diff --git a/modules/environments/hermes-agent/default.nix b/modules/environments/hermes-agent/default.nix
index 82a2386..0547df8 100644
--- a/modules/environments/hermes-agent/default.nix
+++ b/modules/environments/hermes-agent/default.nix
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ in
       enable = true;
       # Deliberate pin, matches the approved design — bump on purpose, not by drift.
       settings.model.default = "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5";
+      # The Nix flake input is the source of truth for hermes's version here; its
+      # built-in self-updater polling GitHub independently just burns API quota.
+      settings.updates.check = false;
       environmentFiles = [ config.sops.secrets."hermes-env".path ];
       addToSystemPackages = true;