1
What the addon does
The addon installs or detects Hermes Agent, creates a CARAPACE mobile bridge, writes a bridge token, configures launchd or systemd, and exposes Hermes through its own runtime path.
2
What the iPhone sees
If OpenClaw is on the same host, the app shows one physical machine with an OpenClaw / Hermes toggle. If this is Hermes-only, the app pairs it as a Hermes runtime. Hermes gets its own chat history, projects, cron jobs, agents, and sessions.
3
Image support
CARAPACE passes image attachments to Hermes through the supported CLI path: hermes chat -q with --image. The bridge also stores image attachments in history so iOS can render them later.
4
Linux service behavior
The Linux addon writes a systemd user service and environment file with a robust PATH covering ~/.local/bin, npm global bins, Hermes venv bins, Homebrew, and system paths.
5
Mac service behavior
The Mac addon uses launchd and the same bridge asset. The Mac setup wizard can install OpenClaw, Hermes support only, or both, but Hermes remains opt-in.
6
Verify it worked
Health should report the Hermes runtime, chat should answer, projects and cron should load, and image chat should understand an attached image. If not, rerun the addon and restart the bridge service.
Useful checks
local health
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:18796/health
service logs
systemctl --user status carapace-hermes-mobile-bridge # macOS launchctl print gui/$(id -u)/com.carapace.hermes-mobile-bridge