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Hermes Agent

Complete guide to using and extending Hermes Agent — CLI usage, setup, configuration, spawning additional agents, gateway platforms, skills, voice, tools, profiles, and a concise contributor reference. Load this skill when helping users configure Hermes, troubleshoot issues, spawn agent instances, or make code contributions.

Skill metadata

SourceBundled (installed by default)
Pathskills/autonomous-ai-agents/hermes-agent
Version2.0.0
AuthorHermes Agent + Teknium
LicenseMIT
Tagshermes, setup, configuration, multi-agent, spawning, cli, gateway, development
Related skillsclaude-code, codex, opencode

Reference: full SKILL.md

info

The following is the complete skill definition that Hermes loads when this skill is triggered. This is what the agent sees as instructions when the skill is active.

Hermes Agent

Hermes Agent is an open-source AI agent framework by Nous Research that runs in your terminal, messaging platforms, and IDEs. It belongs to the same category as Claude Code (Anthropic), Codex (OpenAI), and OpenClaw — autonomous coding and task-execution agents that use tool calling to interact with your system. Hermes works with any LLM provider (OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, local models, and 15+ others) and runs on Linux, macOS, and WSL.

What makes Hermes different:

  • Self-improving through skills — Hermes learns from experience by saving reusable procedures as skills. When it solves a complex problem, discovers a workflow, or gets corrected, it can persist that knowledge as a skill document that loads into future sessions. Skills accumulate over time, making the agent better at your specific tasks and environment.
  • Persistent memory across sessions — remembers who you are, your preferences, environment details, and lessons learned. Pluggable memory backends (built-in, Honcho, Mem0, and more) let you choose how memory works.
  • Multi-platform gateway — the same agent runs on Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Matrix, Email, and 10+ other platforms with full tool access, not just chat.
  • Provider-agnostic — swap models and providers mid-workflow without changing anything else. Credential pools rotate across multiple API keys automatically.
  • Profiles — run multiple independent Hermes instances with isolated configs, sessions, skills, and memory.
  • Extensible — plugins, MCP servers, custom tools, webhook triggers, cron scheduling, and the full Python ecosystem.

People use Hermes for software development, research, system administration, data analysis, content creation, home automation, and anything else that benefits from an AI agent with persistent context and full system access.

This skill helps you work with Hermes Agent effectively — setting it up, configuring features, spawning additional agent instances, troubleshooting issues, finding the right commands and settings, and understanding how the system works when you need to extend or contribute to it.

Docs: /docs/

Quick Start

# Install
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

# Interactive chat (default)
hermes

# Single query
hermes chat -q "What is the capital of France?"

# Setup wizard
hermes setup

# Change model/provider
hermes model

# Check health
hermes doctor

CLI Reference

Global Flags

hermes [flags] [command]

--version, -V Show version
--resume, -r SESSION Resume session by ID or title
--continue, -c [NAME] Resume by name, or most recent session
--worktree, -w Isolated git worktree mode (parallel agents)
--skills, -s SKILL Preload skills (comma-separate or repeat)
--profile, -p NAME Use a named profile
--yolo Skip dangerous command approval
--pass-session-id Include session ID in system prompt

No subcommand defaults to chat.

Chat

hermes chat [flags]
-q, --query TEXT Single query, non-interactive
-m, --model MODEL Model (e.g. anthropic/claude-sonnet-4)
-t, --toolsets LIST Comma-separated toolsets
--provider PROVIDER Force provider (openrouter, anthropic, nous, etc.)
-v, --verbose Verbose output
-Q, --quiet Suppress banner, spinner, tool previews
--checkpoints Enable filesystem checkpoints (/rollback)
--source TAG Session source tag (default: cli)

Configuration

hermes setup [section]      Interactive wizard (model|terminal|gateway|tools|agent)
hermes model Interactive model/provider picker
hermes config View current config
hermes config edit Open config.yaml in $EDITOR
hermes config set KEY VAL Set a config value
hermes config path Print config.yaml path
hermes config env-path Print .env path
hermes config check Check for missing/outdated config
hermes config migrate Update config with new options
hermes login [--provider P] OAuth login (nous, openai-codex)
hermes logout Clear stored auth
hermes doctor [--fix] Check dependencies and config
hermes status [--all] Show component status

Tools & Skills

hermes tools                Interactive tool enable/disable (curses UI)
hermes tools list Show all tools and status
hermes tools enable NAME Enable a toolset
hermes tools disable NAME Disable a toolset

hermes skills list List installed skills
hermes skills search QUERY Search the skills hub
hermes skills install ID Install a skill
hermes skills inspect ID Preview without installing
hermes skills config Enable/disable skills per platform
hermes skills check Check for updates
hermes skills update Update outdated skills
hermes skills uninstall N Remove a hub skill
hermes skills publish PATH Publish to registry
hermes skills browse Browse all available skills
hermes skills tap add REPO Add a GitHub repo as skill source

MCP Servers

hermes mcp serve            Run Hermes as an MCP server
hermes mcp add NAME Add an MCP server (--url or --command)
hermes mcp remove NAME Remove an MCP server
hermes mcp list List configured servers
hermes mcp test NAME Test connection
hermes mcp configure NAME Toggle tool selection

Gateway (Messaging Platforms)

hermes gateway run          Start gateway foreground
hermes gateway install Install as background service
hermes gateway start/stop Control the service
hermes gateway restart Restart the service
hermes gateway status Check status
hermes gateway setup Configure platforms

Supported platforms: Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Email, SMS, Matrix, Mattermost, Home Assistant, DingTalk, Feishu, WeCom, BlueBubbles (iMessage), Weixin (WeChat), API Server, Webhooks. Open WebUI connects via the API Server adapter.

Platform docs: /docs/user-guide/messaging/

Sessions

hermes sessions list        List recent sessions
hermes sessions browse Interactive picker
hermes sessions export OUT Export to JSONL
hermes sessions rename ID T Rename a session
hermes sessions delete ID Delete a session
hermes sessions prune Clean up old sessions (--older-than N days)
hermes sessions stats Session store statistics

Cron Jobs

hermes cron list            List jobs (--all for disabled)
hermes cron create SCHED Create: '30m', 'every 2h', '0 9 * * *'
hermes cron edit ID Edit schedule, prompt, delivery
hermes cron pause/resume ID Control job state
hermes cron run ID Trigger on next tick
hermes cron remove ID Delete a job
hermes cron status Scheduler status

Webhooks

hermes webhook subscribe N  Create route at /webhooks/<name>
hermes webhook list List subscriptions
hermes webhook remove NAME Remove a subscription
hermes webhook test NAME Send a test POST

Profiles

hermes profile list         List all profiles
hermes profile create NAME Create (--clone, --clone-all, --clone-from)
hermes profile use NAME Set sticky default
hermes profile delete NAME Delete a profile
hermes profile show NAME Show details
hermes profile alias NAME Manage wrapper scripts
hermes profile rename A B Rename a profile
hermes profile export NAME Export to tar.gz
hermes profile import FILE Import from archive

Credential Pools

hermes auth add             Interactive credential wizard
hermes auth list [PROVIDER] List pooled credentials
hermes auth remove P INDEX Remove by provider + index
hermes auth reset PROVIDER Clear exhaustion status

Other

hermes insights [--days N]  Usage analytics
hermes update Update to latest version
hermes pairing list/approve/revoke DM authorization
hermes plugins list/install/remove Plugin management
hermes honcho setup/status Honcho memory integration (requires honcho plugin)
hermes memory setup/status/off Memory provider config
hermes completion bash|zsh Shell completions
hermes acp ACP server (IDE integration)
hermes claw migrate Migrate from OpenClaw
hermes uninstall Uninstall Hermes

Slash Commands (In-Session)

Type these during an interactive chat session.

Session Control

/new (/reset)        Fresh session
/clear Clear screen + new session (CLI)
/retry Resend last message
/undo Remove last exchange
/title [name] Name the session
/compress Manually compress context
/stop Kill background processes
/rollback [N] Restore filesystem checkpoint
/background <prompt> Run prompt in background
/queue <prompt> Queue for next turn
/resume [name] Resume a named session

Configuration

/config              Show config (CLI)
/model [name] Show or change model
/personality [name] Set personality
/reasoning [level] Set reasoning (none|minimal|low|medium|high|xhigh|show|hide)
/verbose Cycle: off → new → all → verbose
/voice [on|off|tts] Voice mode
/yolo Toggle approval bypass
/skin [name] Change theme (CLI)
/statusbar Toggle status bar (CLI)

Tools & Skills

/tools               Manage tools (CLI)
/toolsets List toolsets (CLI)
/skills Search/install skills (CLI)
/skill <name> Load a skill into session
/cron Manage cron jobs (CLI)
/reload-mcp Reload MCP servers
/plugins List plugins (CLI)

Gateway

/approve             Approve a pending command (gateway)
/deny Deny a pending command (gateway)
/restart Restart gateway (gateway)
/sethome Set current chat as home channel (gateway)
/update Update Hermes to latest (gateway)
/platforms (/gateway) Show platform connection status (gateway)

Utility

/branch (/fork)      Branch the current session
/btw Ephemeral side question (doesn't interrupt main task)
/fast Toggle priority/fast processing
/browser Open CDP browser connection
/history Show conversation history (CLI)
/save Save conversation to file (CLI)
/paste Attach clipboard image (CLI)
/image Attach local image file (CLI)

Info

/help                Show commands
/commands [page] Browse all commands (gateway)
/usage Token usage
/insights [days] Usage analytics
/status Session info (gateway)
/profile Active profile info

Exit

/quit (/exit, /q)    Exit CLI

Key Paths & Config

~/.hermes/config.yaml       Main configuration
~/.hermes/.env API keys and secrets
$HERMES_HOME/skills/ Installed skills
~/.hermes/sessions/ Session transcripts
~/.hermes/logs/ Gateway and error logs
~/.hermes/auth.json OAuth tokens and credential pools
~/.hermes/hermes-agent/ Source code (if git-installed)

Profiles use ~/.hermes/profiles/<name>/ with the same layout.

Config Sections

Edit with hermes config edit or hermes config set section.key value.

SectionKey options
modeldefault, provider, base_url, api_key, context_length
agentmax_turns (90), tool_use_enforcement
terminalbackend (local/docker/ssh/modal), cwd, timeout (180)
compressionenabled, threshold (0.50), target_ratio (0.20)
displayskin, tool_progress, show_reasoning, show_cost
sttenabled, provider (local/groq/openai/mistral)
ttsprovider (edge/elevenlabs/openai/minimax/mistral/neutts)
memorymemory_enabled, user_profile_enabled, provider
securitytirith_enabled, website_blocklist
delegationmodel, provider, base_url, api_key, max_iterations (50), reasoning_effort
checkpointsenabled, max_snapshots (50)

Full config reference: /docs/user-guide/configuration

Providers

20+ providers supported. Set via hermes model or hermes setup.

ProviderAuthKey env var
OpenRouterAPI keyOPENROUTER_API_KEY
AnthropicAPI keyANTHROPIC_API_KEY
Nous PortalOAuthhermes auth
OpenAI CodexOAuthhermes auth
GitHub CopilotTokenCOPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN
Google GeminiAPI keyGOOGLE_API_KEY or GEMINI_API_KEY
DeepSeekAPI keyDEEPSEEK_API_KEY
xAI / GrokAPI keyXAI_API_KEY
Hugging FaceTokenHF_TOKEN
Z.AI / GLMAPI keyGLM_API_KEY
MiniMaxAPI keyMINIMAX_API_KEY
MiniMax CNAPI keyMINIMAX_CN_API_KEY
Kimi / MoonshotAPI keyKIMI_API_KEY
Alibaba / DashScopeAPI keyDASHSCOPE_API_KEY
Xiaomi MiMoAPI keyXIAOMI_API_KEY
Kilo CodeAPI keyKILOCODE_API_KEY
AI Gateway (Vercel)API keyAI_GATEWAY_API_KEY
OpenCode ZenAPI keyOPENCODE_ZEN_API_KEY
OpenCode GoAPI keyOPENCODE_GO_API_KEY
Qwen OAuthOAuthhermes login --provider qwen-oauth
Custom endpointConfigmodel.base_url + model.api_key in config.yaml
GitHub Copilot ACPExternalCOPILOT_CLI_PATH or Copilot CLI

Full provider docs: /docs/integrations/providers

Toolsets

Enable/disable via hermes tools (interactive) or hermes tools enable/disable NAME.

ToolsetWhat it provides
webWeb search and content extraction
browserBrowser automation (Browserbase, Camofox, or local Chromium)
terminalShell commands and process management
fileFile read/write/search/patch
code_executionSandboxed Python execution
visionImage analysis
image_genAI image generation
ttsText-to-speech
skillsSkill browsing and management
memoryPersistent cross-session memory
session_searchSearch past conversations
delegationSubagent task delegation
cronjobScheduled task management
clarifyAsk user clarifying questions
messagingCross-platform message sending
searchWeb search only (subset of web)
todoIn-session task planning and tracking
rlReinforcement learning tools (off by default)
moaMixture of Agents (off by default)
homeassistantSmart home control (off by default)

Tool changes take effect on /reset (new session). They do NOT apply mid-conversation to preserve prompt caching.


Voice & Transcription

STT (Voice → Text)

Voice messages from messaging platforms are auto-transcribed.

Provider priority (auto-detected):

  1. Local faster-whisper — free, no API key: pip install faster-whisper
  2. Groq Whisper — free tier: set GROQ_API_KEY
  3. OpenAI Whisper — paid: set VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY
  4. Mistral Voxtral — set MISTRAL_API_KEY

Config:

stt:
enabled: true
provider: local # local, groq, openai, mistral
local:
model: base # tiny, base, small, medium, large-v3

TTS (Text → Voice)

ProviderEnv varFree?
Edge TTSNoneYes (default)
ElevenLabsELEVENLABS_API_KEYFree tier
OpenAIVOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEYPaid
MiniMaxMINIMAX_API_KEYPaid
Mistral (Voxtral)MISTRAL_API_KEYPaid
NeuTTS (local)None (pip install neutts[all] + espeak-ng)Free

Voice commands: /voice on (voice-to-voice), /voice tts (always voice), /voice off.


Spawning Additional Hermes Instances

Run additional Hermes processes as fully independent subprocesses — separate sessions, tools, and environments.

When to Use This vs delegate_task

delegate_taskSpawning hermes process
IsolationSeparate conversation, shared processFully independent process
DurationMinutes (bounded by parent loop)Hours/days
Tool accessSubset of parent's toolsFull tool access
InteractiveNoYes (PTY mode)
Use caseQuick parallel subtasksLong autonomous missions

One-Shot Mode

terminal(command="hermes chat -q 'Research GRPO papers and write summary to ~/research/grpo.md'", timeout=300)

# Background for long tasks:
terminal(command="hermes chat -q 'Set up CI/CD for ~/myapp'", background=true)

Interactive PTY Mode (via tmux)

Hermes uses prompt_toolkit, which requires a real terminal. Use tmux for interactive spawning:

# Start
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s agent1 -x 120 -y 40 'hermes'", timeout=10)

# Wait for startup, then send a message
terminal(command="sleep 8 && tmux send-keys -t agent1 'Build a FastAPI auth service' Enter", timeout=15)

# Read output
terminal(command="sleep 20 && tmux capture-pane -t agent1 -p", timeout=5)

# Send follow-up
terminal(command="tmux send-keys -t agent1 'Add rate limiting middleware' Enter", timeout=5)

# Exit
terminal(command="tmux send-keys -t agent1 '/exit' Enter && sleep 2 && tmux kill-session -t agent1", timeout=10)

Multi-Agent Coordination

# Agent A: backend
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s backend -x 120 -y 40 'hermes -w'", timeout=10)
terminal(command="sleep 8 && tmux send-keys -t backend 'Build REST API for user management' Enter", timeout=15)

# Agent B: frontend
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s frontend -x 120 -y 40 'hermes -w'", timeout=10)
terminal(command="sleep 8 && tmux send-keys -t frontend 'Build React dashboard for user management' Enter", timeout=15)

# Check progress, relay context between them
terminal(command="tmux capture-pane -t backend -p | tail -30", timeout=5)
terminal(command="tmux send-keys -t frontend 'Here is the API schema from the backend agent: ...' Enter", timeout=5)

Session Resume

# Resume most recent session
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s resumed 'hermes --continue'", timeout=10)

# Resume specific session
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s resumed 'hermes --resume 20260225_143052_a1b2c3'", timeout=10)

Tips

  • Prefer delegate_task for quick subtasks — less overhead than spawning a full process
  • Use -w (worktree mode) when spawning agents that edit code — prevents git conflicts
  • Set timeouts for one-shot mode — complex tasks can take 5-10 minutes
  • Use hermes chat -q for fire-and-forget — no PTY needed
  • Use tmux for interactive sessions — raw PTY mode has \r vs \n issues with prompt_toolkit
  • For scheduled tasks, use the cronjob tool instead of spawning — handles delivery and retry

Troubleshooting

Voice not working

  1. Check stt.enabled: true in config.yaml
  2. Verify provider: pip install faster-whisper or set API key
  3. In gateway: /restart. In CLI: exit and relaunch.

Tool not available

  1. hermes tools — check if toolset is enabled for your platform
  2. Some tools need env vars (check .env)
  3. /reset after enabling tools

Model/provider issues

  1. hermes doctor — check config and dependencies
  2. hermes login — re-authenticate OAuth providers
  3. Check .env has the right API key
  4. Copilot 403: gh auth login tokens do NOT work for Copilot API. You must use the Copilot-specific OAuth device code flow via hermes model → GitHub Copilot.

Changes not taking effect

  • Tools/skills: /reset starts a new session with updated toolset
  • Config changes: In gateway: /restart. In CLI: exit and relaunch.
  • Code changes: Restart the CLI or gateway process

Skills not showing

  1. hermes skills list — verify installed
  2. hermes skills config — check platform enablement
  3. Load explicitly: /skill name or hermes -s name

Gateway issues

Check logs first:

grep -i "failed to send\|error" ~/.hermes/logs/gateway.log | tail -20

Common gateway problems:

  • Gateway dies on SSH logout: Enable linger: sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER
  • Gateway dies on WSL2 close: WSL2 requires systemd=true in /etc/wsl.conf for systemd services to work. Without it, gateway falls back to nohup (dies when session closes).
  • Gateway crash loop: Reset the failed state: systemctl --user reset-failed hermes-gateway

Platform-specific issues

  • Discord bot silent: Must enable Message Content Intent in Bot → Privileged Gateway Intents.
  • Slack bot only works in DMs: Must subscribe to message.channels event. Without it, the bot ignores public channels.
  • Windows HTTP 400 "No models provided": Config file encoding issue (BOM). Ensure config.yaml is saved as UTF-8 without BOM.

Auxiliary models not working

If auxiliary tasks (vision, compression, session_search) fail silently, the auto provider can't find a backend. Either set OPENROUTER_API_KEY or GOOGLE_API_KEY, or explicitly configure each auxiliary task's provider:

hermes config set auxiliary.vision.provider <your_provider>
hermes config set auxiliary.vision.model <model_name>

Where to Find Things

Looking for...Location
Config optionshermes config edit or Configuration docs
Available toolshermes tools list or Tools reference
Slash commands/help in session or Slash commands reference
Skills cataloghermes skills browse or Skills catalog
Provider setuphermes model or Providers guide
Platform setuphermes gateway setup or Messaging docs
MCP servershermes mcp list or MCP guide
Profileshermes profile list or Profiles docs
Cron jobshermes cron list or Cron docs
Memoryhermes memory status or Memory docs
Env variableshermes config env-path or Env vars reference
CLI commandshermes --help or CLI reference
Gateway logs~/.hermes/logs/gateway.log
Session files~/.hermes/sessions/ or hermes sessions browse
Source code~/.hermes/hermes-agent/

Contributor Quick Reference

For occasional contributors and PR authors. Full developer docs: /docs/developer-guide/

Project Layout

hermes-agent/
├── run_agent.py # AIAgent — core conversation loop
├── model_tools.py # Tool discovery and dispatch
├── toolsets.py # Toolset definitions
├── cli.py # Interactive CLI (HermesCLI)
├── hermes_state.py # SQLite session store
├── agent/ # Prompt builder, context compression, memory, model routing, credential pooling, skill dispatch
├── hermes_cli/ # CLI subcommands, config, setup, commands
│ ├── commands.py # Slash command registry (CommandDef)
│ ├── config.py # DEFAULT_CONFIG, env var definitions
│ └── main.py # CLI entry point and argparse
├── tools/ # One file per tool
│ └── registry.py # Central tool registry
├── gateway/ # Messaging gateway
│ └── platforms/ # Platform adapters (telegram, discord, etc.)
├── cron/ # Job scheduler
├── tests/ # ~3000 pytest tests
└── website/ # Docusaurus docs site

Config: ~/.hermes/config.yaml (settings), ~/.hermes/.env (API keys).

Adding a Tool (3 files)

1. Create tools/your_tool.py:

import json, os
from tools.registry import registry

def check_requirements() -> bool:
return bool(os.getenv("EXAMPLE_API_KEY"))

def example_tool(param: str, task_id: str = None) -> str:
return json.dumps({"success": True, "data": "..."})

registry.register(
name="example_tool",
toolset="example",
schema={"name": "example_tool", "description": "...", "parameters": {...}},
handler=lambda args, **kw: example_tool(
param=args.get("param", ""), task_id=kw.get("task_id")),
check_fn=check_requirements,
requires_env=["EXAMPLE_API_KEY"],
)

2. Add to toolsets.py_HERMES_CORE_TOOLS list.

Auto-discovery: any tools/*.py file with a top-level registry.register() call is imported automatically — no manual list needed.

All handlers must return JSON strings. Use get_hermes_home() for paths, never hardcode ~/.hermes.

Adding a Slash Command

  1. Add CommandDef to COMMAND_REGISTRY in hermes_cli/commands.py
  2. Add handler in cli.pyprocess_command()
  3. (Optional) Add gateway handler in gateway/run.py

All consumers (help text, autocomplete, Telegram menu, Slack mapping) derive from the central registry automatically.

Agent Loop (High Level)

run_conversation():
1. Build system prompt
2. Loop while iterations < max:
a. Call LLM (OpenAI-format messages + tool schemas)
b. If tool_calls → dispatch each via handle_function_call() → append results → continue
c. If text response → return
3. Context compression triggers automatically near token limit

Testing

python -m pytest tests/ -o 'addopts=' -q   # Full suite
python -m pytest tests/tools/ -q # Specific area
  • Tests auto-redirect HERMES_HOME to temp dirs — never touch real ~/.hermes/
  • Run full suite before pushing any change
  • Use -o 'addopts=' to clear any baked-in pytest flags

Commit Conventions

type: concise subject line

Optional body.

Types: fix:, feat:, refactor:, docs:, chore:

Key Rules

  • Never break prompt caching — don't change context, tools, or system prompt mid-conversation
  • Message role alternation — never two assistant or two user messages in a row
  • Use get_hermes_home() from hermes_constants for all paths (profile-safe)
  • Config values go in config.yaml, secrets go in .env
  • New tools need a check_fn so they only appear when requirements are met