hermes-display-density

name	hermes-display-density
description	Tune Hermes output density via display.compact and related settings.
version	0.1.0
author	Hermes
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["Hermes","Display","Configuration","Density"]}}

Hermes Display Density

Control how much whitespace and visual chrome Hermes puts in CLI/TUI output. The primary lever is display.compact: true, which collapses the startup banner to a minimal bordered box and suppresses decorative spacing. Related settings in the display config section further tune output density.

When to Use

• User says "reduce whitespace" or "denser output" or "more compact display"
• Output feels too verbose / too many blank lines in the CLI
• Running in a narrow terminal pane and the full banner wraps
• User saw the startup tip "Set display.compact: true to reduce whitespace"

Prerequisites

• Hermes installed and at least one profile configured
• Edit access to config.yaml (find it with hermes config path)

How to Run

Set the config value through the terminal tool:

hermes config set display.compact true

Then start a new session (/reset in an existing session, or relaunch the CLI). Display settings are read at startup — they do NOT apply mid-conversation (this preserves prompt caching).

Quick Reference

Setting	Default	Effect
display.compact	false	Compact banner, reduced whitespace
display.resume_display	full	minimal = one-liner recap on session resume
display.tool_progress	all	off = hide tool call progress entirely
display.streaming	true	Token-by-token streaming output
display.show_reasoning	false	Show model chain-of-thought
display.timestamps	false	Timestamps on messages
display.interim_assistant_messages	true	Show interim assistant text during tool calls

Procedure

1. Enable compact mode:

   hermes config set display.compact true
   

2. (Optional) Reduce resume recap noise:

   hermes config set display.resume_display minimal
   

3. (Optional) Hide tool progress output entirely:

   hermes config set display.tool_progress off
   

4. Start a new session — display settings snapshot at startup:

   • CLI: relaunch hermes
   • In-session: /reset
   • Gateway: /restart

5. Verify the compact banner appears (a small bordered box with model name + tool count, no ASCII caduceus art).

Pitfalls

• No mid-session effect. display.compact is read once at startup. Toggling it in config does not change the current session — start a new one.
• Auto-compact on narrow terminals. Terminal width < 80 columns triggers compact mode automatically regardless of config. This is by design (the full banner needs ~80 cols).
• /compact is NOT this feature. The /compact slash command is an alias for /compress (context compression). It has nothing to do with display.compact.
• No --compact CLI flag. Compact mode is set via config or auto-detected from terminal width. There is no command-line argument for it.
• Termux auto-compact. On Termux (Android), compact mode is forced on at startup via HERMES_DEFER_AGENT_STARTUP=1 and HERMES_FAST_STARTUP_BANNER=1.

Verification

hermes config show | grep compact

Expected output shows compact: true under the Display section. On next session start, the banner is a minimal bordered box instead of the full caduceus art.