Bug Description

The hermes update --check command is documented on the official docs page (https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/getting-started/updating#checking-your-current-version) but does not exist in the actual CLI implementation.

Documentation Reference

From the official docs:

hermes update --check

Check for updates without installing them.

Actual Behavior

$ hermes update --check
usage: hermes [-h] [--version] [--resume SESSION] [--continue [SESSION_NAME]]
              [--worktree] [--skills SKILLS] [--yolo] [--pass-session-id]
              {chat,model,gateway,setup,whatsapp,login,logout,auth,status,cron,webhook,doctor,dump,debug,backup,import,config,pairing,skills,plugins,mcp,sessions,insights,claw,version,update,uninstall,acp,profile,completion,dashboard,logs}
              ...
hermes: error: unrecognized arguments: --check

Expected Behavior

The command should either:

1. Check for updates without installing them (as documented), OR
2. The documentation should be updated to remove this command if it was intentionally removed

hermes update --help Output

$ hermes update --help
usage: hermes update [-h] [--gateway]

Pull the latest changes from git and reinstall dependencies

options:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  --gateway   Gateway mode: use file-based IPC for prompts instead of stdin
              (used internally by /update)

No --check flag is listed in the help output.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Hermes Agent
2. Run hermes update --check
3. Observe error: unrecognized arguments: --check

Environment

• Hermes version: v0.9.0 (2026.4.13)
• OS: Linux
• Shell: zsh

Suggested Fix

Either:

1. Implement --check flag to check for updates without installing (e.g., run git fetch and compare HEAD with origin/main), OR
2. Update documentation at https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/getting-started/updating to remove the --check reference

Related

The docs also mention using hermes version to check the current version, which works correctly.