Vellum

license

MIT(OSI, Copyright 2025 Vellum AI)

source

public(the full agent - gateway, clients, skill framework, memory - in github.com/vellum-ai/vellum-assistant)

core-gated

ungated(README: managed runtime on Vellum Platform or self-hosted, "Same codebase, same data model")

self-host

yes(by design)

managed-cloud

hosting convenience, not a feature tier

The agent's complete source is public and MIT-licensed (the LICENSE reads "Copyright (c) 2025 Vellum AI"), covering the backend gateway, the Mac, Slack and Telegram clients, the sandboxed skill framework and the memory system, and it is self-hostable by design rather than a client stub. The vendor's own marketing comparison table labels Vellum "Proprietary" against MIT for Hermes and OpenClaw, because it sells a managed cloud tier - but the same comparison post says outright that "Vellum is also open source", so that label is not a live caveat. The managed memory and security layer is not a feature tier either: the README states that the managed runtime and the self-hosted one are the "Same codebase, same data model", so hosting is a convenience rather than a gate, and a hosted offering sold alongside a complete open core is not gating.

• https://www.vellum.ai recorded 2026-08-13

  personal AI assistant 'AI layer for your life'; cloud or self-hosted, and it links to its own GitHub

• https://www.vellum.ai/blog/best-hermes-agent-alternatives recorded 2026-08-13

  Vellum positioning as a personal assistant against Hermes and OpenClaw; the post states outright "Vellum is also open source"

• https://github.com/vellum-ai/vellum-assistant recorded 2026-08-13

  PRIMARY - full open source agent source (gateway, clients, skill framework, memory) under an MIT license badge, 1.1k stars, 156 forks

• https://github.com/vellum-ai/vellum-assistant/blob/main/LICENSE recorded 2026-08-13

  PRIMARY - MIT License text, 'Copyright (c) 2025 Vellum AI'

1,054 stars on vellum-ai/vellum-assistant, which bands at 1K-10K stars, level 2 on the stars scale. No download, user or usage metric is disclosed - this is a self-hosted app rather than a registry package - so stars are the only signal available, and they are used strictly as a last-resort proxy. A small, new entrant.

• https://github.com/vellum-ai/vellum-assistant recorded 2026-08-13

  1.1k stars, 156 forks (last-resort star proxy; no other adoption signal disclosed)

• https://www.vellum.ai recorded 2026-08-13

  landing page with no disclosed user or usage numbers

Solid personal-agent feature breadth, all of it visible in the open MIT source: 8-type memory, real-world action through managed OAuth connections, multi-channel reach across Mac, web, iOS, Slack, Telegram and phone, out-of-process credential isolation and an ambient proactive engine. No benchmark and no frontier differentiator, so this is a mid-tier judgment on features.

• https://www.vellum.ai recorded 2026-08-13

  structured memory, multi-channel autonomous action, credential isolation and an ambient/proactive engine; no benchmark figure published