Step 3 — The Computer

Step 3 · A Machine

An assistant that stops when you close your laptop is a window you visit. This step is short and everything depends on it.

What to buy

You do not need much, and buying new is a waste.

Requirement	Why	What I used
Always on	The entire point	—
Efficient at idle	It runs 24/7	A small-form desktop
Enough memory	Several things run at once	Generous, not extravagant
Quiet and small	It lives in your house	—
A stable operating system	You want boring	macOS

A used Apple Silicon Mac mini is the obvious answer. Mine is not new, and it does not need to be.

Do this

1. Erase it and set it up fresh. A clean machine with one purpose. Do not migrate your old data onto it.
2. Create the agent’s user account. Its own user, not yours. This is what makes Step 2 real.
3. Stop it sleeping. Turn off sleep when the display is off. An assistant that needs a password typed at the keyboard each morning is not an assistant.
4. Turn on automatic login for the agent’s account. Same reason. The machine should come back from a power cut on its own.
5. Enable remote access. I use a private network tool, Tailscale, which puts the machine on a private network only my devices can see. Do not open a port to the internet.
6. Install the agent platform. Mine is Hermes Agent, running as a background service so it starts on boot.
7. Put it somewhere sensible. Not a bedroom. It makes noise, and it is an employee’s desk, not a shelf ornament.

How to reach it

Three ways, and you want at least two:

• From your laptop, over the private network. A terminal session, for maintenance.
• By asking the agent something. Once Step 8 is done, this is how you will actually use it.
• A physical keyboard, as the last resort. There is always the first time.

Test remote access before you need it. Discovering it does not work while you are away from home is a bad afternoon.

Treat it like an appliance, not a laptop

This is a mindset change more than a technical one.

• You do not sit at it.
• You do not install your own things on it. Every extra program is risk and confusion. If you need a tool, decide it is the agent’s tool and give it a reason.
• You do not store your own files on it. Its storage is its workspace.
• You do not use it as a spare machine when yours is busy. The day you do, it stops being predictable.

The test: delete the agent’s user account. Your household should not notice, except that the messages stop.

Checkpoint

• The machine has never slept since you set it up
• It comes back on its own after a restart, without a password
• You can reach a terminal on it from another device
• The agent platform is installed and starts automatically
• Nothing of yours lives on it, and nothing of its lives on your machines

Next

Step 4 — Connect calendars, reminders and contacts.