Bug Description

It seems hermes is not respecting the env var setting for the project working directory.

Changing the systemd unit working directory for the gateway seems to be the only way to fix the issue, however it also seems hermes update overwrites this file.

Steps to Reproduce

Relevant snippets

~/.hermes/config.yaml

terminal:
  backend: local
  cwd: /home/assistant/.hermes

~/.hermes/.env

TERMINAL_CWD=/home/assistant/.hermes
MESSAGING_CWD=/home/assistant/.hermes

~/.config/systemd/user/hermes-gateway.service

WorkingDirectory="/home/assistant/.hermes/hermes-agent"
Environment="HERMES_HOME=/home/assistant/.hermes"

It seems WorkingDirectory in the gateway systemd unit is the only respected setting.

Expected Behavior

Working directory for gateway should be taken from env var.

Actual Behavior

Working directory is taken from systemd unit.

Affected Component

Gateway (Telegram/Discord/Slack/WhatsApp)

Messaging Platform (if gateway-related)

Discord

Debug Report

<logs contain personal chat messages>

Operating System

Debian 13, Proxmox LXC

Python Version

Python 3.13.5

Hermes Version

Hermes Agent v0.9.0 (2026.4.13)

Additional Logs / Traceback (optional)

Root Cause Analysis (optional)

No response

Proposed Fix (optional)

No response

Are you willing to submit a PR for this?

• I'd like to fix this myself and submit a PR