Ralph Workflow vs Hermes Agent: Self-Improving Assistant vs Autonomous Coding Workflow

Hermes Agent is a self-improving assistant with persistent memory and built-in skills. Ralph Workflow is a free open-source composable loop framework for autonomous coding runs that aims to end in finished, tested code you can review.

They are both agent systems, but they are aimed at very different kinds of work.

At a Glance

| Ralph Workflow | Hermes Agent
What it is | Operating system for autonomous coding: free open-source composable loop framework and AI orchestrator | Self-improving agent that learns from experience
License | AGPL (source) / CC0 (outputs) | Free / Open source
Setup | TOML config files, no cloud required | Varies
Vendor lock-in | None — own your config | Varies
Primary use case | Unattended coding runs with a reviewable finish | General-purpose assistant workflows with memory and skills

Key Differences

Hermes Agent emphasizes persistent memory, self-improvement, and broad assistant capabilities across many surfaces. Ralph Workflow is much narrower and more opinionated: it is built for software work where the finish state needs to be reviewable, test-backed, and explicit.

Ralph Workflow is the better choice when you want:

A strong default workflow for writing software

Planning, development, verification, and follow-up stages around a simple loop core

Cost routing across models based on phase needs

A workflow you can own, diff, and extend as code

Hermes Agent is the better choice when you want:

Persistent memory across many assistant tasks

A self-improving system with built-in skills

Multi-platform assistant behavior beyond coding workflows

Feature Comparison

Feature | Ralph Workflow | Hermes Agent
Multi-agent orchestration | ✅ | ⚠️
Claude Code integration | ✅ | ❌
OpenCode / Codex integration | ✅ | ❌
Cost model routing | ✅ | ❌
Unattended execution | ✅ (built for it) | ⚠️
Policy-defined config (TOML) | ✅ | ❌
Checkpoint / resume | ✅ | ⚠️
MCP support | ✅ | ⚠️
Parallel work units | ✅ | ⚠️
Open source | ✅ | ✅
Self-hosted | ✅ | ✅

Why Narrower Can Be Better

A broad assistant can do many things. That does not automatically make it better for unattended coding.

Ralph Workflow is intentionally more constrained. The point is not to be a general assistant with many surfaces. The point is to make one software task legible from start to finish: what was asked, what changed, what checks ran, and what still needs human judgment.

If that is the problem you are trying to solve, the narrower system is often the stronger one.

When You'd Use Both Together

Hermes Agent's self-improving assistant pattern and Ralph Workflow's deterministic reviewable output address different design goals. Hermes learns from past sessions and builds persistent skills. Ralph Workflow enforces a structured loop that produces the same kind of output every time — explicit diff, automated checks, a short list of what still needs a human decision.

A team that values both goals might use Ralph Workflow as the execution harness that calls a Hermes-skilled agent at specific phases. Hermes brings the adaptive intelligence (what worked last time?). Ralph Workflow brings the structural guarantee (did this run actually finish?). The combination means you get skill memory without sacrificing output consistency — Hermes remembers, Ralph verifies.

Try Ralph Workflow

pipx install ralph-workflow
cd /path/to/your/project
ralph --init
$EDITOR PROMPT.md # write your task
ralph # walk away

Ralph Workflow runs on your own machine. It works with Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode. The default workflow handles planning, development, verification, and follow-up — or you can compose your own.

Install guide → · Quick start → · Primary Codeberg repo → · GitHub mirror: github.com/Ralph-Workflow/Ralph-Workflow