Dedicated User

1.2. Dedicated User — Isolating Privileges

The core principle, for both installation paths

Hermes runs a shell-execution tool — that is part of what an agent is. If this process runs with admin (root) privileges, a single model reasoning error, a problematic community skill, or a successful attack can all escalate into full control of the server.

• If installing directly (2.1): Hermes must run under a dedicated system user with no standing sudo.
• If using Docker (2.3): a container is already an isolation layer by itself, but the container should still run as a non-root user inside, and the host Linux user operating Docker should be in the docker group rather than running as root directly.

The concrete steps to create the user and configure the service to run under it are covered in 2.6 (Systemd Service) and 2.3 (Docker).

Notes

• Whichever path you choose, do not permanently add the Hermes operating user to the sudo/root group unless truly needed — grant it temporarily for admin operations, then revoke it.
• Finalize the user/privilege decisions before running the installer or docker run in chapter 2 — reworking them after the install is usually more complex than doing it right from the start.