name: hermes-agent

description: 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.

version: 2.0.0

author: Hermes Agent + Teknium

license: MIT

metadata:

hermes:

tags: [hermes, setup, configuration, multi-agent, spawning, cli, gateway, development]

homepage: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent

related_skills: [claude-code, codex, opencode]

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: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/

Quick Start

`bash

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: 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/

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 Run prompt in background

/queue 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 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/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// with the same layout.

Config Sections

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

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

Providers

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

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

Toolsets

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

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:

`yaml

stt:

enabled: true

provider: local # local, groq, openai, mistral

local:

model: base # tiny, base, small, medium, large-v3

`

TTS (Text → Voice)

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

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:

`bash

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:

`bash

hermes config set auxiliary.vision.provider

hermes config set auxiliary.vision.model

`

---

Where to Find Things

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/mistral)
tts	provider (edge/elevenlabs/openai/minimax/mistral/neutts)
memory	memory_enabled, user_profile_enabled, provider
security	tirith_enabled, website_blocklist
delegation	model, provider, base_url, api_key, max_iterations (50), reasoning_effort
smart_model_routing	enabled, cheap_model
checkpoints	enabled, max_snapshots (50)
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
Google Gemini	API key	GOOGLE_API_KEY or GEMINI_API_KEY
DeepSeek	API key	DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
xAI / Grok	API key	XAI_API_KEY
Hugging Face	Token	HF_TOKEN
Z.AI / GLM	API key	GLM_API_KEY
MiniMax	API key	MINIMAX_API_KEY
MiniMax CN	API key	MINIMAX_CN_API_KEY
Kimi / Moonshot	API key	KIMI_API_KEY
Alibaba / DashScope	API key	DASHSCOPE_API_KEY
Xiaomi MiMo	API key	XIAOMI_API_KEY
Kilo Code	API key	KILOCODE_API_KEY
AI Gateway (Vercel)	API key	AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY
OpenCode Zen	API key	OPENCODE_ZEN_API_KEY
OpenCode Go	API key	OPENCODE_GO_API_KEY
Qwen OAuth	OAuth	hermes login --provider qwen-oauth
Custom endpoint	Config	model.base_url + model.api_key in config.yaml
GitHub Copilot ACP	External	COPILOT_CLI_PATH or Copilot CLI
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
messaging	Cross-platform message sending
search	Web search only (subset of web)
todo	In-session task planning and tracking
rl	Reinforcement learning tools (off by default)
moa	Mixture of Agents (off by default)
homeassistant	Smart home control (off by default)
Provider	Env var	Free?
----------	---------	-------
Edge TTS	None	Yes (default)
ElevenLabs	ELEVENLABS_API_KEY	Free tier
OpenAI	VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY	Paid
MiniMax	MINIMAX_API_KEY	Paid
Mistral (Voxtral)	MISTRAL_API_KEY	Paid
NeuTTS (local)	None (pip install neutts[all] + espeak-ng)	Free
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
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, 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:

`python

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

1. Add CommandDef to COMMAND_REGISTRY in hermes_cli/commands.py

2. Add handler in cli.py → process_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

`bash

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