feat(chopper): run hermes in a microvm - #120
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Hermes runs from the official container image rather than the NixOS module, which upstream maintains only as a best-effort Tier 2 platform. The image gives the agent an FHS userland to install into, so third party integrations work without nix-ld shims. The guest owns its tailnet identity and reaches the dashboard over a Tailscale Service, so chopper does not proxy for it. That serve config is set imperatively and lives in tailscaled state on the guest volume: the nixpkgs module drives `serve set-config`, which registers a service as plain HTTP rather than HTTPS (tailscale/tailscale#18381). The guest is named vm-hermes so the meaningful name stays with the Tailscale Service, which is the host-independent identity. Nodes and services share a MagicDNS namespace, and a collision is resolved by a suffix that sticks even after the conflict is gone. Podman image storage and agent state get separate volumes so the image store can be reclaimed without touching memory and skills. The hermes wrapper reaches the rootful podman socket so it works without sudo.
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Adds a
vm-hermesmicrovm guest on chopper running the official hermes-agent container image under podman. Replaces the host-native service dropped in 595c3f3.Upstream keeps the NixOS module at Tier 2 and the Docker image at Tier 1. The image ships Node, uv and Playwright, so
npx/uvxMCP servers run without thenix-ldshims the oldhermes.nixneeded.--network=host, so the dashboard binds the guest's real loopback and OAuth callback listeners need no port plumbingcontainers.imgandhermes.imgsplit podman's image store from/opt/data, which holds memory, skills and sessionshermeson PATH shells into the container via the rootful podman socket;mheltonjoins thepodmangroup so it works without sudovm-hermesso the Tailscale Service can ownsvc:hermes— nodes and services share a MagicDNS namespace, and a collision sticksServe config is set imperatively rather than from Nix:
serve set-configregisters a service as plain HTTP even when the endpoint should terminate TLS (tailscale/tailscale#18381). It persists in tailscaled state on the guest's/var/libvolume.Setup
hermes, endpointtcp:443. Must exist before a host can advertise for it.vm-hermesunder Service hosts, or:tailscale serve --service=svc:hermes --https=443 127.0.0.1:9119/opt/data/config.yaml:dashboard.public_url: "https://hermes.springhare-egret.ts.net", plus an auth provider — settingpublic_urlforces the auth gate on.hermes setup— the gateway crash-loops until it runs.Not included:
deploy-backupfor/opt/data, and declarative provider credentials.