diff --git a/ai/compose.yml b/ai/compose.yml
index 63f1b9b..446d2f5 100644
--- a/ai/compose.yml
+++ b/ai/compose.yml
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ services:
   hermes:
     build:
       context: ./hermes
+      ssh:
+        - default
     container_name: hermes
     entrypoint: ["/bin/bash", "-c",
       "bash /opt/data/hermes-tools/install.sh && exec /usr/bin/tini -g -- /opt/hermes/docker/entrypoint.sh \"$@\"",
diff --git a/ai/hermes/Dockerfile b/ai/hermes/Dockerfile
index 31bb00d..a6edcfc 100644
--- a/ai/hermes/Dockerfile
+++ b/ai/hermes/Dockerfile
@@ -1,30 +1,54 @@
 # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1
-# Hermes Agent — lightweight overlay
-# Adds Piper TTS, Himalaya email CLI, and extra system deps on top of the
-# official image. No source overlay — uses upstream as-is, so kanban and
-# all native v0.12.0 features are available without forking.
-#
-# Build:
+# Hermes Agent -- custom fork build
+# Builds on top of official image + overlays our forked source from Gitea.
+# Requires Docker BuildKit. Pass SSH agent for git clone:
 #   docker compose build hermes
+# Or manually:
+#   DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 docker build --ssh default -t hermes-agent:custom .
 
-# ---------- Base: official Hermes image (v0.12.0+ kanban, gateway, dashboard) ----------
+# ---------- Base: official Hermes image (system deps, npm, uv, Playwright) ----------
 FROM nousresearch/hermes-agent:latest
 
-# ---------- Extra system packages ----------
+# ---------- Overlay our forked source ----------
+# Uses SSH agent forwarding from the build host (no key baked into image).
+# --exclude node_modules/.venv keeps the base image's pre-built layers intact.
+# Only the Python source, web UI source, and config change.
+RUN --mount=type=ssh \
+    mkdir -p /root/.ssh && \
+    ssh-keyscan -p 2222 code.lazyworkhorse.net >> /root/.ssh/known_hosts 2>/dev/null && \
+    cd /tmp && \
+    GIT_SSH_COMMAND='ssh -p 2222 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no' \
+    git clone --depth 1 --branch main \
+    git@code.lazyworkhorse.net:gortium/hermes-agent.git fork && \
+    rsync -a --delete fork/ /opt/hermes/ \
+      --exclude node_modules \
+      --exclude .venv \
+      --exclude .git && \
+    rm -rf /tmp/fork /root/.ssh/
+
+# ---------- Rebuild web UI ----------
+# Source files changed; node_modules (from base image) reused.
+RUN cd /opt/hermes && npm run build
+
+# ---------- Reinstall Python package (editable) ----------
+# Picks up source changes from our fork.
+RUN . /opt/hermes/.venv/bin/activate && \
+    uv pip install --no-cache-dir --no-deps -e /opt/hermes
+
+# ---------- Extra system deps ----------
 USER root
 RUN apt-get update && \
     apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
         libportaudio2 ca-certificates poppler-utils imagemagick \
         texlive-latex-base texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended \
         texlive-xetex texlive-science \
-        qemu-user-static binfmt-support emacs-nox \
-        tmux \
-    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+        qemu-user-static binfmt-support emacs-nox && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
-# ---------- UV (Python package manager) ----------
+# ---------- UV ----------
 COPY --chmod=0755 --from=ghcr.io/astral-sh/uv:latest /uv /usr/local/bin/
 
-# ---------- Piper TTS (local neural TTS) ----------
+# ---------- Piper TTS ----------
 RUN . /opt/hermes/.venv/bin/activate && \
     uv pip install --no-cache-dir piper-tts sounddevice numpy && \
     mkdir -p /opt/hermes/.venv/share/piper/voices
@@ -37,7 +61,7 @@ urllib.request.urlretrieve(url, base + '/en_US-ryan-high.onnx')
 urllib.request.urlretrieve(url + '.json', base + '/en_US-ryan-high.onnx.json')
 PYEOF
 
-# ---------- Himalaya email CLI ----------
+# ---------- Install Himalaya email CLI ----------
 RUN /opt/hermes/.venv/bin/python3 /dev/stdin << 'PYEOF'
 import urllib.request, tarfile, os, shutil
 url = 'https://github.com/pimalaya/himalaya/releases/download/v1.2.0/himalaya.x86_64-linux.tgz'
@@ -51,17 +75,19 @@ os.remove(tgz)
 print('himalaya v1.2.0 installed')
 PYEOF
 
-# ---------- Himalaya read-only wrapper ----------
+# ---------- Install himalaya-ro wrapper ----------
 COPY --chmod=0755 himalaya-ro.sh /usr/local/bin/himalaya-ro
 
+
 # ---------- Runtime ----------
 USER hermes
 ENV HERMES_HOME=/opt/data
 ENV PATH="/opt/data/.local/bin:${PATH}"
-# Point browser tool to Playwright's Chromium (bundled in base image)
+# Point browser tool to Playwright's Chromium (already in base image)
 ENV CHROME_EXECUTABLE=/opt/hermes/.playwright/chromium/chrome-linux/chrome
 
-# Ensure tools directory is writable for custom tools from persistent volume
+# Ensure tools directory and toolsets.py are writable by the hermes runtime user
+# so custom tools can be injected from the persistent volume at startup.
 RUN chown -R hermes:hermes /opt/hermes/tools /opt/hermes/toolsets.py
 
-VOLUME [ "/opt/data" ]
+VOLUME [ "/opt/data" ]
\ No newline at end of file