Hermes Notes

Hermes Notes is a self-hosted personal knowledge base for people who want their notes and project work in one connected system. It runs on your laptop or a server you control, with a browser interface and PostgreSQL storage. It's open source under the MIT license and built for personal use or a trusted small group, rather than a public service for unrelated users.

You define the kinds of records you need, such as books, people or tasks, with their own fields and attachments. Links and backlinks connect them. Collections present those records as tables, kanban boards, calendars or an infinite canvas; query-based collections gather matching records automatically. Tasks support recurring schedules and project relationships, while daily notes, reusable templates and weekly reviews provide space for ongoing work. Selected text can carry forward into later notes without changing earlier entries.

The optional AI assistant uses an Ollama model to chat about your knowledge base, with processing kept on your server. Ollama also supplies embeddings for search by meaning alongside keyword search. A built-in MCP server lets Claude and other MCP clients read and search records or manage tasks. Connected agents can archive records but can't permanently delete them.

Talaria adds macOS integration through Spotlight, text capture and a menu bar board. Its local mirror supports offline reading and queues writes until the server is reachable; Ask Hermes needs a connection. Obsidian-compatible Markdown export preserves attachments and wikilinks, while pkm-interchange carries custom types and relationships between compatible tools.