Open source agent stack that actually works in 2026 (no hype)

Been running this setup for a few months and wanted to share what actually works vs whats just github stars hermes agent (24k stars, MIT) - runs on your own machine or vps, connects to telegram/discord/whatsapp, persistent memory d locally in sqlite. your data doesnt leave your network. pair it with ollama and local models for fully offline operation. the memory layer is what separates it from everything else. your agent on day 30 actually knows your projects and preferences everything claude code (128k stars) - 27 agents, 64 skills, 33 commands.