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Configuration Reference

SettingWhereRequiredDescription
memory.providerHermes configYesSet to byterover to activate the provider
Context-tree directory: $HERMES_HOME/byterover — profile-scoped, created automatically on first use. All brv commands run against the .brv/ context tree inside this directory.

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Troubleshooting

Cause: The brv binary cannot be found, or the ByteRover daemon is not running.Steps to diagnose:
  1. Check that brv is installed and in your PATH: 
    which brv
brv --version
  2. If brv is missing, install it: 
    curl -fsSL https://byterover.dev/install.sh | sh
# or
npm install -g byterover-cli
    Then restart your shell (or run the export PATH line the installer prints).
  3. If brv is installed but the error persists, check that the daemon is running: 
    brv status
    If it is not running, any brv command will start it automatically on the next call.
  4. If brv is installed in a non-standard location (e.g. ~/.brv-cli/bin/, ~/.npm-global/bin/), the plugin searches these paths automatically. Confirm the binary resolves: 
    ls ~/.brv-cli/bin/brv
Cause: The ByteRover provider is not selected in Hermes config.Solution: Run the interactive setup or set it manually:
hermes memory setup
# — or —
hermes config set memory.provider byterover
Verify the active provider:
hermes config get memory.provider
Expected output: byterover
Cause: The query exceeded the 10-second timeout, or the context tree is empty.Solution:
  1. Check that an LLM provider is configured for ByteRover (required for query and curation): 
    brv providers list
    If no provider is connected, add one: 
    brv providers connect byterover        # Free tier, requires ByteRover login
brv providers connect anthropic --api-key sk-ant-...
  2. If the context tree is empty (new project), seed it first: 
    cd $HERMES_HOME/byterover
brv curate "Initial project context: <description>"
Cause: Curation has a 120-second timeout. Failures are usually due to a missing LLM provider or network issues when using a cloud provider.Solution:
  1. Verify your LLM provider is reachable: 
    brv providers list
  2. Run a manual curation to see the full error output: 
    cd $HERMES_HOME/byterover
brv curate "test"
Cause: The brv command is not in your PATH.Solution: Install the ByteRover CLI:
curl -fsSL https://byterover.dev/install.sh | sh
# or
npm install -g byterover-cli
See the full installation guide for platform-specific instructions.

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File Reference

PathDescription
~/.hermes/configHermes configuration (memory.provider: byterover)
~/.hermes/.envEnvironment variables (BRV_API_KEY)
$HERMES_HOME/byterover/ByteRover working directory (profile-scoped)
$HERMES_HOME/byterover/.brv/ByteRover context tree storage
$HERMES_HOME/byterover/.brv/context-tree/Hierarchical knowledge files

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Advanced

The ByteRover memory provider hooks into the Hermes agent loop at four points:
  • Before each LLM call (prefetch) — Runs brv query with the user’s message (10s timeout) and injects the results as additional context into the system prompt.
  • After each turn (sync_turn) — Runs brv curate in the background (non-blocking, 120s timeout) to extract and store valuable knowledge from the conversation turn.
  • Before context compression (on_pre_compress) — Extracts insights from the full message history before it is summarized, ensuring nothing is lost during compaction.
  • On built-in memory writes (on_memory_write) — Mirrors writes to Hermes’ built-in memory store into the ByteRover context tree automatically.
The brv binary is resolved once per session (thread-safe cache) by searching your PATH first, then checking well-known install locations: ~/.brv-cli/bin/, /usr/local/bin/, ~/.npm-global/bin/.
If you have existing Hermes session notes or memory files, migrate them to the ByteRover context tree:
cd $HERMES_HOME/byterover
brv curate "curate the data in the folder ~/.hermes/memory by reviewing each file one by one."
ByteRover reads each file, extracts valuable insights, and organizes them into the context tree:
update .brv/context-tree/architecture/api_design/auth_flow.md
update .brv/context-tree/decisions/database_schema.md
✓ Context curated successfully.
You can point to any directory that contains .md memory files.
To stop using ByteRover, switch to a different provider or disable memory:
hermes memory setup
# — or —
hermes config unset memory.provider
The .brv/ context tree in $HERMES_HOME/byterover/ is preserved and can be reactivated at any time.

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Next Steps

Onboard Context

Learn how to onboard context into ByteRover

LLM Providers

Connect an external provider or use the built-in LLM