diff --git a/ai/hermes/Dockerfile b/ai/hermes/Dockerfile
index 8459749..8cf1e6d 100644
--- a/ai/hermes/Dockerfile
+++ b/ai/hermes/Dockerfile
@@ -75,3 +75,8 @@ USER root
 RUN chown -R hermes:hermes /opt/hermes/tools /opt/hermes/toolsets.py
 
 VOLUME [ "/opt/data" ]
+
+# Switch to the hermes user so the container runs unprivileged.
+# All child processes inherit this user — no more orphan root processes
+# that escape gosu privilege drops in the entrypoint.
+USER hermes