Bug Description

I am running the latest version of Hermes to date, I just did Hermes update. I ask:
how can I change so that your working directory is in ~/projects/badminton?

I get the reply:
To make my default terminal working directory ~/projects/badminton, set the Hermes profile config key terminal.cwd to the absolute path:

hermes --profile coding-agent config set terminal.cwd /home/john/projects/badminton

Then restart the Telegram gateway/session so the config is reloaded:

hermes --profile coding-agent gateway restart

Or from this Telegram chat, you can send:

/restart

After that, new terminal tool calls should start from:

/home/john/projects/badminton

Safest choice is the absolute path, not ~/projects/badminton, because config loaders do not always expand ~ consistently.

I do all that then I ask Run pwd -P and quote the exact stdout only. in Telegram and it responds: "/home/john/projects/badminton" Which is good.

Then I run /new and try again: Run pwd -P and quote the exact stdout only.

And I get: "/home/john/.hermes/hermes-agent"

Steps to Reproduce

hermes --profile coding-agent config set terminal.cwd /home/john/projects/badminton
hermes --profile coding-agent gateway restart

Expected Behavior

/home/john/projects/badminton

Actual Behavior

/home/john/.hermes/hermes-agent

Affected Component

Gateway (Telegram/Discord/Slack/WhatsApp)

Messaging Platform (if gateway-related)

No response

Debug Report

Report       https://paste.rs/zqPVD
  agent.log    https://paste.rs/hWZJC
  gateway.log  https://paste.rs/d5COV

Operating System

Ubuntu 24.04,

Python Version

No response

Hermes Version

No response

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