Hermes Watch Capture

Hermes Watch Capture is a watch-first iOS and watchOS prototype I built to capture a thought from Apple Watch or Siri and route it through a synchronous backend. A local outbox, signed requests, and idempotent delivery keep my retries explicit.

Abstract watch-first capture pipeline with a local outbox, paired-device relay, and signed backend boundary

Problem

The challenge for me was making capture feel immediate from the wrist without letting unreliable connectivity or duplicate retries create hidden write behavior.

Constraints

I kept the interaction watch-first so capturing an idea takes as little effort as possible
I save every capture locally before I try to deliver it
I authenticate requests across the Watch, iPhone, and backend boundary
I left every action path in dry-run mode until the full flow is ready for physical-device QA

Technical decisions

I used a local outbox to make queued delivery and retries visible
I added App Intents and Siri shortcuts for hands-free capture
I use WatchConnectivity as a fallback through the paired iPhone
I sign synchronous backend requests and reject duplicate request IDs

Evidence

I documented the API contract and the main architecture decisions alongside the prototype
I covered request validation, signatures, retries, and dry-run planning with ten backend tests
I have not completed the Swift package tests or final physical-device QA yet

What I learned

Wearable capture works best for me when the client stays small, retries stay visible, and a reversible no-write path is proven before real actions are enabled.