A True Story

Last night, a friend working in AI asked me, “OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, OpenHuman, which one should I use?”

He searched on Baidu and got more confused—some said OpenClaw is just a chat tool, others said Hermes Agent requires coding, and some claimed OpenHuman isn’t ready yet.

I spent an afternoon searching and found that most claims were incorrect. Today, I will clarify these three tools based on real data.

OpenClaw: Not Just a Chat Tool, But a Local Work System

The most common misconception is that OpenClaw is merely a chat assistant. This is wrong—very wrong.

According to publicly available information, OpenClaw employs a “natural language interaction + automated task execution + large model intelligent decision-making” architecture, which is far more than just a chat box.

It features a four-layer memory architecture: SOUL core, TOOLS registry, USER long-term memory, and Session memory. It supports browser automation, data processing, and cross-platform collaboration. The official skill market, ClawHub, has over 5,700 community skills.

Some even run OpenClaw on a $59 Arduino board, using it to send daily news briefings, plan routes, and track packages.

With over 370,000 stars on GitHub, it’s not without reason.

Suitable for:

People looking for an all-in-one personal assistant that can chat and perform tasks without needing to code.

Not suitable for:

Those needing deep automation workflows, long-term memory, or cross-platform messaging channels—OpenClaw can do these but not as seamlessly.

Hermes Agent: Known as “Ma” in China, It’s Quite Different

Hermes Agent has 155,000 stars on GitHub, and domestic developers refer to it as “爱马仕” (Hermes), abbreviated as “马” (Ma), with installation called “养马” (raising a horse).

It’s an open-source framework launched by Nous Research in February this year, widely reported by outlets like The Paper and Sina Finance.

Its core selling point is self-evolution and long-term memory.

What does this mean? If you ask it to write a script and it encounters a bug, after you point it out, it will automatically summarize the “pitfalls and fixes” into a skill file. The next time it faces a similar task, it will avoid the traps.

A domestic media comparison describes it well: “A lobster waits for your command to move, while a horse actively thinks and can draw inferences.”

What excites domestic users the most is its native support for WeChat, fully compatible with images, videos, files, and voice. Xiaomi’s MiMo has already integrated it, and Tencent Cloud and Alibaba Cloud are following suit.

The Hermes Desktop client has been released, boasting 5,600 stars and nearly 250,000 downloads, with a graphical interface for installation—no command line needed.

Suitable for:

Those who need AI to actively work for them—writing code, running automation, managing scheduled tasks, and cross-platform messaging.

Not suitable for:

Anyone just looking for a chatbot to have casual conversations with—its capabilities would be wasted on you.

OpenHuman: More Than Just 15,000 Stars

OpenHuman has the fewest stars of the three, at only 15,000, but it may be the most underrated.

A Baidu search for “OpenHuman” reveals a recent article from Sina Finance titled “OpenHuman is Making Waves in Silicon Valley, but I’m Growing More Concerned the More I Use It,” which clearly states:

tinyhumansai positions OpenHuman as a “complete desktop personal AI system.”

It provides a desktop client that supports connections to over 118 third-party tools including Gmail, Notion, GitHub, Slack, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Linear, and Jira.

It also includes web search, web scraping, file system management, git, lint, test, grep, voice input and output, and meeting proxy capabilities.

The density of this toolchain is, frankly, greater than the other two.

More importantly, it runs entirely locally—no data is uploaded to the cloud.

Suitable for:

Those who prioritize privacy, have data compliance needs (finance/healthcare/government), or require integration with numerous third-party applications.

Not suitable for:

Users with low computer specifications (local models require resources) or those seeking the latest and most powerful cloud-based models.

Three Scenarios, Three Choices

To summarize the differences in one sentence:

OpenClaw = All-around personal assistant (chatting + working, but you need to “bring” it along)

Hermes Agent = Self-evolving employee (gets smarter with use, actively works for you)

OpenHuman = Fully-equipped local steward (connects with 118 tools, data stays on your computer)

Don’t Rush to Choose, Ask Yourself Three Questions

First, how much time are you willing to spend on configuration? 5 minutes or 2 hours?

Second, how sensitive is your data? Can you accept AI companies using your chat records to train models?

Third, do you want something that can “chat” or something that can “work”? These are completely different tracks.

After answering these three questions, you should know which one to choose.

But I might say something controversial: Most people’s real need is not a “chat assistant” but a “worker”.

ChatGPT and Claude have already perfected chatting; no matter how good your chat experience is, it’s just a substitute for theirs.

Hermes Agent and OpenHuman address different issues—bringing AI truly into your workflow.

What Do You Think?

Which of these three have you used? How was your experience?

Share your thoughts in the comments; I will respond to each one. Perhaps my next article will feature your story.