Hermes rewind lets you go back to an earlier message in a Hermes Agent chat, then either edit it and resend it or fork a brand new session from just before it. You open it by pressing Esc twice on an empty prompt or by typing /rewind in the TUI or the classic CLI. It arrived in Hermes Agent v0.23.0, "The Hearth Release", published by Nous Research on 5 Nov 2026, and v0.23.0 is the latest release.
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This guide walks through how to open the picker, how to pick a message, the difference between edit and resend and fork, and exactly what stays untouched in each case. Everything here comes from the v0.23.0 release notes, the Hermes docs and the two pull requests behind the feature (#144937 and #148880).
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What Hermes rewind does
Before v0.23.0, going back to something you typed earlier was awkward or impossible in both terminal interfaces. The pull request that added rewind says so in plain words. Now Hermes lists your earlier prompts, newest first, and lets you act on any of them.
You get two moves:
- Edit and resend. The chosen prompt goes back into the composer. You change it and send it. Hermes cuts the session back to just before that prompt and runs your new version as a fresh turn.
- Fork. Hermes opens a new session that holds only the history before that prompt, with the prompt waiting in the composer, not sent. The original session is left exactly as it was.
The same release also added a fifth option to approval prompts: "No, and tell Hermes what to do instead". More on that below, because it often saves you from needing a rewind at all.
How to open Hermes rewind
There are two ways in, and they open the same picker.
- Press Esc twice on an empty, idle prompt. If you have a draft typed, Esc Esc discards the draft instead. If Hermes is mid-turn, Esc Esc still interrupts the turn. So clear the box and wait for Hermes to finish first.
- Type /rewind. This works in both the TUI (hermes --tui) and the classic CLI.
The classic CLI also has two shortcuts. /rewind N jumps straight to editing prompt number N. /rewind fork N forks from just before prompt N without opening the list.
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How to pick a message in Hermes rewind
The picker shows your earlier prompts with the newest at the top and a preview of the one you have highlighted.
- Use the Up and Down arrow keys to move through the list.
- In the TUI, the transcript scrolls to the highlighted prompt and marks it, so you can see the context around it.
- Press Enter to edit and resend, or press f to fork.
- Press Esc to step back. In the TUI, Esc moves you from editing back to the list, then from the list back to the chat.
One limit from the docs: prompts that carried images are listed by number only and can't be picked.
Hermes rewind: edit and resend vs fork
This is the part people mix up, so here it is in one table.
| Action | What happens | Original session |
|---|---|---|
| Open the picker and cancel (Esc Esc, Ctrl+C or empty submit) | Nothing changes | Untouched |
| Enter, edit the prompt, then send | Session is cut back to just before that prompt and your edit runs as a new turn | Same session, later messages archived (as with /undo) |
| Press f on a prompt | New branched session with only the history before that prompt, prompt prefilled and not sent | Kept exactly as it was |
| Press f on the very first prompt | Fresh session with that first prompt prefilled | Kept exactly as it was |
The key detail: with edit and resend, nothing is removed until you actually send. You can open a prompt, look at it, change your mind and back out, and the chat is unchanged. Once you send, the messages after that point are archived, not live context. The docs note that full JSON session exports still hold messages removed by rewind or edit as archived rows, so a backup keeps everything the session ever contained.
Fork is the safe choice when you are not sure. The original chat stays whole, and you get a clean branch to try a different direction.
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When to use Hermes rewind
Here are a few situations where rewind is the right tool. They are illustrations of how a small business might use it, not test results.
- You asked the wrong question three turns ago. Say you asked Hermes to draft a client email in a formal tone, then spent two turns fixing it. Rewind to the first prompt, change "formal" to "friendly", and resend. The detour is gone.
- You want two versions of the same plan. Fork from the prompt where you asked for a launch plan. Keep the original as plan A, and push the fork toward plan B with a different budget or audience.
- Hermes went down a bad path. If a long research turn chased the wrong source, rewind to the prompt before it and add a clearer instruction instead of arguing with it for five more turns.
If you are building repeatable workflows like these for a team, a free AI strategy session is a fast way to map which ones to automate first.
Hermes rewind vs resume, undo, branch and rollback
Hermes already had several session tools. Rewind sits alongside them rather than replacing them. Here is how the docs describe each one.
- /undo removes the last user and assistant exchange. Rewind can go back to any earlier prompt, not only the last one. The docs say an edit and resend archives later messages "as with /undo".
- /retry resends the last message as it is. Rewind lets you change the words first.
- /resume reopens a previously named session. It moves you between sessions; it does not change what is inside one. See the full walkthrough in how to resume a Hermes session.
- /branch (alias /fork) copies the current session into an independent branch from where you are now. Rewind's fork does the same thing from an earlier point, with that earlier prompt waiting for you.
- /rollback restores files from checkpoints. Checkpoints are opt-in and snapshot your project files before Hermes writes or runs destructive commands. Rollback is about files on disk; rewind is about the conversation.
So if Hermes wrote a bad file, reach for /rollback. If Hermes is answering the wrong question, reach for /rewind.
Hermes rewind and the new "tell Hermes what to do instead" option
The same pull request added a fifth choice to approval prompts: "No, and tell Hermes what to do instead". When Hermes asks to run a command you don't like, pick it (or press its number), type what you want, and press Enter.
According to the docs, Hermes denies the command and steers your instruction into the running turn, the same way /steer would. Hermes sees the denial and your correction together and tries again your way. If the turn already ended, your instruction is queued as your next prompt.
The pull request shows an example: Hermes asked to delete a folder, the user chose this option and typed an instruction to list its contents instead, and the folder was kept. That catches the mistake at the moment it happens, so you need rewind less often.
Hermes rewind with /new mid-turn in the TUI
v0.23.0 also changed /new in the TUI. Before, typing /new while Hermes was busy was refused. Now it opens a fresh session right away, and the busy one keeps working in the background. You get a line in your current chat when the background session finishes or needs you, and Ctrl+X switches back to it.
Getting set up for Hermes rewind
Rewind ships in v0.23.0, so update Hermes Agent to the latest release first. Then open the TUI or classic CLI and try Esc Esc on an empty prompt after a couple of turns. If you are still setting Hermes up, start with the best Hermes Agent setup guide, and see the Agent OS guide for how I run Hermes as part of a full agent system.
Which model you run under Hermes changes how often you will want to rewind. I track model behaviour in my own Goldie Bench testing, and the best model for Hermes Agent page covers the options.
Hermes Agent is free and open source under the MIT license, built by Nous Research. It is not related to Hermes Labs, which is a separate company.
Hermes rewind FAQ
Which Hermes version has rewind?
Rewind arrived in Hermes Agent v0.23.0, released on 5 Nov 2026. That is the latest release at the time of writing.
Does Hermes rewind delete my messages?
Fork never touches the original session. Edit and resend removes the later messages from the live chat only when you send, and archives them, like /undo. Cancelling removes nothing.
Does Hermes rewind work in Desktop or messaging bots?
The release notes and docs describe /rewind and Esc Esc for the TUI and the classic CLI. Desktop already has edit-and-resend, but the rewind picker itself is documented for the two terminal interfaces. Rewind from messaging platforms such as Telegram or Discord is not included yet, per the pull request that added the feature.
Can I rewind to a prompt with an image?
No. The docs say prompts that carried images are listed by number only and can't be picked.
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