was not set (defaults to 'manual')
This is under the approvals section (lines 406-412), which also includes timeout, cron_mode, mcp_reload_confirm, and destructive_slash_confirm.
What this does
Hermes has a command approval system that intercepts potentially destructive shell commands (rm -rf, git reset --hard, chmod -R 777, etc.) and asks you to confirm before running them. There are three modes:
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
manual |
Always prompt before flagged commands (default) |
smart |
Use a small LLM to auto-approve low-risk commands, prompt on high-risk ones |
off / false |
Skip all approval prompts — this is yolo mode |
Setting mode: false (= off) means Hermes will never ask for confirmation before running any shell command it thinks is dangerous. It just executes them directly.
Scope of “yolo mode”
Yolo mode only affects dangerous-command approval prompts. It does NOT change:
- Secret redaction (
security.redact_secrets) — that’s independent - Tirith security policies (
security.tirith_enabled) — security rules still apply - Tool access — all your tools still work exactly as before
- Any other config — it’s a narrowly scoped toggle
How to use it
| Method | Scope |
|---|---|
hermes config set approvals.mode off |
Persistent — you just did this |
hermes --yolo |
Per-invocation flag (one session) |
export HERMES_YOLO_MODE=1 |
Per-shell environment variable |
/yolo (slash command in-session) |
Toggle on/off for the current session |
When it takes effect
Config changes like this are read at session startup. For future sessions (next time you run hermes), yolo will be on automatically. To apply it to your current session immediately, type /yolo (it toggles the approval bypass inline).
To revert later:
hermes config set approvals.mode manual # back to default prompts
hermes config set approvals.mode smart # AI-assisted approval