1 · From installation to the first answer
Installation manages the whole instance, not just a Python package: an isolated environment, models, optional services, encrypted secrets, service units, the interface, and the Tutor catalog.
Four commands, then conversation
git clone https://github.com/brunialti/metnos.git cd metnos bash install/bootstrap.sh --check bash install/bootstrap.sh
The preflight is read-only. The installer leads you through six phases, verifies each outcome, and records completed work. If a download or the Tutor build is interrupted, the same command resumes from the last valid point.
What time is it, and which time zone are you using?
2 · Ask the Tutor for help
You do not need to know the shape of Settings or guess a capability's technical name. Tutor answers questions about Metnos before the operational planner can mistake the question for an action.
“Where can I see the configured embedder?”
Show me which embedder is configured under Settings > System > Models, and guide me there from the web chat.
If the question arrives from Telegram, Tutor says that the path must be opened in the web chat. It can also describe the page attested by the current instance, give its address, and say what is missing rather than inventing a menu.
3 · Find files that are exactly identical
A broad request should not yield a convenient but incomplete answer. Metnos keeps the limit on what fits in chat separate from the limit on the work that must be completed.
Count everything, compare content, create the sheet
Inspect the Pictures directory on the Metnos server: count every file and directory, then find every image that is certainly duplicated. Create a sheet with both paths and filenames for each pair.
4 · From mail to a sheet, then consent
One sentence can join several domains. Typed results pass between steps; the model does not need to copy the data and cannot freely pick an account or provider.
Search, extract, and deliver
Find June's invoice emails, extract date, supplier, invoice number, and amount, then create a sheet sorted by date.
Send the sheet to my accountant.
5 · Work on Windows and undo
The server retains the plan, policy, consent, and audit trail. A paired client carries only compatible execution to the device where the data lives.
The photos remain on the PC
On OFFICE-PC, organize the photos in Pictures into subfolders by year without changing their names.
Undo the last operation.
6 · Follow a portal every morning
When the route may change but the purpose remains narrow, an executor may observe a page and choose among enumerated actions. That does not turn it into an unbounded agent.
From the school portal to Telegram
Every morning at 7, sign in to the school portal, collect homework, marks, and notices, read attached PDFs too, and send the five most important updates to my daughter on Telegram.
1. Notice about Friday's strike
2. Mathematics test postponed
3. New weekend homework
4. Parent meetings open for booking
5. Latin mark published
7 · Metnos, OpenClaw, and Hermes Agent
All three can be installed locally and accept natural-language requests. The decisive difference is where each one places management, guidance, authority, and recovery. This table compares behavior described by the projects' official sources; it is not an absolute score.
OpenClaw and Hermes both offer guided setup and capable operating surfaces. Metnos is distinguished by the depth of the integrated whole: one installer provisions and verifies the stack, one Settings area administers the instance, and Tutor answers from the capabilities and configuration that instance actually admits.
| Area | OpenClaw | Hermes Agent | Metnos |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everyday use | A personal assistant across WebChat and many messaging channels. | CLI, desktop, and several channels, with automation and delegation. | Web chat and Telegram turn an ordinary-language outcome into a typed workflow across server, providers, and devices. |
| Installation | One-line installers and guided onboarding on several operating systems. | Desktop packages or a one-line installer, a setup wizard, and native Windows support. | A read-only preflight and six resumable phases configure environment, models, sidecars, secrets, services, and Tutor, then verify the complete instance. |
| Management | Control UI and CLI for gateway, channels, agents, and configuration. | Desktop, TUI, CLI, and dashboard provide operational surfaces. | Settings unifies 14 authenticated pages for activity, executors, memory, editable models, services, safety, users, and devices. |
| Built-in guidance | Documentation, setup flows, and configuration commands are available from chat and the UI. | /help, setup, doctor, and extensive documentation guide the operator. | The semantic Tutor is compiled from installed sources and manifests: it answers in the user's language, observes permitted registries, and provides exact paths and official links. |
| Security boundary | The main personal session runs on the host by default; sandbox modes, tool policies, pairing, and security audits are configurable. | Dangerous-command approval, protected paths, pairing, and optional multi-layer isolation provide defense in depth. | The planner does not receive a general shell: it sees admitted, signed executors. Schema, per-call authority, isolation, policy, consent, and postconditions govern every path. |
| Undo and recovery | Recovery is session- or tool-specific; the core documentation does not define a uniform cross-domain inverse-operation contract. | /undo manages conversation state; opt-in checkpoints restore project files changed by file tools and destructive commands. | Supporting executors declare the inverse and the runtime records resources, account, and device. Irreversible effects are stated explicitly. |
| Extension | Skills and plugins teach new procedures and add tools. | Installed or learned skills, MCP, and toolsets extend the agent. | Code becomes routable only after its name, schema, authority, signature, tests, and admission state satisfy the shared contract. |
The recovery models are not equivalent. Hermes checkpoints can restore everything below a tracked project root, even when no individual tool declared an inverse; inside that tree, Metnos has no equivalent snapshot. Metnos inverse operations instead reach effects a project copy cannot touch — for example a message moved on an IMAP server or files moved on a paired PC — but only when the responsible executor declares and records the reverse. Neither system can recall an email that has already been sent.
Comparison checked on 31 July 2026 against the official sources: OpenClaw, OpenClaw security, Hermes Agent, and Hermes checkpoints. These projects evolve; this is a dated view of documented behavior, not an eternal ranking.