| name | hermes-agent |
| description | Configure, extend, audit, harden, or contribute to Hermes Agent and its VM environment. |
| version | 2.2.0 |
| author | Hermes Agent + Teknium |
| license | MIT |
| platforms | ["linux","macos","windows"] |
| metadata | {"hermes":{"tags":["hermes","setup","configuration","multi-agent","spawning","cli","gateway","development","safety","autonomy","stability","cron-jobs","auditing"],"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
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
hermes
hermes chat -q "What is the capital of France?"
hermes setup
hermes model
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 auth Interactive credential manager
hermes auth add PROVIDER Add OAuth or API-key credential (e.g. nous, openai-codex, qwen-oauth)
hermes auth list List stored credentials
hermes auth remove PROVIDER Remove a stored credential
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
How the built-in MCP client connects servers (stdio/HTTP), auto-discovers
their tools, and exposes them as first-class tools, plus catalog install
(hermes mcp install <name>): skill_view(name="hermes-agent", file_path="references/native-mcp.md").
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/<name>
hermes webhook list List subscriptions
hermes webhook remove NAME Remove a subscription
hermes webhook test NAME Send a test POST
Full setup, route config, payload templating, and event-driven agent-run
patterns: skill_view(name="hermes-agent", file_path="references/webhooks.md").
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/ Gateway routing index, request dumps, *.jsonl transcripts (and optional per-session JSON snapshots when sessions.write_json_snapshots: true)
~/.hermes/state.db Canonical session store (SQLite + FTS5)
~/.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/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 |
| OpenCode Zen | API key | OPENCODE_ZEN_API_KEY |
| OpenCode Go | API key | OPENCODE_GO_API_KEY |
| Qwen OAuth | OAuth | hermes auth add 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) |
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 |
video | Video analysis and 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 |
todo | In-session task planning and tracking |
kanban | Multi-agent work-queue tools (gated to workers) |
debugging | Extra introspection/debug tools (off by default) |
safe | Minimal, low-risk toolset for locked-down sessions |
spotify | Spotify playback and playlist control |
homeassistant | Smart home control (off by default) |
discord | Discord integration tools |
discord_admin | Discord admin/moderation tools |
feishu_doc | Feishu (Lark) document tools |
feishu_drive | Feishu (Lark) drive tools |
yuanbao | Yuanbao integration tools |
rl | Reinforcement learning tools (off by default) |
moa | Mixture of Agents (off by default) |
Full enumeration lives in toolsets.py as the TOOLSETS dict; _HERMES_CORE_TOOLS is the default bundle most platforms inherit from.
Tool changes take effect on /reset (new session). They do NOT apply mid-conversation to preserve prompt caching.
Security & Privacy Toggles
Common "why is Hermes doing X to my output / tool calls / commands?" toggles — and the exact commands to change them. Most of these need a fresh session (/reset in chat, or start a new hermes invocation) because they're read once at startup.
Secret redaction in tool output
Secret redaction is on by default — tool output (terminal stdout, read_file, web content, subagent summaries, etc.) is scanned for strings that look like API keys, tokens, and secrets before it enters the conversation context and logs. Leave it enabled for normal use:
hermes config set security.redact_secrets true
Restart required. security.redact_secrets is snapshotted at import time — toggling it mid-session (e.g. via export HERMES_REDACT_SECRETS=false from a tool call) will NOT take effect for the running process. Tell the user to change it in config from a terminal, then start a new session. This is deliberate — it prevents an LLM from flipping the toggle on itself mid-task.
Disable only when you deliberately need raw credential-like strings for debugging or redactor development:
hermes config set security.redact_secrets false
PII redaction in gateway messages
Separate from secret redaction. When enabled, the gateway hashes user IDs and strips phone numbers from the session context before it reaches the model:
hermes config set privacy.redact_pii true
hermes config set privacy.redact_pii false
Command approval prompts
By default (approvals.mode: manual), Hermes prompts the user before running shell commands flagged as destructive (rm -rf, git reset --hard, etc.). The modes are:
manual — always prompt (default)smart — use an auxiliary LLM to auto-approve low-risk commands, prompt on high-riskoff — skip all approval prompts (equivalent to --yolo)
hermes config set approvals.mode smart
hermes config set approvals.mode off
Per-invocation bypass without changing config:
hermes --yolo …export HERMES_YOLO_MODE=1
Note: YOLO / approvals.mode: off does NOT turn off secret redaction. They are independent.
Shell hooks allowlist
Some shell-hook integrations require explicit allowlisting before they fire. Managed via ~/.hermes/shell-hooks-allowlist.json — prompted interactively the first time a hook wants to run.
Disabling the web/browser/image-gen tools
To keep the model away from network or media tools entirely, open hermes tools and toggle per-platform. Takes effect on next session (/reset). See the Tools & Skills section above.
VM Safety, Autonomy, & Stability Auditing
For a copy of Justin's complete Safety & Autonomy Guidance, see references/guidance.md in this skill's folder.
Use these guidelines and checklists when auditing or adjusting the Hermes VM environment, configuring credentials/tool limits, debugging background cron-job failures, or ensuring alignment with Justin's "VM Safety & Autonomy Guidance."
1. Safety & Autonomy Checklists
Always audit the primary configuration file (~/.hermes/config.yaml) for compliance with safety principles:
A. Security & Boundary Settings
- Tirith Policy Engine: Verify that
security.tirith_fail_open is set to false. Enforce fail-closed verification so unauthorized or failed verification shuts down the action.
- Lazy Installs: Verify that
security.allow_lazy_installs is set to false. Do not allow the agent to install random external packages (npm, pip) on-the-fly without confirmation.
- Sandbox Verification: Ensure private URLs and network fetches conform to
security.allow_private_urls: false unless explicitly overridden for internal tools.
B. Background Job Hardening
- Least Privilege: Background or cron jobs (like
Daily Work Log) must not run with unrestricted toolsets. Check active job definitions and explicitly restrict enabled_toolsets to the bare minimum (e.g. ['terminal', 'file']).
- Silent Execution: For script-only pings (watchdogs, checkers), prefer
no_agent: true with a silent script that only calls the LLM via hermes run when actionable conditions are met. Avoid active LLMs polling empty states every 30 minutes.
2. Resource & Stability Constraints
To prevent VM crashes, disk exhaustion, or hung background tasks, enforce these system-level constraints:
A. Concurrency and Memory
- Max Parallel Jobs: Limit
cron.max_parallel_jobs to a low integer (e.g., 2 or 3) instead of leaving it null (unbounded), preventing multi-job execution from triggering Out-Of-Memory (OOM) faults.
- Disk Space Management: Always configure
sessions.auto_prune: true with a reasonable retention window (e.g. 90 days) to prevent JSON logs and terminal snapshots from consuming all available VM disk storage.
B. Timeout Alignment
- Subprocess Timeouts: Every background python or bash script must define internal subprocess timeouts. Never let
subprocess.run run without a timeout= parameter.
- Scheduler Sync: Ensure subprocess timeouts are strictly smaller than the scheduler's task timeout limit. If the scheduler kills a task at 120s, the inner script should timeout at 100s to allow graceful reporting and logging.
- Decouple Heavy Workloads: Long-running processes like semantic indexing (
semantic_pointer.py index) should never be embedded directly inside high-frequency cron scripts. Decouple them into separate, lower-priority standalone crons.
3. Audit Execution Guidelines
- Model Selection: Always execute system-wide audits and multi-file reasoning reviews on high-reasoning models (such as
gemini-2.5-pro or equivalent). Do not use flash/lightweight models, as they consistently fail by exceeding maximum turn counts (max_iterations) and frequently overlook subtle safety violations.
- Live Model Discovery: When switching models programmatically or modifying configs, verify live model availability from the provider list using the API or a fast Python request to avoid 404 Model Not Found errors.
- Verification over Description: Never merely assume a configuration has been corrected. After writing to
config.yaml, run syntax validation or test command execution to verify VM stability.
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
- Mistral Voxtral — set
MISTRAL_API_KEY
Config:
stt:
enabled: true
provider: local
local:
model: base
TTS (Text → Voice)
| 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 |
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
Durable & Background Systems
Four systems run alongside the main conversation loop. Quick reference
here; full developer notes live in AGENTS.md, user-facing docs under
website/docs/user-guide/features/.
Delegation (delegate_task)
Synchronous subagent spawn — the parent waits for the child's summary
before continuing its own loop. Isolated context + terminal session.
- Single:
delegate_task(goal, context, toolsets).
- Batch:
delegate_task(tasks=[{goal, ...}, ...]) runs children in
parallel, capped by delegation.max_concurrent_children (default 3).
- Roles:
leaf (default; cannot re-delegate) vs orchestrator
(can spawn its own workers, bounded by delegation.max_spawn_depth).
- Not durable. If the parent is interrupted, the child is
cancelled. For work that must outlive the turn, use
cronjob or
terminal(background=True, notify_on_complete=True).
Config: delegation.* in config.yaml.
Cron (scheduled jobs)
Durable scheduler — cron/jobs.py + cron/scheduler.py. Drive it via
the cronjob tool, the hermes cron CLI (list, add, edit,
pause, resume, run, remove), or the /cron slash command.
- Schedules: duration (
"30m", "2h"), "every" phrase
("every monday 9am"), 5-field cron ("0 9 * * *"), or ISO timestamp.
- Per-job knobs:
skills, model/provider override, script
(pre-run data collection; no_agent=True makes the script the whole
job), context_from (chain job A's output into job B), workdir
(run in a specific dir with its AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md loaded),
multi-platform delivery.
- Invariants: 3-minute hard interrupt per run,
.tick.lock file
prevents duplicate ticks across processes, cron sessions pass
skip_memory=True by default, and cron deliveries are framed with a
header/footer instead of being mirrored into the target gateway
session (keeps role alternation intact).
User docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/cron
Curator (skill lifecycle)
Background maintenance for agent-created skills. Tracks usage, marks
idle skills stale, archives stale ones, keeps a pre-run tar.gz backup
so nothing is lost.
- CLI:
hermes curator <verb> — status, run, pause, resume,
pin, unpin, archive, restore, prune, backup, rollback.
- Slash:
/curator <subcommand> mirrors the CLI.
- Scope: only touches skills with
created_by: "agent" provenance.
Bundled + hub-installed skills are off-limits. Never deletes —
max destructive action is archive. Pinned skills are exempt from
every auto-transition and every LLM review pass.
- Telemetry: sidecar at
~/.hermes/skills/.usage.json holds
per-skill use_count, view_count, patch_count,
last_activity_at, state, pinned.
Config: curator.* (enabled, interval_hours, min_idle_hours,
stale_after_days, archive_after_days, backup.*).
User docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/curator
Kanban (multi-agent work queue)
Durable SQLite board for multi-profile / multi-worker collaboration.
Users drive it via hermes kanban <verb>; dispatcher-spawned workers
see a focused kanban_* toolset gated by HERMES_KANBAN_TASK, and
orchestrator profiles can opt into the broader kanban toolset. Normal
sessions still have zero kanban_* schema footprint unless configured.
- CLI verbs (common):
init, create, list (alias ls),
show, assign, link, unlink, comment, complete, block,
unblock, archive, tail. Less common: watch, stats, runs,
log, dispatch, daemon, gc.
- Worker/orchestrator toolset:
kanban_show, kanban_complete,
kanban_block, kanban_heartbeat, kanban_comment, kanban_create,
kanban_link; profiles that explicitly enable the kanban toolset
outside a dispatcher-spawned task also get kanban_list and
kanban_unblock for board routing.
- Dispatcher runs inside the gateway by default
(
kanban.dispatch_in_gateway: true) — reclaims stale claims,
promotes ready tasks, atomically claims, spawns assigned profiles.
Auto-blocks a task after failure_limit consecutive spawn failures
(default 2; configurable via kanban.failure_limit or per-task
max_retries).
- Isolation: board is the hard boundary (workers get
HERMES_KANBAN_BOARD pinned in env); tenant is a soft namespace
within a board for workspace-path + memory-key isolation.
User docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/kanban
Windows-Specific Quirks
Hermes runs natively on Windows (PowerShell, cmd, Windows Terminal, git-bash
mintty, VS Code integrated terminal). Most of it just works, but a handful
of differences between Win32 and POSIX have bitten us — document new ones
here as you hit them so the next person (or the next session) doesn't
rediscover them from scratch.
Input / Keybindings
Alt+Enter doesn't insert a newline. Windows Terminal intercepts Alt+Enter
at the terminal layer to toggle fullscreen — the keystroke never reaches
prompt_toolkit. Use Ctrl+Enter instead. Windows Terminal delivers
Ctrl+Enter as LF (c-j), distinct from plain Enter (c-m / CR), and the
CLI binds c-j to newline insertion on win32 only (see
_bind_prompt_submit_keys + the Windows-only c-j binding in cli.py).
Side effect: the raw Ctrl+J keystroke also inserts a newline on Windows —
unavoidable, because Windows Terminal collapses Ctrl+Enter and Ctrl+J to
the same keycode at the Win32 console API layer. No conflicting binding
existed for Ctrl+J on Windows, so this is a harmless side effect.
mintty / git-bash behaves the same (fullscreen on Alt+Enter) unless you
disable Alt+Fn shortcuts in Options → Keys. Easier to just use Ctrl+Enter.
Diagnosing keybindings. Run python scripts/keystroke_diagnostic.py
(repo root) to see exactly how prompt_toolkit identifies each keystroke
in the current terminal. Answers questions like "does Shift+Enter come
through as a distinct key?" (almost never — most terminals collapse it
to plain Enter) or "what byte sequence is my terminal sending for
Ctrl+Enter?" This is how the Ctrl+Enter = c-j fact was established.
Config / Files
HTTP 400 "No models provided" on first run. config.yaml was saved
with a UTF-8 BOM (common when Windows apps write it). Re-save as UTF-8
without BOM. hermes config edit writes without BOM; manual edits in
Notepad are the usual culprit.
execute_code / Sandbox
WinError 10106 ("The requested service provider could not be loaded
or initialized") from the sandbox child process — it can't create an
AF_INET socket, so the loopback-TCP RPC fallback fails before
connect(). Root cause is usually not a broken Winsock LSP; it's
Hermes's own env scrubber dropping SYSTEMROOT / WINDIR / COMSPEC
from the child env. Python's socket module needs SYSTEMROOT to locate
mswsock.dll. Fixed via the _WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS allowlist in
tools/code_execution_tool.py. If you still hit it, echo os.environ
inside an execute_code block to confirm SYSTEMROOT is set. Full
diagnostic recipe in references/execute-code-sandbox-env-windows.md.
Testing / Contributing
scripts/run_tests.sh doesn't work as-is on Windows — it looks for
POSIX venv layouts (.venv/bin/activate). The Hermes-installed venv at
venv/Scripts/ has no pip or pytest either (stripped for install size).
Workaround: install pytest + pytest-xdist + pyyaml into a system Python
3.11 user site, then invoke pytest directly with PYTHONPATH set:
"/c/Program Files/Python311/python" -m pip install --user pytest pytest-xdist pyyaml
export PYTHONPATH="$(pwd)"
"/c/Program Files/Python311/python" -m pytest tests/foo/test_bar.py -v --tb=short -n 0
Use -n 0, not -n 4 — pyproject.toml's default addopts already
includes -n, and the wrapper's CI-parity guarantees don't apply off POSIX.
POSIX-only tests need skip guards. Common markers already in the codebase:
- Symlinks — elevated privileges on Windows
0o600 file modes — POSIX mode bits not enforced on NTFS by defaultsignal.SIGALRM — Unix-only (see tests/conftest.py::_enforce_test_timeout)- Winsock / Windows-specific regressions —
@pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform != "win32", ...)
Use the existing skip-pattern style (sys.platform == "win32" or
sys.platform.startswith("win")) to stay consistent with the rest of the
suite.
Path / Filesystem
Line endings. Git may warn LF will be replaced by CRLF the next time Git touches it. Cosmetic — the repo's .gitattributes normalizes. Don't
let editors auto-convert committed POSIX-newline files to CRLF.
Forward slashes work almost everywhere. C:/Users/... is accepted by
every Hermes tool and most Windows APIs. Prefer forward slashes in code
and logs — avoids shell-escaping backslashes in bash.
Troubleshooting
Voice not working
- Check
stt.enabled: true in config.yaml
- Verify provider:
pip install faster-whisper or set API key
- In gateway:
/restart. In CLI: exit and relaunch.
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 dependencieshermes auth — re-authenticate OAuth providers (or hermes auth add <provider>)- Check
.env has the right API key
- 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
hermes skills list — verify installedhermes skills config — check platform enablement- Load explicitly:
/skill name or hermes -s name
Gateway issues
Check logs first:
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-specific issues (
Alt+Enter newline, WinError 10106, UTF-8 BOM config, test suite, line endings): see the dedicated Windows-Specific Quirks section above.
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:
hermes config set auxiliary.vision.provider <your_provider>
hermes config set auxiliary.vision.model <model_name>
Where to Find Things
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:
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.
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
python -m pytest tests/ -o 'addopts=' -q
python -m pytest tests/tools/ -q
- 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
Windows contributors: scripts/run_tests.sh currently looks for POSIX venvs (.venv/bin/activate / venv/bin/activate) and will error out on Windows where the layout is venv/Scripts/activate + python.exe. The Hermes-installed venv at venv/Scripts/ also has no pip or pytest — it's stripped for end-user install size. Workaround: install pytest + pytest-xdist + pyyaml into a system Python 3.11 user site (/c/Program Files/Python311/python -m pip install --user pytest pytest-xdist pyyaml), then run tests directly:
export PYTHONPATH="$(pwd)"
"/c/Program Files/Python311/python" -m pytest tests/tools/test_foo.py -v --tb=short -n 0
Use -n 0 (not -n 4) because pyproject.toml's default addopts already includes -n, and the wrapper's CI-parity story doesn't apply off-POSIX.
Cross-platform test guards: tests that use POSIX-only syscalls need a skip marker. Common ones already in the codebase:
- Symlink creation →
@pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform == "win32", reason="Symlinks require elevated privileges on Windows") (see tests/cron/test_cron_script.py)
- POSIX file modes (0o600, etc.) →
@pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform.startswith("win"), reason="POSIX mode bits not enforced on Windows") (see tests/hermes_cli/test_auth_toctou_file_modes.py)
signal.SIGALRM → Unix-only (see tests/conftest.py::_enforce_test_timeout)- Live Winsock / Windows-specific regression tests →
@pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform != "win32", reason="Windows-specific regression")
Monkeypatching sys.platform is not enough when the code under test also calls platform.system() / platform.release() / platform.mac_ver(). Those functions re-read the real OS independently, so a test that sets sys.platform = "linux" on a Windows runner will still see platform.system() == "Windows" and route through the Windows branch. Patch all three together:
monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "platform", "linux")
monkeypatch.setattr(platform, "system", lambda: "Linux")
monkeypatch.setattr(platform, "release", lambda: "6.8.0-generic")
See tests/agent/test_prompt_builder.py::TestEnvironmentHints for a worked example.
Extending the system prompt's execution-environment block
Factual guidance about the host OS, user home, cwd, terminal backend, and shell (bash vs. PowerShell on Windows) is emitted from agent/prompt_builder.py::build_environment_hints(). This is also where the WSL hint and per-backend probe logic live. The convention:
- Local terminal backend → emit host info (OS,
$HOME, cwd) + Windows-specific notes (hostname ≠ username, terminal uses bash not PowerShell).
- Remote terminal backend (anything in
_REMOTE_TERMINAL_BACKENDS: docker, singularity, modal, daytona, ssh, managed_modal) → suppress host info entirely and describe only the backend. A live uname/whoami/pwd probe runs inside the backend via tools.environments.get_environment(...).execute(...), cached per process in _BACKEND_PROBE_CACHE, with a static fallback if the probe times out.
- Key fact for prompt authoring: when
TERMINAL_ENV != "local", every file tool (read_file, write_file, patch, search_files) runs inside the backend container, not on the host. The system prompt must never describe the host in that case — the agent can't touch it.
Full design notes, the exact emitted strings, and testing pitfalls:
references/prompt-builder-environment-hints.md.
Refactor-safety pattern (POSIX-equivalence guard): when you extract inline logic into a helper that adds Windows/platform-specific behavior, keep a _legacy_<name> oracle function in the test file that's a verbatim copy of the old code, then parametrize-diff against it. Example: tests/tools/test_code_execution_windows_env.py::TestPosixEquivalence. This locks in the invariant that POSIX behavior is bit-for-bit identical and makes any future drift fail loudly with a clear diff.
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
