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Overview

Hermes needs several macOS permissions to function. If any are missing or misconfigured, features won’t work correctly.
PermissionWhat breaks without it
MicrophoneNo audio capture at all
AccessibilityText won’t insert into apps
Input MonitoringHotkey won’t work globally
Screen RecordingVision context unavailable

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Microphone permission

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Symptoms

  • Hermes bar appears but shows no audio
  • “Microphone access required” error
  • Transcription never starts

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Fix

1

Open System Settings

Apple menu () → System Settings
2

Go to Microphone

Privacy & Security → Microphone
3

Enable Hermes

Find Hermes in the list and toggle it on.If Hermes isn’t listed, you may need to trigger a permission prompt by trying to dictate.

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Still not working?

  1. Toggle Hermes off, then on again
  2. Quit and restart Hermes
  3. Restart your Mac

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Accessibility permission

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Symptoms

  • Hermes transcribes but text doesn’t appear
  • “Accessibility access required” error
  • Text appears in Hermes but not in target app

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Fix

1

Open System Settings

Apple menu () → System Settings
2

Go to Accessibility

Privacy & Security → Accessibility
3

Add Hermes

If Hermes is listed, make sure it’s toggled on.If not listed, click +, navigate to Applications, and select Hermes.

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If Hermes is listed but not working

  1. Remove Hermes from the list (select it, click -)
  2. Add it again (click +, select Hermes)
  3. Restart Hermes
Sometimes macOS caches permissions incorrectly, and re-adding fixes it.

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Input Monitoring permission

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Symptoms

  • Hotkey only works when Hermes is focused
  • Hotkey doesn’t respond at all
  • Other apps capture your hotkey

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Fix

1

Open System Settings

Apple menu () → System Settings
2

Go to Input Monitoring

Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring
3

Enable Hermes

Find Hermes and toggle it on.

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Still not working?

Try a different hotkey. Some keys may be captured by the system or other apps before Hermes can detect them.

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Screen Recording permission

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Symptoms

  • Vision context doesn’t work
  • App detection is inaccurate
  • “Screen Recording access required” message

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Fix

1

Open System Settings

Apple menu () → System Settings
2

Go to Screen Recording

Privacy & Security → Screen Recording(On newer macOS, this may be called “Screen & System Audio Recording”)
3

Enable Hermes

Find Hermes and toggle it on.
Screen Recording is optional. Hermes works without it, but Vision context won’t be available.

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Permission was denied by organization

If you’re on a work computer, your IT department may restrict permissions.

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Options

  1. Contact IT — Ask them to allow Hermes
  2. Use a personal device — If work computer can’t be configured
  3. Request an exception — Some organizations allow exceptions for productivity tools

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Resetting all permissions

If nothing else works, you can reset Hermes’ permissions completely:
This removes Hermes from all permission lists. You’ll need to re-grant everything.
  1. Quit Hermes
  2. Open Terminal
  3. Run these commands:
tccutil reset Microphone com.hermes.app
tccutil reset Accessibility com.hermes.app
tccutil reset PostEvent com.hermes.app
tccutil reset ScreenCapture com.hermes.app
  1. Reopen Hermes
  2. Grant permissions when prompted
Replace com.hermes.app with the actual bundle ID if different.

Permissions setup

Initial permission setup guide.

Common issues

Other common problems.