hermes-agent

name	hermes-agent
description	Configure, extend, or contribute to Hermes Agent.
version	2.1.0
author	Hermes Agent + Teknium
license	MIT
platforms	["linux","macos","windows"]
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

# 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 (ID can be a hub identifier OR a direct https://…/SKILL.md URL; pass --name to override when frontmatter has no name)
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

Formato de horarios: Los cron jobs se almacenan en UTC internamente, pero al presentar schedules al usuario convertir SIEMPRE a hora de Madrid (CET/CEST). No presentar nunca horarios en UTC cuando el usuario está en Madrid.

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. New commands land fairly often; if something below looks stale, run /help in-session for the authoritative list or see the live slash commands reference. The registry of record is hermes_cli/commands.py — every consumer (autocomplete, Telegram menu, Slack mapping, /help) derives from it.

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
/snapshot [sub]      Create or restore state snapshots of Hermes config/state (CLI)
/background <prompt> Run prompt in background
/queue <prompt>      Queue for next turn
/steer <prompt>      Inject a message after the next tool call without interrupting
/agents (/tasks)     Show active agents and running tasks
/resume [name]       Resume a named session
/goal [text|sub]     Set a standing goal Hermes works on across turns until achieved
                     (subcommands: status, pause, resume, clear)
/redraw              Force a full UI repaint (CLI)

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
/busy [sub]          Control what Enter does while Hermes is working (CLI)
                     (subcommands: queue, steer, interrupt, status)
/indicator [style]   Pick the TUI busy-indicator style (CLI)
                     (styles: kaomoji, emoji, unicode, ascii)
/footer [on|off]     Toggle gateway runtime-metadata footer on final replies
/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
/reload-skills       Re-scan ~/.hermes/skills/ for added/removed skills
/reload              Reload .env variables into the running session (CLI)
/reload-mcp          Reload MCP servers
/cron                Manage cron jobs (CLI)
/curator [sub]       Background skill maintenance (status, run, pin, archive, …)
/kanban [sub]        Multi-profile collaboration board (tasks, links, comments)
/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)
/topic [sub]         Enable or inspect Telegram DM topic sessions (gateway)
/platforms (/gateway) Show platform connection status (gateway)

Utility

/branch (/fork)      Branch the current session
/fast                Toggle priority/fast processing
/browser             Open CDP browser connection
/history             Show conversation history (CLI)
/save                Save conversation to file (CLI)
/copy [N]            Copy the last assistant response to clipboard (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
/gquota              Show Google Gemini Code Assist quota usage (CLI)
/status              Session info (gateway)
/profile             Active profile info
/debug               Upload debug report (system info + logs) and get shareable links

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)

⚠ Hermes-specific path quirk: Some deployments (e.g., NaN.builders microVMs) use /hermes-home/ instead of ~/.hermes/. Check $HERMES_HOME env var:

echo $HERMES_HOME    # may be /hermes-home or /root/.hermes
ls $HERMES_HOME/config.yaml
ls $HERMES_HOME/.env

When the token is at /hermes-home/.env instead of ~/.hermes/.env, use:

token=$(grep GITHUB_TOKEN /hermes-home/.env 2>/dev/null | cut -d= -f2-)

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/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
checkpoints	enabled, max_snapshots (50)

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

Providers

20+ 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 auth
OpenAI Codex	OAuth	hermes auth
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

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
search	Web search only (subset of web)