Hermes Agent iMessage in Docker with no Mac: Photon and the alternatives

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At a glance

Hermes iMessage options compared

Checked 6 November 2026 against each provider's pricing page and the Hermes docs and plugin catalog. Prices are monthly, in U.S. dollars.

When Photon is the easier pick

• You run the official Hermes Docker image. Photon is a built-in platform and its sidecar dependencies ship in the image. Setup is a device login and your phone number.
• People will text the agent first. A personal assistant you message yourself fits the free shared line well.
• You want to start free. No subscription is needed to send the first iMessage, and the free tier covers up to 10 users.

When to pick the Claw Messenger plugin instead

• The agent starts the conversation. Reminders, follow-ups, and alerts go to registered numbers that never texted the line first.
• You want one number per account, not per contact. Claw Messenger assigns the account a sending number instead of a different shared line for each contact.
• The agent needs inbound files. Images, video, audio, and documents arrive as cached local files the agent's vision tools can read.
• Cron jobs send while the gateway is down. hermes cron run opens a one-shot connection, delivers the message, and closes.
• Contacts are not all on iMessage. Messages fall back to RCS or SMS automatically.

Claw Messenger is not the pick if you need a free tier, your own Apple ID, or high-volume cold outreach. Self-serve plans pause new conversations at 20 distinct recipients in a rolling 24 hours. See plans and limits.

Install the Claw Messenger plugin for Hermes

With Hermes installed by its standard installer on Linux or a VPS, install the package into the Hermes environment:

uv pip install --python ~/.hermes/hermes-agent/venv "hermes-imessage>=0.1.2"

Enable the toolset, add imessage under plugins.enabled in ~/.hermes/config.yaml, set the API key, and start the gateway:

hermes tools enable hermes-claw-messenger
echo 'CLAW_MESSENGER_API_KEY=cm_live_...' >> ~/.hermes/.env
hermes gateway start

The full steps, including the readiness check and the first reply-backed test, are in the Hermes no-Mac setup guide.

In the official Hermes Docker image

The image keeps its Python environment read-only, and its docs say extra dependencies belong in a new image build. Add hermes-imessage in an image you build FROM nousresearch/hermes-agent, or run Hermes with the standard installer on the Docker host. Your config and .env stay in the mounted /opt/data volume either way. If you would rather not build an image, Photon is the simpler route.

Set up Photon in Hermes

Run the gateway wizard and pick Photon iMessage, or run the Photon setup directly. It logs in through Photon, creates a project, registers your phone number, and prints the iMessage line to text:

hermes gateway setup
# or
hermes photon setup --phone +15551234567
hermes gateway start

Approve unknown senders with hermes pairing approve photon <CODE>, or list allowed numbers in PHOTON_ALLOWED_USERS. See the Hermes Photon docs.

BlueBubbles, if you have a Mac after all

Hermes's built-in BlueBubbles channel sends as the Apple ID signed into Messages on your Mac. It is free, but the Mac must stay on, and your Docker host must reach the BlueBubbles server by local network, a tunnel, or dynamic DNS. See Hermes BlueBubbles vs Claw Messenger.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Hermes docs: Photon iMessage (setup, free quotas, shared-line rules, limits)
• Photon pricing
• Hermes docs: BlueBubbles
• Hermes docs: Docker (read-only application tree, derived images)
• Hermes plugin catalog (sendblue and inkbox entries)
• Sendblue pricing
• Inkbox pricing
• hermes-imessage README
• Claw Messenger pricing