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
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
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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:
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: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/
# 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
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.
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)
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
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
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
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: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/messaging/
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
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
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
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
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
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
Type these during an interactive chat session.
/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
/config Show config (CLI) /model [name] Show or change model /provider Show provider info /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 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)
/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)
/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)
/help Show commands /commands [page] Browse all commands (gateway) /usage Token usage /insights [days] Usage analytics /status Session info (gateway) /profile Active profile info
/quit (/exit, /q) Exit CLI
~/.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.
Edit with
hermes config edit or hermes config set section.key value.
| Section | Key options |
|---|---|
| , , , , |
| (90), |
| (local/docker/ssh/modal), , (180) |
| , (0.50), (0.20) |
| , , , |
| , (local/groq/openai/mistral) |
| (edge/elevenlabs/openai/minimax/mistral/neutts) |
| , , |
| , |
| , , , , (50), |
| , (50) |
Full config reference: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/configuration
20+ providers supported. Set via
hermes model or hermes setup.
| Provider | Auth | Key env var |
|---|---|---|
| OpenRouter | API key | |
| Anthropic | API key | |
| Nous Portal | OAuth | |
| OpenAI Codex | OAuth | |
| GitHub Copilot | Token | |
| Google Gemini | API key | or |
| DeepSeek | API key | |
| xAI / Grok | API key | |
| Hugging Face | Token | |
| Z.AI / GLM | API key | |
| MiniMax | API key | |
| MiniMax CN | API key | |
| Kimi / Moonshot | API key | |
| Alibaba / DashScope | API key | |
| Xiaomi MiMo | API key | |
| Kilo Code | API key | |
| AI Gateway (Vercel) | API key | |
| OpenCode Zen | API key | |
| OpenCode Go | API key | |
| Qwen OAuth | OAuth | |
| Custom endpoint | Config | + in config.yaml |
| GitHub Copilot ACP | External | or Copilot CLI |
Full provider docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/integrations/providers
Enable/disable via
hermes tools (interactive) or hermes tools enable/disable NAME.
| Toolset | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Web search and content extraction |
| Browser automation (Browserbase, Camofox, or local Chromium) |
| Shell commands and process management |
| File read/write/search/patch |
| Sandboxed Python execution |
| Image analysis |
| AI image generation |
| Text-to-speech |
| Skill browsing and management |
| Persistent cross-session memory |
| Search past conversations |
| Subagent task delegation |
| Scheduled task management |
| Ask user clarifying questions |
| Cross-platform message sending |
| Web search only (subset of ) |
| In-session task planning and tracking |
| Reinforcement learning tools (off by default) |
| Mixture of Agents (off by default) |
| Smart home control (off by default) |
Tool changes take effect on
/reset (new session). They do NOT apply mid-conversation to preserve prompt caching.
Voice messages from messaging platforms are auto-transcribed.
Provider priority (auto-detected):
pip install faster-whisperGROQ_API_KEYVOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEYMISTRAL_API_KEYConfig:
stt: enabled: true provider: local # local, groq, openai, mistral local: model: base # tiny, base, small, medium, large-v3
| Provider | Env var | Free? |
|---|---|---|
| Edge TTS | None | Yes (default) |
| ElevenLabs | | Free tier |
| OpenAI | | Paid |
| MiniMax | | Paid |
| Mistral (Voxtral) | | Paid |
| NeuTTS (local) | None ( + ) | Free |
Voice commands:
/voice on (voice-to-voice), /voice tts (always voice), /voice off.
Run additional Hermes processes as fully independent subprocesses — separate sessions, tools, and environments.
| Spawning process | |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Separate conversation, shared process | Fully independent process |
| Duration | Minutes (bounded by parent loop) | Hours/days |
| Tool access | Subset of parent's tools | Full tool access |
| Interactive | No | Yes (PTY mode) |
| Use case | Quick parallel subtasks | Long autonomous missions |
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)
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)
# 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)
# 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)
delegate_task for quick subtasks — less overhead than spawning a full process-w (worktree mode) when spawning agents that edit code — prevents git conflictshermes chat -q for fire-and-forget — no PTY needed\r vs \n issues with prompt_toolkitcronjob tool instead of spawning — handles delivery and retrystt.enabled: true in config.yamlpip install faster-whisper or set API key/restart. In CLI: exit and relaunch.hermes tools — check if toolset is enabled for your platform.env)/reset after enabling toolshermes doctor — check config and dependencieshermes login — re-authenticate OAuth providers.env has the right API keygh auth login tokens do NOT work for Copilot API. You must use the Copilot-specific OAuth device code flow via hermes model → GitHub Copilot./reset starts a new session with updated toolset/restart. In CLI: exit and relaunch.hermes skills list — verify installedhermes skills config — check platform enablement/skill name or hermes -s nameCheck logs first:
grep -i "failed to send\|error" ~/.hermes/logs/gateway.log | tail -20
Common gateway problems:
sudo loginctl enable-linger $USERsystemd=true in /etc/wsl.conf for systemd services to work. Without it, gateway falls back to nohup (dies when session closes).systemctl --user reset-failed hermes-gatewaymessage.channels event. Without it, the bot ignores public channels.config.yaml is saved as UTF-8 without BOM.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>
| Looking for... | Location |
|---|---|
| Config options | or Configuration docs |
| Available tools | or Tools reference |
| Slash commands | in session or Slash commands reference |
| Skills catalog | or Skills catalog |
| Provider setup | or Providers guide |
| Platform setup | or Messaging docs |
| MCP servers | or MCP guide |
| Profiles | or Profiles docs |
| Cron jobs | or Cron docs |
| Memory | or Memory docs |
| Env variables | or Env vars reference |
| CLI commands | or CLI reference |
| Gateway logs | |
| Session files | or |
| Source code | |
For occasional contributors and PR authors. Full developer docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/developer-guide/
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).
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.
CommandDef to COMMAND_REGISTRY in hermes_cli/commands.pycli.py → process_command()gateway/run.pyAll consumers (help text, autocomplete, Telegram menu, Slack mapping) derive from the central registry automatically.
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
python -m pytest tests/ -o 'addopts=' -q # Full suite python -m pytest tests/tools/ -q # Specific area
HERMES_HOME to temp dirs — never touch real ~/.hermes/-o 'addopts=' to clear any baked-in pytest flagstype: concise subject line Optional body.
Types:
fix:, feat:, refactor:, docs:, chore:
get_hermes_home() from hermes_constants for all paths (profile-safe)config.yaml, secrets go in .envcheck_fn so they only appear when requirements are metMIT
mkdir -p ~/.hermes/skills/autonomous-ai-agents/hermes-agent && curl -o ~/.hermes/skills/autonomous-ai-agents/hermes-agent/SKILL.md https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/skills/autonomous-ai-agents/hermes-agent/SKILL.md1,500+ AI skills, agents & workflows. Install in 30 seconds. Part of the Torly.ai family.
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