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concepts/persistent-shells.md

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+---
+title: Persistent Shells
+type: concept
+status: active
+created: 2026-07-22
+updated: 2026-07-22
+verified_on: 2026-07-22
+confidence: high
+tags: [concept, terminal]
+sources: [raw/configs/hermes-config-sanitized.txt]
+---
+
+# Persistent Shells
+
+## Idea
+A background shell session that survives across separate Hermes turns/requests, instead of spawning and tearing down a fresh shell each time — so state (working directory, exported variables, long-running processes) carries over.
+
+## How this install implements it
+- **Verified (`~/.hermes/config.yaml`):** `terminal.persistent_shell: true`
+- **Backend:** local (not containerized separately from the agent process)
+- **Working directory:** `/home/hermes/workspace`
+- **Timeout:** 180s
+- **Home mode:** auto
+- **Container CPU:** 1
+
+## Why it matters here
+Enables multi-step CLI workflows (e.g. a long `git` operation, a build, a watch process) to be resumed across turns without Hermes re-establishing context each time. The tradeoff is a shell can be left in a bad state (stuck process, wrong directory) that silently affects the *next* turn — see [[runbooks/troubleshoot-tool-loop]] for the related tool-loop guardrails that catch some of this.
+
+## Related
+- [[systems/terminal-backend]]
+- [[systems/hermes-agent]]
+- [[concepts/tool-calling]]