fix(cli): respect HERMES_HOME in all remaining hardcoded ~/.hermes paths

Several files resolved paths via Path.home() / ".hermes" or
os.path.expanduser("~/.hermes/..."), bypassing the HERMES_HOME
environment variable. This broke isolation when running multiple
Hermes instances with distinct HERMES_HOME directories.

Replace all hardcoded paths with calls to get_hermes_home() from
hermes_cli.config, consistent with the rest of the codebase.

Files fixed:
- tools/process_registry.py (processes.json)
- gateway/pairing.py (pairing/)
- gateway/sticker_cache.py (sticker_cache.json)
- gateway/channel_directory.py (channel_directory.json, sessions.json)
- gateway/config.py (gateway.json, config.yaml, sessions_dir)
- gateway/mirror.py (sessions/)
- gateway/hooks.py (hooks/)
- gateway/platforms/base.py (image_cache/, audio_cache/, document_cache/)
- gateway/platforms/whatsapp.py (whatsapp/session)
- gateway/delivery.py (cron/output)
- agent/auxiliary_client.py (auth.json)
- agent/prompt_builder.py (SOUL.md)
- cli.py (config.yaml, images/, pastes/, history)
- run_agent.py (logs/)
- tools/environments/base.py (sandboxes/)
- tools/environments/modal.py (modal_snapshots.json)
- tools/environments/singularity.py (singularity_snapshots.json)
- tools/tts_tool.py (audio_cache)
- hermes_cli/status.py (cron/jobs.json, sessions.json)
- hermes_cli/gateway.py (logs/, whatsapp session)
- hermes_cli/main.py (whatsapp/session)

Tests updated to use HERMES_HOME env var instead of patching Path.home().

Closes #892

(cherry picked from commit 78ac1bba43b8b74a934c6172f2c29bb4d03164b9)

agent/auxiliary_client.py

@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Tuple
 
 from openai import OpenAI
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
 from hermes_constants import OPENROUTER_BASE_URL
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ auxiliary_is_nous: bool = False
 _OPENROUTER_MODEL = "google/gemini-3-flash-preview"
 _NOUS_MODEL = "gemini-3-flash"
 _NOUS_DEFAULT_BASE_URL = "https://inference-api.nousresearch.com/v1"
-_AUTH_JSON_PATH = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "auth.json"
+_AUTH_JSON_PATH = get_hermes_home() / "auth.json"
 
 # Codex fallback: uses the Responses API (the only endpoint the Codex
 # OAuth token can access) with a fast model for auxiliary tasks.

agent/prompt_builder.py

@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ def build_context_files_prompt(cwd: Optional[str] = None) -> str:
             soul_path = candidate
             break
     if not soul_path:
-        global_soul = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "SOUL.md"
+        global_soul = Path(os.getenv("HERMES_HOME", Path.home() / ".hermes")) / "SOUL.md"
         if global_soul.exists():
             soul_path = global_soul
 

cli.py

@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ def _load_prefill_messages(file_path: str) -> List[Dict[str, Any]]:
         return []
     path = Path(file_path).expanduser()
     if not path.is_absolute():
-        path = Path.home() / ".hermes" / path
+        path = _hermes_home / path
     if not path.exists():
         logger.warning("Prefill messages file not found: %s", path)
         return []
@@ -141,8 +141,8 @@ def load_cli_config() -> Dict[str, Any]:
     Environment variables take precedence over config file values.
     Returns default values if no config file exists.
     """
-    # Check user config first (~/.hermes/config.yaml)
+    # Check user config first ({HERMES_HOME}/config.yaml)
-    user_config_path = Path.home() / '.hermes' / 'config.yaml'
+    user_config_path = _hermes_home / 'config.yaml'
     project_config_path = Path(__file__).parent / 'cli-config.yaml'
 
     # Use user config if it exists, otherwise project config
@@ -1037,7 +1037,7 @@ def save_config_value(key_path: str, value: any) -> bool:
         True if successful, False otherwise
     """
     # Use the same precedence as load_cli_config: user config first, then project config
-    user_config_path = Path.home() / '.hermes' / 'config.yaml'
+    user_config_path = _hermes_home / 'config.yaml'
     project_config_path = Path(__file__).parent / 'cli-config.yaml'
     config_path = user_config_path if user_config_path.exists() else project_config_path
     
@@ -1259,7 +1259,7 @@ class HermesCLI:
             self.session_id = f"{timestamp_str}_{short_uuid}"
         
         # History file for persistent input recall across sessions
-        self._history_file = Path.home() / ".hermes_history"
+        self._history_file = _hermes_home / ".hermes_history"
         self._last_invalidate: float = 0.0  # throttle UI repaints
         self._app = None
         self._secret_state = None
@@ -1778,7 +1778,7 @@ class HermesCLI:
         """
         from hermes_cli.clipboard import save_clipboard_image
 
-        img_dir = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "images"
+        img_dir = Path(os.getenv("HERMES_HOME", Path.home() / ".hermes")) / "images"
         self._image_counter += 1
         ts = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
         img_path = img_dir / f"clip_{ts}_{self._image_counter}.png"
@@ -2074,7 +2074,7 @@ class HermesCLI:
         terminal_cwd = os.getenv("TERMINAL_CWD", os.getcwd())
         terminal_timeout = os.getenv("TERMINAL_TIMEOUT", "60")
         
-        user_config_path = Path.home() / '.hermes' / 'config.yaml'
+        user_config_path = _hermes_home / 'config.yaml'
         project_config_path = Path(__file__).parent / 'cli-config.yaml'
         if user_config_path.exists():
             config_path = user_config_path
@@ -4255,7 +4255,7 @@ class HermesCLI:
             if line_count >= 5 and chars_added > 1 and not text.startswith('/'):
                 _paste_counter[0] += 1
                 # Save to temp file
-                paste_dir = Path(os.path.expanduser("~/.hermes/pastes"))
+                paste_dir = _hermes_home / "pastes"
                 paste_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
                 paste_file = paste_dir / f"paste_{_paste_counter[0]}_{datetime.now().strftime('%H%M%S')}.txt"
                 paste_file.write_text(text, encoding="utf-8")

gateway/channel_directory.py

@@ -12,9 +12,11 @@ from datetime import datetime
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-DIRECTORY_PATH = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "channel_directory.json"
+DIRECTORY_PATH = get_hermes_home() / "channel_directory.json"
 
 
 def _session_entry_id(origin: Dict[str, Any]) -> Optional[str]:
@@ -129,7 +131,7 @@ def _build_slack(adapter) -> List[Dict[str, str]]:
 
 def _build_from_sessions(platform_name: str) -> List[Dict[str, str]]:
     """Pull known channels/contacts from sessions.json origin data."""
-    sessions_path = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "sessions" / "sessions.json"
+    sessions_path = get_hermes_home() / "sessions" / "sessions.json"
     if not sessions_path.exists():
         return []
 

gateway/config.py

@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Any
 from enum import Enum
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
@@ -151,7 +153,7 @@ class GatewayConfig:
     reset_triggers: List[str] = field(default_factory=lambda: ["/new", "/reset"])
     
     # Storage paths
-    sessions_dir: Path = field(default_factory=lambda: Path.home() / ".hermes" / "sessions")
+    sessions_dir: Path = field(default_factory=lambda: get_hermes_home() / "sessions")
     
     # Delivery settings
     always_log_local: bool = True  # Always save cron outputs to local files
@@ -246,7 +248,7 @@ class GatewayConfig:
         if "default_reset_policy" in data:
             default_policy = SessionResetPolicy.from_dict(data["default_reset_policy"])
         
-        sessions_dir = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "sessions"
+        sessions_dir = get_hermes_home() / "sessions"
         if "sessions_dir" in data:
             sessions_dir = Path(data["sessions_dir"])
         
@@ -274,7 +276,8 @@ def load_gateway_config() -> GatewayConfig:
     config = GatewayConfig()
     
     # Try loading from ~/.hermes/gateway.json
-    gateway_config_path = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "gateway.json"
+    _home = get_hermes_home()
+    gateway_config_path = _home / "gateway.json"
     if gateway_config_path.exists():
         try:
             with open(gateway_config_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
@@ -288,7 +291,7 @@ def load_gateway_config() -> GatewayConfig:
     # for session reset policy since that's where hermes setup writes it.
     try:
         import yaml
-        config_yaml_path = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "config.yaml"
+        config_yaml_path = _home / "config.yaml"
         if config_yaml_path.exists():
             with open(config_yaml_path, encoding="utf-8") as f:
                 yaml_cfg = yaml.safe_load(f) or {}
@@ -481,7 +484,7 @@ def _apply_env_overrides(config: GatewayConfig) -> None:
 
 def save_gateway_config(config: GatewayConfig) -> None:
     """Save gateway configuration to ~/.hermes/gateway.json."""
-    gateway_config_path = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "gateway.json"
+    gateway_config_path = get_hermes_home() / "gateway.json"
     gateway_config_path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
     
     with open(gateway_config_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:

gateway/delivery.py

@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ from dataclasses import dataclass
 from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Any, Union
 from enum import Enum
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 MAX_PLATFORM_OUTPUT = 4000
@@ -116,7 +118,7 @@ class DeliveryRouter:
         """
         self.config = config
         self.adapters = adapters or {}
-        self.output_dir = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "cron" / "output"
+        self.output_dir = get_hermes_home() / "cron" / "output"
     
     def resolve_targets(
         self,
@@ -256,7 +258,7 @@ class DeliveryRouter:
     def _save_full_output(self, content: str, job_id: str) -> Path:
         """Save full cron output to disk and return the file path."""
         timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
-        out_dir = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "cron" / "output"
+        out_dir = get_hermes_home() / "cron" / "output"
         out_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
         path = out_dir / f"{job_id}_{timestamp}.txt"
         path.write_text(content)

gateway/hooks.py

@@ -26,8 +26,10 @@ from typing import Any, Callable, Dict, List, Optional
 
 import yaml
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
 
-HOOKS_DIR = Path(os.path.expanduser("~/.hermes/hooks"))
+
+HOOKS_DIR = get_hermes_home() / "hooks"
 
 
 class HookRegistry:

gateway/mirror.py

@@ -15,9 +15,11 @@ from datetime import datetime
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Optional
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-_SESSIONS_DIR = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "sessions"
+_SESSIONS_DIR = get_hermes_home() / "sessions"
 _SESSIONS_INDEX = _SESSIONS_DIR / "sessions.json"
 
 

gateway/pairing.py

@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ import time
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Optional
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
+
 
 # Unambiguous alphabet -- excludes 0/O, 1/I to prevent confusion
 ALPHABET = "ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZ23456789"
@@ -39,7 +41,7 @@ LOCKOUT_SECONDS = 3600              # Lockout duration after too many failures
 MAX_PENDING_PER_PLATFORM = 3        # Max pending codes per platform
 MAX_FAILED_ATTEMPTS = 5             # Failed approvals before lockout
 
-PAIRING_DIR = Path(os.path.expanduser("~/.hermes/pairing"))
+PAIRING_DIR = get_hermes_home() / "pairing"
 
 
 def _secure_write(path: Path, data: str) -> None:

gateway/platforms/base.py

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ sys.path.insert(0, str(_Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2]))
 
 from gateway.config import Platform, PlatformConfig
 from gateway.session import SessionSource, build_session_key
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
 
 
 GATEWAY_SECRET_CAPTURE_UNSUPPORTED_MESSAGE = (
@@ -42,8 +43,8 @@ GATEWAY_SECRET_CAPTURE_UNSUPPORTED_MESSAGE = (
 # (e.g. Telegram file URLs expire after ~1 hour).
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-# Default location: ~/.hermes/image_cache/
+# Default location: {HERMES_HOME}/image_cache/
-IMAGE_CACHE_DIR = Path(os.path.expanduser("~/.hermes/image_cache"))
+IMAGE_CACHE_DIR = get_hermes_home() / "image_cache"
 
 
 def get_image_cache_dir() -> Path:
@@ -125,7 +126,7 @@ def cleanup_image_cache(max_age_hours: int = 24) -> int:
 # here so the STT tool (OpenAI Whisper) can transcribe them from local files.
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-AUDIO_CACHE_DIR = Path(os.path.expanduser("~/.hermes/audio_cache"))
+AUDIO_CACHE_DIR = get_hermes_home() / "audio_cache"
 
 
 def get_audio_cache_dir() -> Path:
@@ -184,7 +185,7 @@ async def cache_audio_from_url(url: str, ext: str = ".ogg") -> str:
 # here so the agent can reference them by local file path.
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-DOCUMENT_CACHE_DIR = Path(os.path.expanduser("~/.hermes/document_cache"))
+DOCUMENT_CACHE_DIR = get_hermes_home() / "document_cache"
 
 SUPPORTED_DOCUMENT_TYPES = {
     ".pdf": "application/pdf",

gateway/platforms/whatsapp.py

@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ _IS_WINDOWS = platform.system() == "Windows"
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Any
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
@@ -132,7 +134,7 @@ class WhatsAppAdapter(BasePlatformAdapter):
         )
         self._session_path: Path = Path(config.extra.get(
             "session_path",
-            Path.home() / ".hermes" / "whatsapp" / "session"
+            get_hermes_home() / "whatsapp" / "session"
         ))
         self._message_queue: asyncio.Queue = asyncio.Queue()
         self._bridge_log_fh = None

gateway/sticker_cache.py

@@ -14,8 +14,10 @@ import time
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Optional
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
 
-CACHE_PATH = Path(os.path.expanduser("~/.hermes/sticker_cache.json"))
+
+CACHE_PATH = get_hermes_home() / "sticker_cache.json"
 
 # Vision prompt for describing stickers -- kept concise to save tokens
 STICKER_VISION_PROMPT = (

hermes_cli/gateway.py

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from pathlib import Path
 
 PROJECT_ROOT = Path(__file__).parent.parent.resolve()
 
-from hermes_cli.config import get_env_value, save_env_value
+from hermes_cli.config import get_env_value, get_hermes_home, save_env_value
 from hermes_cli.setup import (
     print_header, print_info, print_success, print_warning, print_error,
     prompt, prompt_choice, prompt_yes_no,
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ def systemd_status(deep: bool = False):
 def generate_launchd_plist() -> str:
     python_path = get_python_path()
     working_dir = str(PROJECT_ROOT)
-    log_dir = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "logs"
+    log_dir = get_hermes_home() / "logs"
     log_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
     
     return f"""<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
@@ -380,7 +380,7 @@ def launchd_status(deep: bool = False):
         print("✗ Gateway service is not loaded")
     
     if deep:
-        log_file = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "logs" / "gateway.log"
+        log_file = get_hermes_home() / "logs" / "gateway.log"
         if log_file.exists():
             print()
             print("Recent logs:")
@@ -557,7 +557,7 @@ def _platform_status(platform: dict) -> str:
     val = get_env_value(token_var)
     if token_var == "WHATSAPP_ENABLED":
         if val and val.lower() == "true":
-            session_file = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "whatsapp" / "session" / "creds.json"
+            session_file = get_hermes_home() / "whatsapp" / "session" / "creds.json"
             if session_file.exists():
                 return "configured + paired"
             return "enabled, not paired"

hermes_cli/main.py

@@ -648,7 +648,7 @@ def cmd_whatsapp(args):
         print("✓ Bridge dependencies already installed")
 
     # ── Step 5: Check for existing session ───────────────────────────────
-    session_dir = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "whatsapp" / "session"
+    session_dir = get_hermes_home() / "whatsapp" / "session"
     session_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
     if (session_dir / "creds.json").exists():

hermes_cli/status.py

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ from pathlib import Path
 PROJECT_ROOT = Path(__file__).parent.parent.resolve()
 
 from hermes_cli.colors import Colors, color
-from hermes_cli.config import get_env_path, get_env_value
+from hermes_cli.config import get_env_path, get_env_value, get_hermes_home
 from hermes_constants import OPENROUTER_MODELS_URL
 
 def check_mark(ok: bool) -> str:
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ def show_status(args):
     print()
     print(color("◆ Scheduled Jobs", Colors.CYAN, Colors.BOLD))
     
-    jobs_file = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "cron" / "jobs.json"
+    jobs_file = get_hermes_home() / "cron" / "jobs.json"
     if jobs_file.exists():
         import json
         try:
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ def show_status(args):
     print()
     print(color("◆ Sessions", Colors.CYAN, Colors.BOLD))
     
-    sessions_file = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "sessions" / "sessions.json"
+    sessions_file = get_hermes_home() / "sessions" / "sessions.json"
     if sessions_file.exists():
         import json
         try:

run_agent.py

@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ class AIAgent:
         # Persistent error log -- always writes WARNING+ to ~/.hermes/logs/errors.log
         # so tool failures, API errors, etc. are inspectable after the fact.
         from agent.redact import RedactingFormatter
-        _error_log_dir = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "logs"
+        _error_log_dir = _hermes_home / "logs"
         _error_log_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
         _error_log_path = _error_log_dir / "errors.log"
         from logging.handlers import RotatingFileHandler

tests/gateway/test_channel_directory.py

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """Tests for gateway/channel_directory.py — channel resolution and display."""
 
 import json
+import os
 from pathlib import Path
 from unittest.mock import patch
 
@@ -122,7 +123,7 @@ class TestResolveChannelName:
 class TestBuildFromSessions:
     def _write_sessions(self, tmp_path, sessions_data):
         """Write sessions.json at the path _build_from_sessions expects."""
-        sessions_path = tmp_path / ".hermes" / "sessions" / "sessions.json"
+        sessions_path = tmp_path / "sessions" / "sessions.json"
         sessions_path.parent.mkdir(parents=True)
         sessions_path.write_text(json.dumps(sessions_data))
 
@@ -152,7 +153,7 @@ class TestBuildFromSessions:
             },
         })
 
-        with patch.object(Path, "home", return_value=tmp_path):
+        with patch.dict(os.environ, {"HERMES_HOME": str(tmp_path)}):
             entries = _build_from_sessions("telegram")
 
         assert len(entries) == 2
@@ -161,7 +162,7 @@ class TestBuildFromSessions:
         assert "Bob" in names
 
     def test_missing_sessions_file(self, tmp_path):
-        with patch.object(Path, "home", return_value=tmp_path):
+        with patch.dict(os.environ, {"HERMES_HOME": str(tmp_path)}):
             entries = _build_from_sessions("telegram")
         assert entries == []
 
@@ -171,7 +172,7 @@ class TestBuildFromSessions:
             "s2": {"origin": {"platform": "telegram", "chat_id": "123", "chat_name": "X"}},
         })
 
-        with patch.object(Path, "home", return_value=tmp_path):
+        with patch.dict(os.environ, {"HERMES_HOME": str(tmp_path)}):
             entries = _build_from_sessions("telegram")
 
         assert len(entries) == 1

tests/tools/test_clipboard.py

@@ -808,7 +808,7 @@ class TestTryAttachClipboardImage:
         with patch("hermes_cli.clipboard.save_clipboard_image", return_value=True):
             cli._try_attach_clipboard_image()
         path = cli._attached_images[0]
-        assert path.parent == Path.home() / ".hermes" / "images"
+        assert path.parent == Path(os.environ["HERMES_HOME"]) / "images"
         assert path.name.startswith("clip_")
         assert path.suffix == ".png"
 

tools/environments/base.py

@@ -5,18 +5,20 @@ import os
 import subprocess
 from pathlib import Path
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
+
 
 def get_sandbox_dir() -> Path:
     """Return the host-side root for all sandbox storage (Docker workspaces,
     Singularity overlays/SIF cache, etc.).
 
-    Configurable via TERMINAL_SANDBOX_DIR. Defaults to ~/.hermes/sandboxes/.
+    Configurable via TERMINAL_SANDBOX_DIR. Defaults to {HERMES_HOME}/sandboxes/.
     """
     custom = os.getenv("TERMINAL_SANDBOX_DIR")
     if custom:
         p = Path(custom)
     else:
-        p = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "sandboxes"
+        p = get_hermes_home() / "sandboxes"
     p.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
     return p
 

tools/environments/modal.py

@@ -13,12 +13,13 @@ import uuid
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Dict, Optional
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
 from tools.environments.base import BaseEnvironment
 from tools.interrupt import is_interrupted
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-_SNAPSHOT_STORE = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "modal_snapshots.json"
+_SNAPSHOT_STORE = get_hermes_home() / "modal_snapshots.json"
 
 
 def _load_snapshots() -> Dict[str, str]:

tools/environments/singularity.py

@@ -16,12 +16,13 @@ import uuid
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Dict, Optional
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
 from tools.environments.base import BaseEnvironment
 from tools.interrupt import is_interrupted
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-_SNAPSHOT_STORE = Path.home() / ".hermes" / "singularity_snapshots.json"
+_SNAPSHOT_STORE = get_hermes_home() / "singularity_snapshots.json"
 
 
 def _load_snapshots() -> Dict[str, str]:

tools/process_registry.py

@@ -47,11 +47,13 @@ from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional
 
+from hermes_cli.config import get_hermes_home
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
 # Checkpoint file for crash recovery (gateway only)
-CHECKPOINT_PATH = Path(os.path.expanduser("~/.hermes/processes.json"))
+CHECKPOINT_PATH = get_hermes_home() / "processes.json"
 
 # Limits
 MAX_OUTPUT_CHARS = 200_000      # 200KB rolling output buffer

tools/tts_tool.py

@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ DEFAULT_ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID = "pNInz6obpgDQGcFmaJgB"  # Adam
 DEFAULT_ELEVENLABS_MODEL_ID = "eleven_multilingual_v2"
 DEFAULT_OPENAI_MODEL = "gpt-4o-mini-tts"
 DEFAULT_OPENAI_VOICE = "alloy"
-DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIR = os.path.expanduser("~/.hermes/audio_cache")
+DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIR = str(Path(os.getenv("HERMES_HOME", Path.home() / ".hermes")) / "audio_cache")
 MAX_TEXT_LENGTH = 4000