The open-source AI agent framework Hermes Agent just dropped version 0.17.0, and its headline feature is a direct iMessage channel that doesn't require a Mac. The new release integrates an iMessage plugin powered by Photon Spectrum's hosted relay pool, letting users log in with just a device code — no need to self-host a Mac or mess around with BlueBubbles or other bridge gateways.
But that's not all. The update also introduces asynchronous sub-agents. You can now offload heavy research or build tasks to run in the background using delegate_task(background=true), while the main agent keeps chatting with you uninterrupted. On the model side, xAI subscription holders get access to the latest grok-composer-2.5-fast model (with a 200k context window), giving them Cursor-like Composer fast coding capabilities without needing a separate API key.
Desktop users get a new watch-windows interface for monitoring sub-agents in real time — think floating panes streaming the execution trail of background tasks. You can even install any VS Code Marketplace theme directly. Under the hood, the memory tool has been upgraded to perform atomic add, replace, and delete operations in a single call, making memory management more efficient within a limited character budget and significantly cutting down on multi-turn conversation failures caused by memory overflow.