diff --git a/ai/hermes/Dockerfile b/ai/hermes/Dockerfile
index a6edcfc..269bcda 100644
--- a/ai/hermes/Dockerfile
+++ b/ai/hermes/Dockerfile
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 # ---------- Base: official Hermes image (system deps, npm, uv, Playwright) ----------
 FROM nousresearch/hermes-agent:latest
 
+WORKDIR /opt/hermes
+
 # ---------- 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.
@@ -50,7 +52,7 @@ COPY --chmod=0755 --from=ghcr.io/astral-sh/uv:latest /uv /usr/local/bin/
 
 # ---------- Piper TTS ----------
 RUN . /opt/hermes/.venv/bin/activate && \
-    uv pip install --no-cache-dir piper-tts sounddevice numpy && \
+    uv pip install --no-cache-dir piper-tts sounddevice numpy httpx && \
     mkdir -p /opt/hermes/.venv/share/piper/voices
 
 RUN /opt/hermes/.venv/bin/python3 /dev/stdin << 'PYEOF'