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 8+ 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: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/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, API Server, Webhooks, Open WebUI.

Platform docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/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
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
/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 & 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)

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/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.

| Section | Key options | |---------|-------------| | model | default, provider, base_url, api_key, context_length | | agent | max_turns (90), tool_use_enforcement | | terminal | backend (local/docker/ssh/modal), cwd, timeout (180) | | compression | enabled, threshold (0.50), target_ratio (0.20) | | display | skin, tool_progress, show_reasoning, show_cost | | stt | enabled, provider (local/groq/openai) | | tts | provider (edge/elevenlabs/openai/kokoro/fish) | | memory | memory_enabled, user_profile_enabled, provider | | security | tirith_enabled, website_blocklist | | delegation | model, provider, max_iterations (50) | | smart_model_routing | enabled, cheap_model | | checkpoints | enabled, max_snapshots (50) |

Full config reference: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/configuration

Providers

18 providers supported. Set via hermes model or hermes setup.

| Provider | Auth | Key env var | |----------|------|-------------| | OpenRouter | API key | OPENROUTER_API_KEY | | Anthropic | API key | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | | Nous Portal | OAuth | hermes login --provider nous | | OpenAI Codex | OAuth | hermes login --provider openai-codex | | GitHub Copilot | Token | COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN | | DeepSeek | API key | DEEPSEEK_API_KEY | | Hugging Face | Token | HF_TOKEN | | Z.AI / GLM | API key | GLM_API_KEY | | MiniMax | API key | MINIMAX_API_KEY | | Kimi / Moonshot | API key | KIMI_API_KEY | | Alibaba / DashScope | API key | DASHSCOPE_API_KEY | | Kilo Code | API key | KILOCODE_API_KEY | | Custom endpoint | Config | model.base_url + model.api_key in config.yaml |

Plus: AI Gateway, OpenCode Zen, OpenCode Go, MiniMax CN, GitHub Copilot ACP.

Full provider docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/integrations/providers

Toolsets

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

| Toolset | What it provides | |---------|-----------------| | web | Web search and content extraction | | browser | Browser automation (Browserbase, Camofox, or local Chromium) | | terminal | Shell commands and process management | | file | File read/write/search/patch | | code_execution | Sandboxed Python execution | | vision | Image analysis | | image_gen | AI image generation | | tts | Text-to-speech | | skills | Skill browsing and management | | memory | Persistent cross-session memory | | session_search | Search past conversations | | delegation | Subagent task delegation | | cronjob | Scheduled task management | | clarify | Ask user clarifying questions | | moa | Mixture of Agents (off by default) | | homeassistant | 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 & Transcription

STT (Voice → Text)

Voice messages from messaging platforms are auto-transcribed.

Provider priority (auto-detected):

Local faster-whisper — free, no API key: pip install faster-whisper
Groq Whisper — free tier: set GROQ_API_KEY
OpenAI Whisper — paid: set VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY

Config:

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

TTS (Text → Voice)

| Provider | Env var | Free? | |----------|---------|-------| | Edge TTS | None | Yes (default) | | ElevenLabs | ELEVENLABS_API_KEY | Free tier | | OpenAI | VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY | Paid | | Kokoro (local) | None | Free | | Fish Audio | FISH_AUDIO_API_KEY | Free tier |

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_task | Spawning hermes 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 |

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

Check stt.enabled: true in config.yaml
Verify provider: pip install faster-whisper or set API key
Restart gateway: /restart

Tool not available

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

Model/provider issues

hermes doctor — check config and dependencies
hermes login — re-authenticate OAuth providers
Check .env has the right API key

Changes not taking effect

Tools/skills: /reset starts a new session with updated toolset
Config changes: /restart reloads gateway config
Code changes: Restart the CLI or gateway process

Skills not showing

hermes skills list — verify installed
hermes skills config — check platform enablement
Load explicitly: /skill name or hermes -s name
If you added a GitHub tap with hermes skills tap add owner/repo, verify the tap separately with hermes skills tap list.
A tap being present does NOT guarantee the tapped skills will immediately appear in hermes skills list. In practice, tap registration can succeed while the repo's skills are still not exposed as directly callable installed skills.
When this happens, confirm the upstream repo actually defines skills (for example by checking its plugin manifest or SKILL.md files), then choose one of two paths:
- continue troubleshooting Hermes hub/tap synchronization, or
- manually import the needed skills into local Hermes skills for immediate use.
Treat tap added successfully and skills now callable as two separate verification steps.

Gateway issues

Check logs first:

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

Pairing approval troubleshooting

When a user gives you a pairing code and hermes pairing approve <platform> <code> does not resolve it cleanly, verify the pairing state directly before assuming approval failed:

hermes pairing list

What to look for:

If the code is still pending, approve it with hermes pairing approve <platform> <code>.
If there are no pending requests but the user already appears under Approved Users, the code was already consumed and the user is already authorized.
Approved users are stored under ~/.hermes/pairing/<platform>-approved.json.
Pending codes are stored under ~/.hermes/pairing/<platform>-pending.json.

This is especially useful for gateway platforms where the CLI help text may lag platform support or when a code was already approved in an earlier attempt.

Where to Find Things

| Looking for... | Location | |----------------|----------| | Config options | hermes config edit or Configuration docs | | Available tools | hermes tools list or Tools reference | | Slash commands | /help in session or Slash commands reference | | Skills catalog | hermes skills browse or Skills catalog | | Provider setup | hermes model or Providers guide | | Platform setup | hermes gateway setup or Messaging docs | | MCP servers | hermes mcp list or MCP guide | | Profiles | hermes profile list or Profiles docs | | Cron jobs | hermes cron list or Cron docs | | Memory | hermes memory status or Memory docs | | Env variables | hermes config env-path or Env vars reference | | CLI commands | hermes --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: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/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, compression, display, adapters
├── 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 import in model_tools.py → _discover_tools() list.

3. Add to toolsets.py → _HERMES_CORE_TOOLS list.

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

Adding a Slash Command

Add CommandDef to COMMAND_REGISTRY in hermes_cli/commands.py
Add handler in cli.py → process_command()
(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

source venv/bin/activate  # or .venv/bin/activate
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