hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix Improve hermes update progress visibility during dependency installs [1 participants]

Problem

When hermes update reaches the Python dependency install step, it currently runs pip with --quiet. On slower or constrained systems, especially Termux/Android, this can look like the command is completely stuck.

In a real Termux session, the visible process state was:

hermes update
python -m pip install -e .[all] --quiet

The pip process was still consuming CPU after ~25-30 minutes, but the terminal showed no useful progress or current operation. This makes it hard for users to tell whether the updater is working, dependency-resolving, compiling, or genuinely hung.

Why this matters

hermes update is a routine maintenance command, and users are likely to run it over SSH/Termux/mobile shells where long silent operations feel broken. The current update.log helps after the fact, but during the run there is not enough visibility.

Possible improvements

A few options that could help without making normal updates noisy:

• Print the active dependency install command before running it.
• Print the update log path, e.g. ~/.hermes/logs/update.log.
• Emit a periodic heartbeat during long dependency installs, such as Still installing Python dependencies....
• On Termux or other constrained platforms, avoid --quiet or use a less quiet pip mode.
• If a dependency step exceeds a threshold, suggest checking ps / update.log rather than leaving the user guessing.

Environment where this was observed

• Platform: Termux on Android
• Python: 3.13.13
• Architecture: aarch64
• Hermes repo install: editable checkout under ~/.hermes/hermes-agent

Related context

A separate fix/PR is being prepared for Termux dependency selection so hermes update uses the existing .[termux] extra instead of .[all] on Android. Even with that fix, better progress visibility would still make long update operations easier to diagnose.