# Why the author replaced Hermes Agent and OpenClaw with a simpler personal AI assistant

DevFeed: [Why the author replaced Hermes Agent and OpenClaw with a simpler personal AI assistant](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/why-i-stopped-using-hermes-and-openclaw-and-what-i-built-instead-18328.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://newsletter.aiengineer.co/p/why-i-stopped-using-hermes-and-openclaw>)

Author: Owain Lewis

Published: 2026-07-18T10:16:21Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [The AI Engineer](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/the-ai-engineer.md>)

Topics: [Artificial Intelligence](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai.md>), [OpenClaw](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/openclaw.md>), [Messaging](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/messaging.md>), [coding](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/coding.md>)

Tags: [agent](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agent.md>), [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [coding-agents](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/coding-agents.md>), [messaging](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/messaging.md>), [openclaw](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/openclaw.md>), [personal](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/personal.md>)

## AI overview

The author explains why Hermes Agent and OpenClaw became frustrating to use as a daily AI personal assistant, focusing on their complexity and overhyped features. The article describes the personal assistant pattern, messaging gateways, and the author's simpler solution built around organisational tasks and existing coding agents.

## Source excerpt

How I built my own personal AI Chief of Staff without all the complexity.