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Run every command on the machine where Hermes runs. Pick the path that matches you — each one is complete, top to bottom.
This guide uses the cloud broker at getsesame.dev. Running your own broker? The only difference is sesame login --broker-url <your-url>.

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Hermes is already running

Sesame detects the running Desktop, gateway, service, or terminal processes and restarts them through the broker. Run these in order:
sesame onboard hermes shows what it found and asks before restarting anything. Confirm the prompt. When --verify-only reports your processes as protected, you’re done.
A bare interactive terminal session can’t be moved automatically — exit it, then start it again with sesame launch -- hermes.

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Starting fresh

Install Hermes, then start it through Sesame instead of directly:
For a gateway, the last line is sesame launch -- hermes gateway run instead.

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After setup

Two things to remember:
  • Add a secret in the dashboard (Secrets → Add) for each provider Hermes should call — the broker injects it per approved request; Hermes never holds the key.
  • Starting through Sesame isn’t one-time: launch new Hermes processes with sesame launch -- hermes, and if Hermes Desktop was reopened from the Dock (or anything is running unwrapped), run sesame onboard hermes again. sesame doctor verifies the machine’s trust setup any time.

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Private networks (Tailscale, VPNs)

Hermes can call services that exist only inside your VPN or tailnet — an internal MCP server, a private API. What’s required depends on whether Sesame holds a secret for that hostname:
  • No secret stored for the host — traffic flows directly from the Hermes machine. Put the Hermes machine on the VPN and it works; the broker is never involved.
  • Secret stored for the host — the broker makes the request so it can inject the credential, which means the broker machine must be on the VPN too. Self-hosted broker: install Tailscale on the broker host and sudo tailscale up — no broker restart or container changes needed. The cloud broker at getsesame.dev cannot join your private network, so credential-injected private hosts require a self-hosted broker.
  • Serve the private host over HTTPS on port 443. The edge proxy mediates TLS only (plain http:// fails with a 405), and credential-injected requests are rebuilt on port 443. With Tailscale, tailscale serve <port> handles both — it exposes your service at https://<machine>.<tailnet>.ts.net with a valid certificate.
Troubleshooting
  • 502 — Upstream request to '<host>' timed out: the broker can’t reach the host. On the broker machine, check tailscale status — is it connected, was the machine deleted from the tailnet, has its key expired?
  • Machine joined the VPN after Hermes was wrapped: the running processes’ proxy exclusions predate the new network. sesame doctor flags this; rerun sesame onboard hermes to restart them.
  • In the Tailscale admin console, disable key expiry for server machines (broker, Hermes host) so they don’t silently drop off the tailnet after ~180 days.

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Remove Sesame egress

This preserves your Sesame login, agent registration, secrets, and policies.