I’ve been tinkering with OpenClaw for a while. Last week, I realized I was spending more time fixing it than using it.
The breaking point was a rough stretch of updates — 6 versions in 6 days, and one of them broke Codex auth the same day it shipped. My setup kept falling apart, and I was spending more time recovering than doing real work.
So I finally gave Hermes a real shot. I used the migrate tool, moved my workflow over, and then reconfigured my LLM agents on top. It wasn’t one click, but it went smoother than I expected.
And pretty quickly, Hermes felt like a better fit for how I work.
It felt more stable. Agents were more responsive. Updates felt less chaotic. I didn’t have to babysit the setup just to stay productive.
I didn’t switch because one tool “won” or because the other one is bad. To me, they feel like different kinds of tools.
Hermes feels like something I use directly every day. OpenClaw feels more like infrastructure — powerful and flexible, but also something I was managing more than using.
I’m not done with OpenClaw. If the LTS release later this month really improves stability, I’ll gladly try it again.
But for now, Hermes is home.
Next post, I’ll share how I actually have Hermes set up day to day.
