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Duke Wood

Technical LeadatAI Skill Market

Software architect focused on AI agent systems and developer tooling. Open source enthusiast building the infrastructure behind AI Skill Market.

Software Architecture
AI Agents
Open Source
Developer Tooling
GitHub

Articles by Duke Wood

35 articles
Industry News & Trends

Should You Self-Host Hermes or Use Agent37? A Decision Framework for Claude Code Teams

Agent37 is Nous's hosted Hermes from $3.99/mo. Self-host runs $4-8/mo on a VPS plus ops. Decide with cost, compliance, data locality, and ops capacity in mind.

Apr 23, 2026
7 min read
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Duke Wood
Tutorials & How-Tos

CLAUDE.md to Hermes Memory: A Translation Guide

Your Claude Code CLAUDE.md is static project context. Hermes memory is dynamic and agent-curated. Here is how to move between them without losing signal.

Apr 22, 2026
9 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Agents

Hermes for DevOps: Using the Bundled DevOps and MLOps Skills with Claude

Hermes ships devops and mlops skill categories. Tour representative skills and watch them chain through a typical incident — alert to rollback — with Claude in the loop.

Apr 22, 2026
7 min read
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Duke Wood
Tutorials & How-Tos

Migrating a Claude Code Skill to Hermes: A Worked Example

Step-by-step port of a write-changelog skill from Claude Code to Hermes. Original file, target file, line-by-line what changes and why.

Apr 21, 2026
8 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Agents

Red-Teaming Skills in Hermes: The Bundled Red-Teaming Skill Library Tour

Tour the red-teaming skill category that ships with Hermes Agent. What each category of skill does, responsible-use norms, and how skills chain in an engagement.

Apr 21, 2026
6 min read
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Duke Wood
Tutorials & How-Tos

Running Hermes in VS Code and Zed via the ACP Adapter

Step-by-step setup for the hermes-acp entry point in VS Code, Zed, and JetBrains. Get a persistent Hermes agent panel inside your editor.

Apr 20, 2026
6 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Agents

Print Mode vs Tmux: Hermes Orchestrates Claude Code

Two ways Hermes talks to Claude Code: claude -p print mode and tmux-backed PTY sessions. When to use each, what they cost, where they break.

Apr 20, 2026
8 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Agents

Spawning Claude Code as a Hermes Subagent

Hermes ships with a bundled skill that teaches it to delegate heavy coding work to Claude Code. Here is how the delegate_task() pattern works in practice.

Apr 20, 2026
8 min read
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Duke Wood
The New AI Stack

Hermes vs Claude Code: When to Use Which

Claude Code is your IDE agent. Hermes is your server-side agent. Here is how to decide which tool fits which job, and why most teams end up using both.

Apr 19, 2026
7 min read
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Duke Wood
Industry News & Trends

Hermes vs OpenClaw: Two Approaches to Persistent AI Agents

OpenClaw extends Claude Code inside its runtime. Hermes runs a second, Python-based runtime that calls Claude. Compare philosophies, layers, and where each fits.

Apr 19, 2026
6 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Agents

Are Claude Code Skills Portable to Hermes?

Short answer: yes, format-compatible. Long answer: there are a few differences in frontmatter, triggers, and related-skills resolution. Here is what to change.

Apr 19, 2026
7 min read
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Duke Wood
The New AI Stack

MCP in Hermes vs MCP in Claude Code: Same Servers, Different Runtime

Model Context Protocol is identical in both runtimes. What differs is the host lifecycle. Compare filesystem, GitHub, and Postgres MCP servers side by side.

Apr 18, 2026
6 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Skills

Tool Integration in Skills: Connecting to External Systems

Learn how to design skills that guide Claude's tool usage. Master when to invoke tools, how to interpret results, and tool-aware skill patterns.

Mar 11, 2026
11 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Skills

Level 3 Skills: Tool-Enabled Capabilities

Build Level 3 AI skills that leverage tools for file access, API integration, and system interaction. The gateway to powerful, practical automation.

Mar 8, 2026
12 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Agents

Level 3 Agents: Tool Calling Mastery

Build AI agents that select and invoke external tools. Learn tool definition, parameter extraction, result handling, and error recovery patterns.

Mar 6, 2026
16 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Agents

Level 2 Agents: Router Pattern Deep Dive

Master the router pattern for AI agents. Learn how LLMs decide execution paths, implement conditional logic, and build intelligent routing systems.

Mar 4, 2026
13 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Skills

Level 2 Skills: Template-Based Generation

Learn to build Level 2 AI skills that use templates and placeholders for structured, consistent output generation across documents, code, and content.

Mar 4, 2026
12 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Skills

Structured Output Design for Predictable Results

Design AI skill outputs that are consistent, parseable, and useful. Master output format specification for reliable, actionable results.

Mar 1, 2026
10 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Agents

Level 4 Agents: Multi-Agent Orchestration

Design and implement multi-agent systems. Learn orchestration patterns, agent communication, task delegation, and building collaborative AI teams.

Feb 22, 2026
14 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Agents

Multi-Agent Pattern: Orchestrating Agent Teams

Master the multi-agent design pattern. Learn how to build systems where specialized agents collaborate to solve complex problems together.

Feb 20, 2026
11 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Skills

Guardrails and Constraints: Keeping AI Skills on Track

Learn how to implement effective guardrails and constraints in AI skills to ensure reliable, safe, and predictable behavior in production environments.

Feb 20, 2026
15 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Skills

Composable Skills: Building Modular AI Systems

Master the art of composable AI skills. Learn patterns for building modular, reusable skill components that combine into powerful workflows.

Feb 17, 2026
14 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Agents

Multi-Agent Cooperation: Building Agent Teams

Learn how to build systems where multiple AI agents collaborate. Patterns for coordination, delegation, and collective intelligence.

Feb 15, 2026
11 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Skills

Designing Skills with Clear Purpose

Learn to design AI skills with focused, clear purposes. Master the art of scoping skills for maximum effectiveness and minimum overlap.

Feb 15, 2026
10 min read
D
Duke Wood
AI Agents

Level 1 Agents: Basic Responders Explained

Understand Level 1 agents - the foundation of agentic systems. Learn when simple responders are enough and how to build them effectively.

Feb 8, 2026
10 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Agents

Level 5 Agents: Fully Autonomous AI Systems

Explore fully autonomous AI agents that generate and execute code independently. Learn safety patterns, supervision strategies, and responsible autonomy design.

Feb 5, 2026
9 min read
D
Duke Wood
AI Skills

Level 1 Skills: Prompt Enhancement Techniques

Master Level 1 AI skills that enhance prompts through tone, style, and vocabulary adjustments. The simplest skills with the fastest path to value.

Feb 5, 2026
13 min read
D
Duke Wood
AI Agents

Tools and Tool-Use in AI Agents: A Complete Guide

Master the art of integrating tools into AI agents. Learn tool design, MCP servers, custom tools, and best practices for connecting agents to the real world.

Jan 29, 2026
11 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Skills

Level 4 Skills: Multi-Agent Coordination

Build Level 4 AI skills that coordinate multiple specialized agents for complex tasks. Master delegation, communication, and result synthesis.

Jan 29, 2026
12 min read
D
Duke Wood
AI Agents

Memory Systems in AI Agents: Short-term, Long-term, and Entity

Understand how memory transforms AI agents from stateless responders to intelligent systems that learn and remember. Implement all three memory types.

Jan 27, 2026
12 min read
D
Duke Wood
AI Agents

Guardrails for AI Agents: Ensuring Safe Automation

Learn how to implement guardrails that keep AI agents on track. Prevent harmful outputs, maintain boundaries, and ensure reliable agent behavior.

Jan 24, 2026
10 min read
D
Duke Wood
AI Skills

Context Injection: Teaching AI Domain Knowledge

Master context injection techniques to teach Claude domain-specific knowledge. Learn to inject conventions, rules, and expertise effectively.

Jan 22, 2026
12 min read
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Duke Wood
AI Agents

Role-Playing in AI Agents: Why Specificity Matters

Learn how role-playing techniques dramatically improve AI agent performance. Specific roles, personas, and contexts lead to better results.

Jan 17, 2026
10 min read
D
Duke Wood
AI Skills

Level 5 Skills: Autonomous Workflows

Build Level 5 AI skills that operate autonomously with self-directed execution, adaptive decision-making, and minimal human intervention.

Jan 17, 2026
11 min read
D
Duke Wood
AI Agents

Agent Focus: The Art of Task Specialization

Why specialized agents outperform general-purpose ones. Learn how to design focused agents that excel at specific tasks.

Jan 15, 2026
11 min read
D
Duke Wood
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