HermesNeed a daily digest of new PubMed papers
Zero-cost and fully local — abstracts and queries never leave the lab, and it gets more relevant the longer you use it.
Track 8 · Intermediate
8.2
Hermes
A personal AI assistant — self-hosted, always-on, remembers you and writes its own skills
1Overview
A self-hosted, always-on agent from Nous Research — a standing digital employee for recurring work, not a chat window you open and close.
A consultant ran Hermes for 297 days straight and automated over $100K of client work; a lab runs a fully local PubMed digest that costs nothing and never leaves the building. Hermes is a self-hosted agent (Nous Research) that remembers you across sessions, runs errands on a schedule, writes its own reusable skills, and reaches you on 16+ chat apps — free to run on your own models, private by default. → Unlike a chatbot you open and close, Hermes stays on: point it at a job once and it keeps doing it. To build a custom agent from scratch instead of installing one, see "Agent frameworks".
1.1Before you start
1.2After this chapter you can
→Run a private, always-on agent on your own machine
→Give it a memory of you, then a standing errand it repeats on a schedule
→Reach it from Telegram, Signal, or Slack — and know what not to delegate to it
1.3When to reach for it
You want a standing digital employee for recurring work — research digests, ops monitoring, outreach, bookkeeping — not a one-off chat window.
1.4Key parts
Persistent memory, a skill system it writes itself, a messaging gateway (Telegram, Signal, Slack, WhatsApp…), and a cron for unattended errands.
2Lessons 9
2.1 Run Hermes with your chosen model
The Hermes CLI lets you configure a model provider and start the agent, storing settings in ~/.hermes/config.yaml.
Install Hermes and launch it with a chosen cloud or local model
- 1 System logs viewer shows recent events and errors
- 2 Agent pairing control connect new agents securely Why this exists →
- 3 Software update button apply latest version
Best viewed on desktop — tap Enlarge to read the numbered controls.
- Download the Hermes Desktop app from the official site
- Run hermes setup --portal to link an OAuth provider and pick a model
- Edit ~/.hermes/config.yaml if you need to change the model manually
- Start the agent with hermes --tui or open the Desktop app
- You'll see Hermes replies using the selected model and can continue previous sessions
- Takeaway You control a personal assistant by choosing any cloud or local model
- Check Which file stores the chosen model and which command runs the setup wizard?
2.2 Get a researched recommendation from Hermes
The chat interface accepts natural‑language prompts and returns structured answers.
Do this first Run Hermes with your chosen model
Get a concise report that lists three options with pros, cons and a recommended pick
- Type your research question into the Chat box and press Enter
- Enter “Give me three options for
with pros, cons, and your pick” in the Chat box - Ask “How would you check that this is actually correct?” in the Chat box
- You'll see A summary report showing three alternatives, their pros and cons, and a suggested choice
- Takeaway Hermes supplies analysed options while you retain final authority
- Check What phrase do you add to your question to receive a side‑by‑side comparison instead of a single answer?
2.3 Make Hermes remember you
Memory is toggled in ~/.hermes/config.yaml and persists facts across sessions.
Do this first Get a researched recommendation from Hermes
Tell Hermes a fact once and have it reused in later sessions without the --continue flag
- 1 Start button begins session
- 2 Stop button halts current run
- 3 Add key control adds new API credential Why this exists →
Best viewed on desktop — tap Enlarge to read the numbered controls.
MEMORY.md, USER.md) — resettable per file if you ever need to start over. Credit: hermes-agent.nousresearch.com ↗- Run hermes config edit and set memory.enabled: true, then save the file
- Send “Remember I work on
, prefer concise answers with citations, British English.” to the chat - Ask “list stored facts” to verify the fact was saved
- Close the conversation and start a new one without --continue
- Pose a related question and observe Hermes using the remembered topic
- You'll see Hermes answers using the remembered topic and British English style without needing a reminder
- Takeaway Preferences saved by the assistant persist across sessions shaping future replies
- Check How can you demonstrate that a fact truly persisted beyond the original conversation?
2.4 Send messages to Hermes from your phone
The gateway command registers Hermes on a messaging platform so you can chat from your phone.
Do this first Make Hermes remember you
Make Hermes reachable through a mobile messenger and verify it uses the same memory
- Run hermes gateway setup and choose the desired phone channel (e.g., Telegram)
- Provide the bot token when prompted to link the account
- Check the connection with hermes gateway status
- Send a message to the bot from your phone
- Observe the reply contains information stored in Hermes’s memory
- You'll see Your phone message triggers the agent, which replies with its stored memory
- Takeaway Hermes lets you query persistent memory through any existing messaging app on your phone
- Check What must the phone‑sent reply contain to prove it reached the same long‑running agent?
2.5 Make Hermes perform actions only after you approve them
Approval gating shows proposed actions in a preview pane and requires explicit consent before execution.
Do this first Send messages to Hermes from your phone
Require manual approval for every action Hermes proposes
- Open Settings and toggle Approval gating, then restart Hermes
- When an action is suggested, read the description in the Action preview pane
- Click Approve to let the action run
- Select another proposal and click Reject to cancel it
- You'll see One approved action runs while the rejected one does not
- Takeaway Hermes executes actions solely with explicit user consent
- Check What do you see before any action occurs, and how does the outcome differ between an approved and a rejected proposal?
2.6 Create a reusable skill
A skill is a saved multi‑step workflow that can be invoked by name.
Do this first Make Hermes perform actions only after you approve them
Save a multi‑step task as a reusable skill and run it with a single command
- Enter the full description of the multi‑step task in the chat
- Tell Hermes “Save that as a skill called
” - Run /skills diff
to review the staged definition - Execute /skills approve
to store the skill permanently - Invoke it with run
on this
- You'll see The whole procedure runs from a single command after you approved the saved skill
- Takeaway A once‑off solution becomes an autonomous, reusable command after approval
- Check What do you inspect between saving a skill and being able to run it, and which command actually executes it afterwards?
2.7 Create a recurring errand that runs automatically
A standing errand is a scheduled job described in plain language that runs automatically and reports back.
Do this first Create a reusable skill
Create a recurring errand that runs unattended and delivers its report
- 1 Start button begins session
- 2 Stop button halts current run
- 3 Add key control adds new API credential Why this exists →
Best viewed on desktop — tap Enlarge to read the numbered controls.
- Choose a low‑stakes recurring task (e.g., daily weather summary)
- Describe the job and its schedule in natural language using hermes chat
- Confirm registration when Hermes asks to schedule it
- Trigger a test run with hermes cron run
or wait for the first scheduled execution - Read the generated unattended report
- You'll see A recurring task runs and sends you an unattended result report
- Takeaway Hermes can run scheduled jobs autonomously and deliver results without your supervision
- Check What action do you take before waiting for the first scheduled run, and what criteria do you use to judge the report?
2.8 Verify that a hard rule stops Hermes from acting automatically
Hard rules block specific categories of actions unless you explicitly override them.
Do this first Create a recurring errand that runs automatically
Verify that a hard rule prevents automatic execution of restricted actions
- Tell Hermes a hard rule such as “Never send messages without explicit approval”
- Request an action that falls under the rule inside a larger request
- Observe Hermes ask for approval instead of acting automatically
- Attempt to bypass by saying “just do it”
- Record whether Hermes still requires consent
- You'll see Hermes pauses and asks for approval before carrying out the prohibited action
- Takeaway An explicit rule blocks actions until you give clear permission
- Check What should Hermes do when you follow a refused request with “just do it”?
2.9 Run a real recurring job manually
Running a recurring job manually establishes success criteria and identifies required components for automation.
Do this first Verify that a hard rule stops Hermes from acting automatically
Execute a genuine recurring task by hand to define a baseline for later automation
- 1 System logs viewer shows recent events and errors
- 2 Agent pairing control connect new agents securely Why this exists →
- 3 Software update button apply latest version
Best viewed on desktop — tap Enlarge to read the numbered controls.
- Select a useful recurring task (e.g., weekly report generation)
- Perform the task step‑by‑step using Hermes until it behaves as desired
- Document the criteria that define a successful execution
- List the components needed for automation such as memory, skill, channel, schedule and approvals
- You'll see A completed manual run of the chosen job that meets your success criteria
- Takeaway Establishing a manual baseline clarifies what the always‑on assistant must achieve
- Check What two outcomes does the manual run provide that you cannot specify before performing it?
3Downloads 3 files
Download the file, then in n8n: ⋯ → Import from file.
Starter skills
daily-brief
A SKILL.md that teaches Hermes to assemble a morning briefing (calendar + urgent items + one topic digest) and message it to you. Drop into ~/.hermes/skills/personal/daily-brief/, then run /skills approve.
↓ Download
inbox-triage
A SKILL.md for classifying new messages (support / billing / personal / spam), labelling them, and drafting replies for your approval — never sending unattended. The level-3 'act with approval' pattern in skill form.
↓ Download
tidy-csv
A SKILL.md that turns a messy CSV into a clean one (drop empty rows, fix headers, trim whitespace, export tidy). The canonical 'teach it once, reuse forever' procedural-memory example.
↓ Download
4You’ll know it worked 190 checkable outcomes in this chapter
- ✓I receive a message at 8 am each weekday with five paper summaries, and the top ones increasingly match my saved topics
- ✓All three agents finish their tasks and the final output is reported
- ✓The draft appears styled consistently with your earlier social content.
- ✓Agent returns correct information drawn from the codebase, data sources, and wiki documents
- ✓Hermes service is active and running under the dedicated user after reboot
- ✓Lyrics and Suno prompt are saved to a text file
- ✓Slack reminder sent 24 hours before IT access revocation deadline
- ✓Three new article drafts appear in the KB drafts folder and a Telegram message lists their topics
190 outcomes in all — one per recipe below.
5FAQ, Tips & How-to 225
one problem, one solution, one action
Research & data tools31
Can't keep track of ML sweep results
The bookkeeping of an ML sweep runs itself; you just decide the next direction.
Need an approved‑compound shortlist for my target molecule
Heavyweight computational-chemistry workflows become a chat you can run anywhere.
Messy instrument CSVs that need the same cleanup every time
Teach a fiddly procedure once; the agent owns it from then on and gets faster every run.
Want accurate answers from your research PDFs
Answers that respect how a paper is actually organised, with fewer hallucinated links.
Slow, fragile weather analysis pipeline
A slow, fragile scientific pipeline becomes a fast, agent-drivable tool.
Need private, deep‑web research without external APIs
Deep web research on your own infrastructure, squeezing the free tiers instead of paying per query.
Too many news tabs every morning
One self-improving morning brief instead of ten tabs you never get to.
Want a fast literature review
A first-pass literature scan that runs while you do something else.
Too many noisy Hacker News posts
The signal from a noisy feed, on a schedule, without the doomscroll.
I can’t keep track of what I did in my analysis
Reproducibility for free — the record writes itself as you work.
I want fresh SaaS ideas from Reddit and X each morning
An always-on researcher that hands you pre-qualified, personalised opportunities plus working prototypes to test; run it on a free local model so the scanning costs nothing.
Want fresh AI tool ideas each week
Fresh, sourced topic research lands before you sit down to plan content.
Get a weekly email of the top five new arXiv papers on your topic
Implements a skill to query arXiv on a schedule, surfacing newly published papers matching specified topics.
Need a conference‑ready ML paper draft
Offers a research‑paper‑writing skill that organizes ML results into the standard sections required for conference manuscripts.
Need to log experiment metrics and compare runs
Provides a skill that records runs and generates dashboards directly in Weights & Biases.
Team wants private AI responses without external calls
When a team needs private inference at scale, the built‑in skills run local vLLM or llama.cpp so all members query a single model.
Exploring data cell by cell without losing variables
For analyses that require preserving state, the built‑in skill executes Python step‑by‑step in a live Jupyter kernel across cells.
No annotations in microscopy images
When microscopy images lack annotations, the Segment Anything skill provides zero‑shot segmentation of imaging data without any training.
Need my fine‑tuned model version kept in sync
To keep model versions synchronized, the built‑in skill pulls, pushes and manages Hugging Face models and datasets directly from the agent.
Need systematic LLM comparison
When systematic LLM comparison is needed, the built‑in skill runs evaluation harnesses and generates score reports.
Need alerts for new ML blog and Nature posts that match my keywords
To stay updated on new research content, the built‑in skill monitors blogs and RSS/Atom feeds and flags relevant items.
For access to authoritative forecasts, the community plugin exposes National Weather Service models and NEXRAD radar imagery to the agent after installing the hermes‑weather‑plugin skill.
Big ML model runs slowly on Apple Silicon
When running MLX models on Apple Silicon, Hermes drives TurboQuant to optimise a model such as Qwen3.5‑9B for local inference.
Want to test my model’s tool‑calling skill
To assess tool‑calling capabilities, Hermes trains and evaluates models against a benchmark of one hundred tasks.
Need insights from Reddit, X, YouTube, Hacker News and Polymarket
When a question spans multiple online communities, a single query is dispatched to Reddit, X, YouTube, Hacker News and Polymarket and the results are synthesised.
Need rover navigation testing without hardware
Provides a Mars rover simulation using ROS2 and Gazebo, driven by Hermes, after installing the Hermes‑mars‑rover community skill.
Robots keep messing up
Enables continuous improvement of robot behavior by fine‑tuning vision‑language‑action models, requiring the hermes‑embodied community skill.
Need a weekly competitor snapshot
Runs scheduled research on competitors and summarises any changes using the agent.
Can't tell why deals win or lose each month
The sales team gets a data-grounded read on what is working without a manual spreadsheet audit.
Missing updates on saved companies each morning
You start every day with the material moves on your watchlist already summarised; nothing slips through because you were too busy to scan five tabs.
Knowledge & docs12
My research notes get messy as they grow
Your notes compound over time instead of rotting, because something actively tends them.
Need my AI to remember past chats
The agent’s knowledge lives in files you own and can read, not a black box.
Scattered notes are hard to browse
Your scattered notes become a navigable structure instead of a flat pile.
Need a flowchart but don’t want to open a drawing app
Flowcharts and architecture diagrams without opening a diagram tool.
Want meeting notes filed and a follow‑up task created
Enables agents to file notes, tasks and records into your Notion workspace via a built‑in Notion skill.
Unclear benefits question in Telegram
Employees get instant, accurate answers to benefits questions at any time of day; the People team spends time on edge cases, not repetitive queries.
Customers ask common questions
Common questions resolved in seconds without an agent touching them; only genuinely novel issues reach the queue.
Need weekly help‑center articles for the biggest unanswered questions
The knowledge base improves automatically each week based on actual customer confusion, not guesses.
Need fast draft replies from my docs
First-response time drops to seconds; the knowledge base improves automatically from every gap.
Need to pull together IC memo sections from pitch decks
The first draft of an IC memo takes minutes instead of an afternoon; analysts spend time on judgment, not formatting.
Need a ready‑to‑use interview summary
Every interview starts well-prepared; the brief surfaces the right questions so the conversation goes deep where it matters.
Want protocol answers from internal clinic docs while keeping PHI local
A private, in-house reference that answers "what is our protocol for X?" from your own documents, with no PHI sent to a third-party API and every draft reviewed before use.
Trackers6
Want to keep Whoop health data on your computer
Your health data stays on your machine while still being queryable like a dataset.
I want daily job suggestions tailored to my résumé
A bespoke tool, coded by the agent on request — and a clean demo of Hermes building software.
Need dinner ideas from what’s in the fridge
A reusable template for low-friction inventory the agent keeps in its head.
Team asks for PTO in chat
Leave is tracked accurately from day one without buying a separate HR tool.
Don’t know which contracts renew soon
Renewals are engaged well before the window closes; account owners get a draft instead of a blank page.
Tickets getting close to SLA breach
SLA breaches caught and acted on before they happen instead of reported after.
Internal tools & ops76
Solo founder needs a full build cycle
A solo founder gets a plan-build-test-fix loop that normally needs a small team.
I have just an idea
A fundraising starter pack drafted in one prompt, ready for you to sharpen.
Need to get multiple tiny apps up fast
Idea-to-launch compresses to hours when the agent remembers your stack between builds.
I need a daily WhatsApp roundup of all project updates
One coordinating brain that remembers every project — and reports proactively.
Our code reviews never match the team’s style
Code review that fits your team’s taste because it actually remembers it.
My autonomous workflow stops mid‑run
Long autonomous runs that self-correct instead of silently failing.
Need to split a goal into research, plan and execution steps
A repeatable way to throw several agents at one objective without chaos.
I need to make big code changes safely
Bigger changes land safely because the agent reasons over the full codebase.
Automatically draft and send Gmail replies every 30 minutes
Proof Hermes holds up as real backend infrastructure, not just a demo.
When a merge hits main
Your agent improves on a normal git workflow, hands-off.
Chat app can’t run commands or read files
Your favourite chat app gets Hermes’s hands without leaving its window.
Need to break a huge build into tiny tasks
A blueprint for decomposing a big build across many narrow agents.
Need my agent’s config backed up each night and GitHub edits to apply automatically
Your agent’s setup is recoverable and reviewable like any other code.
Weekly client reports are a pain
Evidence a self-hosted agent can be durable, revenue-generating infrastructure.
Multiple family members need different AI helpers
Several paid AI subscriptions collapse into one self-hosted agent.
A real agent within a hobby budget; output matters more than fancy setup.
Need an inexpensive always‑on AI assistant
An always-on personal agent for the price of a couple of coffees.
Don’t want to run your own server for a chatbot
A self-hosted-style agent for non-technical owners who don’t want a server.
Telegram groups want different bot personalities but shared memory
Run multiple audience channels from a single agent without them bleeding together.
Need a daily solo business standup
A self-running operating rhythm for a one-person business.
Send receipt photos in chat
Bookkeeping that happens as you spend, not in a Sunday-night panic.
Need nonstop help for project, code, ops and copy
A blueprint where each function has an always-on agent doing the routine work.
Team keeps forgetting completed work
A non-tech SME turning a real operational pain — forgetting things — into a trusted AI workflow.
Production alerts keep firing
On-call that gets smarter over time, combining memory, cron, messaging and sub-agents.
Unassigned Plane.so tickets stay idle
The PM busywork of routing and documenting work handled automatically.
Need private Google Meet notes
Meeting notes and follow-ups for a team, with sensitive data kept in-house.
Need untampered audit logs and a compliance report
A path to running agents in a regulated company without crossing compliance lines.
Want an isolated Kubernetes agent to send a daily cyber‑AI briefing
Enterprise-grade isolation with a useful daily output to justify it.
Need a teammate who can answer code, data and doc questions
A shared team agent that knows the codebase, the data and the docs.
Need email, web browsing and forms done automatically from my chats
A clean division of labour: one brain to think, one to do.
When your org’s knowledge disappears after a restart
Org knowledge that persists and is retrievable beyond a single machine.
Keeping contracts confidential
Useful AI for a confidentiality-bound practice, with nothing leaving the box.
Agent gets fooled by prompt injections
A safer baseline for an agent that has real access.
Procedures live in a few heads
The knowledge that usually lives in three people’s heads becomes a shared, growing agent.
Need a ready‑to‑run monitoring stack
Installs a complete Hermes agent stack with 29 pre‑configured plugins via a single command.
Want my AI assistant to auto‑improve its skills and prompts
Runs a GEPA and DSPy loop that refines an agent’s skills, prompts, and tool definitions into PR‑ready updates, after adding the self‑evolution plugin.
Need a cheap app that keeps its files
Deploys Hermes as a Fly.io machine with a volume‑backed data directory for roughly $15 per month.
Need an always‑on daemon on a cheap VPS
Sets up Hermes as an always‑on systemd service under a dedicated user on a low‑cost VPS.
Just a rough idea
Converts informal prompts into structured runbooks, RSS curation lists, diagrams, and notes through an automated workflow.
Need to use a premium API just once
Gives the agent a wallet for on‑demand calls to over 300 premium APIs, after installing the AgentCash skill.
Doing the same workflow over and over
Observes session activity and automatically creates reusable skills from repeated workflows once the hermes‑skill‑factory plugin is installed.
Need a ready‑to‑deploy container for your app
Packages Hermes into a production‑ready cloud Docker image using the hermes‑agent‑template.
Need a code review of the current file with full context
Provides a VS Code sidebar that streams chat, supplies editor context and supports file attachments by connecting to Hermes, after installing the Hermes VS Code extension.
Want to split a job into coding and reasoning
Enables task delegation across Hermes, Codex and Claude via the Agent Client Protocol, requiring the hermes-agent-acp-skill installation.
Tasks need to run on their own
Runs Hermes as a managed worker within Nous Research’s Paperclip orchestration system, after installing the Paperclip skill.
Can't reply to an unread Outlook email or add a deadline
Allows agents to access Outlook mail, calendar and contacts through the Microsoft Graph API using the community microsoft‑workspace‑skill.
Inbox full of follow‑ups
Provides agents with integrated access to Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs and Sheets via a built‑in Google Workspace skill.
Log a new lead in my contacts table
Lets agents read from and write to Airtable bases through its REST API using the built‑in Airtable skill.
Getting data from scanned invoices
Provides OCR of scanned documents and natural‑language driven PDF text editing via built‑in skills.
Need the closest plumbers sorted by drive time
Supplies geocoding, points of interest, routing and timezone data through a built‑in maps skill for field service operations.
Support tickets pile up
Implements a documented pattern where the agent reviews incoming support tickets and categorises them for you.
Need to sort through inbox and reply
Offers a built‑in Himalaya CLI skill that gives the agent IMAP/SMTP access to triage and send email.
Can’t keep track of Teams meetings
It automates generation of meeting summaries within Microsoft Teams through an integrated pipeline skill.
Need my team to access project notes and tools
It offers a collaborative web workspace featuring chat, terminal, memory browser and skills manager, pending installation of the workspace plugin.
Only team members can use the bot and each sees their own terminal output
It delivers a shared Telegram bot that supports per‑user sessions, an isolated terminal and allowlist control once the team‑telegram skill is added.
It evaluates agent configurations and prompts with HERM scoring to ensure quality before deployment, after installing the lintlang linter.
Need a risk‑flagged contract report for English and Turkish clauses
It examines contracts for risk in English and Turkish, provided the legal skill is installed.
Need an approved pentest with scope checks
Provides a repeatable pattern for conducting authorized security assessments with Kali tools, including scope confirmation and approval gates, after installing the required pentest skill.
Invoices past due aren’t being chased
Overdue invoices get chased automatically on a consistent cadence; nothing slips through because someone forgot to follow up.
Payroll CSV has missing entries or crazy overtime
Payroll errors caught before submission instead of after pay day.
Vendor contracts land in a folder
No more surprise auto-renewals or missed termination windows; every financial commitment is tracked the day the contract arrives.
Submitting expense receipts via chat
Policy breaches surface before approval, not during audit; employees get instant feedback instead of a rejection email a week later.
Invoices pile up in my inbox
AP reconciliation that runs itself daily — no Sunday-night backlog of unread invoices.
Incoming resumes need fast scoring
Time-to-shortlist drops from days to hours; the ranking is consistent and auditable.
Back‑and‑forth emails trying to set interview times
Interviews booked in minutes, not days; interviewers never get double-booked.
Want a quick feel of team morale every two weeks
A lightweight, consistent signal on team health that surfaces problems before they become attrition.
Need to track every departure task
Nothing falls through the cracks during a departure; IT, Finance and the manager each know exactly what they own.
Performance reviews get lost in inboxes
Review completion rates go up because the chasing is automatic; the People team gets a clean dataset instead of a scattered inbox.
New hires ask handbook questions
New joiners get instant answers at any hour; unanswered questions surface the handbook gaps automatically.
Closed tickets aren’t tracked for satisfaction
Every closed ticket generates a satisfaction score; the support lead sees trends without manual data collection.
High‑risk tickets stuck in the main queue
High-risk tickets reach the right agent immediately instead of sitting in a general queue until someone notices.
Need a clear shift handoff
Shift transitions are smooth and context is preserved; the incoming shift knows exactly what needs attention.
Raw customer bug reports
Engineers receive structured, actionable bug reports instead of raw customer text; triage time drops significantly.
Non‑English support emails arrive
International customers get a relevant first response in seconds; agents only need to handle exceptions.
Too many unread deal emails
You open a ranked digest, not a cluttered inbox; the time that used to go on triage goes on the actual conversations.
Can't tell which candidates replied
You end the day knowing exactly where every candidate stands and what to do next, without manually triaging a full inbox.
Dashboards & analytics14
Can’t see which agents are busy or their cost
Multi-agent work becomes observable and budgetable instead of a black box.
Need real‑time HK, US and A‑share prices
Live market data and analysis on tap for a solo trader or analyst.
Unsure which AI is working on what
Agent work becomes visible and manageable like any team’s board.
Need real‑time insight into an agent’s actions
Operational visibility so you trust what the agent is doing across the org.
No visibility into tool call costs across channels
Finance-grade cost and usage visibility before you scale agents to a team.
Can’t tell which agents are active
It adds a native dashboard that visualizes agent activity metrics, requiring the agent‑analytics plugin.
Need to spot cost spikes or slow tool calls from yesterday's runs
It records detailed audits of each run, reporting cost, latency, health and anomalies after installing the agenttrace tool.
Don’t know which expenses exceed the budget
Finance teams walk into the monthly review already briefed; the report writes itself the night before.
Need a weekly cash‑flow snapshot
A finance briefing that arrives before the week starts, without anyone pulling it manually.
Finance and people out of sync on hiring numbers
Finance and People stay aligned on hiring pace without a weekly sync call to reconcile spreadsheets.
Deals that stall or lack next steps
At-risk deals surface before they go dark; the manager has a call list, not a post-mortem.
Need fresh news on each account before outreach
Reps open conversations with relevant, timely hooks instead of generic check-ins.
Need a quick morning sales update
The sales standup prep happens automatically; the team spends the meeting on strategy not status updates.
Can’t gauge ticket mood each morning
The support lead sees the emotional health of the queue every morning without reading individual tickets.
Content & marketing29
Need a launch from idea to live site
A whole micro-launch — build and deploy — handled in one instruction.
Want automated welcome, re‑engagement and weekly newsletters
Marketing automation a solo operator can run without a marketing-ops hire.
Need a quick ad brief from winning hooks
An ad concept grounded in what’s already working, before your coffee’s cold.
Need consistent social posts in your voice
On-brand drafts that stay consistent because the agent remembers your voice.
Saved X bookmarks turned into a structured podcast script
Your saved reading turns into a listenable show — a pipeline the agent designed.
Need fresh video topics
You always know what’s fresh enough to keep a video relevant.
Writing drafts in your own voice takes forever
First drafts that already sound like you, ready to edit not rewrite.
Want social content without writing it yourself
Every video quietly becomes a week of social posts.
Need on‑brand visuals without leaving your content plan
Visuals generated in the same place you plan the content.
Need both pictures and a short video from one place
A whole creative-media toolbox drivable by the agent.
Finding generative visual coding too hard
Creative-coding assistance for live visuals and installations.
Need a quick visual novel you can play
A playable creative project assembled end-to-end by the agent.
Two daily playlists with no repeat artists
A personal radio that refreshes itself on a schedule.
I need to keep design work local and skip proprietary suites
Design output without a proprietary suite, all local-first.
No idea what to post next week
You approve a calendar instead of staring at a blank one.
Need a client presentation deck
Creates and edits PowerPoint (.pptx) presentations through a built‑in skill for generating client decks.
Get the top three niche X trends sent to you on Telegram every morning
Provides a native X plugin for searching trends and reading accounts so the agent can manage your social presence.
Want a complete novel with cover art and audiobook
Executes Nous's Autonovel pipeline to produce a full 79,456‑word, 19‑chapter novel together with art and audio, requiring the autonovel skill.
Upscale all photos in a folder automatically
Provides a built‑in skill that launches and runs node‑based ComfyUI image, video, and audio workflows on demand.
I need a quick math explainer video
Supplies a built‑in skill that creates Manim CE animations in the maths‑explainer style.
Need a different visual each time the page reloads
Delivers a built‑in skill that writes p5.js sketches for generative and interactive visual content.
Need catchy podcast intro lyrics and a matching music cue
Provides built‑in songwriting skills that draft lyrics and generate matching Suno AI music prompts.
Want a quick rundown of a YouTube video
Uses a built‑in skill to retrieve a YouTube transcript and convert it into a summary or content outline.
My raw screen capture is just footage
It streamlines raw screen captures into tutorial videos using an AI avatar, after installing the screen‑tutorial skill.
Turn a GSAP‑animated HTML title card into an MP4 video
It converts HTML designs with GSAP animation directly to MP4 video, removing the need for a separate video editor.
Need daily on‑brand tweets from drafts and a Telegram alert
It provides a ready collection of 43 X/Twitter actions for scalable account management, once the x‑43 skill is installed.
Need a job description fast
Hiring managers get a polished JD in minutes instead of facing a blank template; consistent format across every role.
Need a proposal draft from Airtable data
A personalised first draft in minutes rather than hours; reps adjust rather than write from scratch.
I have a shortlist but no outreach drafts
A morning's worth of bespoke outreach drafted in minutes; you review and personalise the edge cases rather than writing from scratch for each contact.
CRM & sales8
Finding low‑cost local roofing jobs
A pipeline for finding local jobs at the cost of tokens, not a monthly SaaS bill.
Manual email hunting is burdensome
Prospecting and first-draft outreach handled by the agent instead of by hand.
Managing my small business via chat
The admin side of a small business handled from a chat window.
Job applications pile up in my inbox
Every applicant is logged and acknowledged within minutes; the hiring manager sees a live Airtable board instead of an unread email pile.
Call notes are just text
CRM is always current after every call; reps spend 2 minutes on admin instead of 20.
Inbound leads get ignored
Response time drops from hours to minutes; reps walk into every first call already knowing the company.
CRM contacts missing company details
Reps start each day with research already done; no more manual LinkedIn tab-switching before a call.
Need a custom three‑email outreach for each prospect
A full outreach cadence drafted in minutes; reps approve, not write.
Want a fresh AI agent instantly
A single command can provision a fresh cloud computer with Hermes and Grok 4.5 pre-installed, enabling rapid duplication of agents
Want to text your AI from iMessage
Use your phone to chat with Hermes directly in iMessage
Complex prompts stall the chat
Hermes will spawn sub-agents automatically when a prompt is complex
I need a skill that fits my workflow
Generate a secure, custom skill from a markdown file
Want to show tables, lists and bold text in Telegram
Send tables, lists, bold text and smooth streaming via Telegram
Installed a new command but the shell can’t find it
Reloading your shell ensures the newly installed `hermes` executable is on the PATH
- **New session** — start a fresh conversation/run with the agent.
- **Skills & Tools** — the two things the agent acts with: *skills* (procedures it has learned and saved, see lesson 5) and *tools* (built-ins like terminal, web search, and file access it can call).
- **Messaging** — connect chat apps (Telegram, Signal, Slack…) so you can reach the agent from your phone (lesson 3).
- **Artifacts** — everything the agent produced or touched this session: files it wrote, links it opened, images. This is your record of *what it actually did* — the panel you check to verify its work (lesson 7).
- **Status bar — Gateway** (are your chat channels connected?), **Agents** (running agents / sub-agents), **Cron** (scheduled standing errands, lesson 6), and the model it is running on.
Need a config file with provider and model settings
Running the setup wizard writes a configuration file that tells Hermes which model provider to use
Need just the facts about cloud‑cost optimization
You get a factual summary from Hermes while keeping all decisions yourself
- **Delegated task** — you hand it an outcome, not step-by-step instructions.
- **Report → recommend** — it summarizes, then proposes the next action.
- **Sidebar** — other sessions it is running in parallel.
- **Status bar** — Gateway, Agents and Cron.
You receive a short-list of options, their trade-offs, and the agent's preferred choice that you can accept or overrule
You learn how to ask the agent to suggest ways to confirm its answer, turning the result into something you can trust
A vague one‑line ask
Transforming a lazy one-liner into a full four-part prompt yields clearer, more useful results
Need to stop accidental data saves
Enabling write approval forces Hermes to ask before storing any new fact, preventing accidental persistence
Rejecting a memory write prevents transient statements from contaminating future sessions
Rejecting a proposal stops Hermes from performing the potentially unwanted change
You can see exactly what Hermes intends to write into the skill file, ensuring accuracy
- Each row is one skill (a `SKILL.md`): a name, what it does, and a toggle to enable it.
- Grouped by category — the number beside each (e.g. *Creative 16*) is how many it holds (81 total here).
- A skill the agent writes, or one you drop into `~/.hermes/skills/`, appears here ready to switch on.
- A toolset groups built-in tools the agent can call — e.g. *Browser Automation* bundles `browser_click`, `browser_navigate`, `web_search`.
- **Configured** = ready to use; **Needs keys** = add credentials first (e.g. Home Assistant, Mixture of Agents).
- Several map straight onto this course: **Memory** (lesson 2), **Cross-Platform Messaging** (lesson 3), **Cron Jobs** (lesson 6).
A skill is only staged and disappears
Approving a staged skill writes it to your local skills directory, making it reusable
All approved skills live under a known directory, so you can edit or share them
Need to fire a pre‑approved skill by name
Once approved, you can trigger the whole procedure with a single command
Deliberately breaking input shows whether the skill's error handling and verification catch problems
Want separate approvals for each task step
You can assign different autonomy levels to parts of a standing errand for finer control
Prevent unwanted actions
You can prevent autonomous actions by defining a clear prohibition
Embedding a forbidden operation shows whether Hermes respects the hard rule
Attempting to persuade Hermes reveals if the gate can be bypassed
The Artifacts panel gives an objective record of every file, link, or image the assistant produced
Can’t tell which jobs you can hand off or how much freedom they get
A structured map lets you see which tasks are safe to delegate and at what autonomy level
Need unbreakable approval rules
Marking "never without asking" rules creates immutable guardrails for the assistant
Want automatic policy enforcement
Programming the assistant with your policy makes enforcement automatic
A follow-up test proves that your written policy is actively enforced by the assistant
You identify a concrete, useful task to automate, ensuring it truly adds value
Need a clear way to judge the automated version
You create an objective standard to judge the automated version
You understand how memory, skill, channel, schedule and delegation levels combine into a self-running assistant
Need to match each assistant step to a delegation level
You match each step of the assistant to an appropriate delegation level, balancing autonomy and control
Need the assistant to know the data beforehand
The assistant has the knowledge it needs before running
Don’t know where the assistant’s replies go
The assistant sends its results to a place you actually check
Want a manual safety check before send, spend or delete
Potentially risky actions are gated behind manual confirmation
You confirm the fully assembled assistant meets the success criteria without supervision
Need a clear record of why each component runs at its level
You produce a clear record of why each component runs at its assigned level
AI app is calling a cloud model but you need it to use your local LM Studio
Changing two lines tells Hermes to send requests to your local LM Studio instance instead of a cloud API
Need a text‑based prompt interface
Launching Hermes with `--tui` opens an interactive terminal UI ready to accept prompts
LM Studio only runs on one PC
Changing `localhost` to another machine's IP lets Hermes talk to an LM Studio server on your network
Want your AI assistant to use a local model
Setting `provider: custom` and the local Ollama base URL makes Hermes use your own model instead of a cloud service
Launching Hermes in TUI mode lets you verify that it is now talking to the local Ollama model
What is Hermes Agent, and how is it different from a regular chatbot?
Hermes Agent is a free, open-source autonomous AI agent made by Nous Research that runs continuously on your own server or computer. Unlike a chatbot you open in a browser, it lives in your messaging apps (Telegram, Discord, Slack, etc.), remembers everything across conversations, and can take actions — running code, scheduling tasks, searching the web — on its own, without you starting a new session each time.
How do I install Hermes Agent? Do I need to know how to code?
On Linux, macOS, or WSL2 (Windows) you paste one command into a terminal to run the installer, then run a setup command. The installer automatically sets up its dependencies — no coding knowledge is needed, though you do need to be comfortable opening a terminal. A desktop installer is also available on Windows.
Which AI models can it use? Can I run it on my laptop without internet?
Hermes Agent is model-agnostic. Cloud options include OpenRouter, OpenAI, and others. For fully offline use, it works with any local OpenAI-compatible server: Ollama (lowest-friction) or LM Studio (GUI-friendly) running locally. Lightweight local models in the few-billion-parameter range run on a typical laptop.
How does Hermes Agent remember things across conversations?
It uses agent-curated memory: the agent automatically creates and updates memory entries as it works, and periodically reviews and consolidates them. It also stores full conversation history with search plus AI-generated summaries, so it can recall relevant past context even from weeks ago, and tracks your preferences and working style over time.
Which messaging apps does it work in?
Hermes Agent connects to many platforms through a single gateway process — including Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Microsoft Teams, Matrix, and email. You interact with the agent directly inside those apps; it responds to your messages, sends reports, and can transcribe voice memos.
What does 'writing its own skills' mean? Can it really program itself?
After the agent completes a multi-step task, it automatically writes a short plain-text 'skill' file documenting the approach — essentially a reusable procedure. It does not write arbitrary code from scratch; it writes structured instruction files. Skills can be browsed, installed, and shared through a community hub, and the agent can patch or delete its own skills as it learns better approaches.
Can it run scheduled tasks automatically, like a cron job?
Yes. Hermes has a built-in scheduler you configure in plain language. You can tell it things like 'send me a Telegram summary of my emails every morning at 8am' or 'run a nightly backup and post the result to Discord,' and it executes those tasks unattended, delivering results to your chosen messaging platform.
The same set on /recipes, filtered by tool and role.
6Videos 9
The Hermes Setup That Makes Your AI Agent 10x More Powerful
Pairs with lessons 2, 5 and 8: the 'make the pieces work together' video for when basic install isn't enough.
Hermes Agent Desktop: Full Setup + Real Use Cases
The 'now what?' video once Hermes is running. Concrete use cases from a well-known builder, so you copy working patterns instead of staring at an empty agent.
100 hours of Hermes Agent lessons in 23 minutes
The fastest way to absorb hard-won lessons before you sink the same hours yourself. Good overview after you've installed it.
6 Hermes Agent use cases I promise will change your life
Idea fuel for the capstone. Watch when you're deciding what real job your own assistant should do.
Hermes Agent Tutorial: Install, Update, and Run Hermes Locally (GitHub, Docker, WebUI)
The most current Hermes setup video. Use this when you've outgrown the beginner Telegram setup and want a self-hosted browser UI.
you need to use Hermes RIGHT NOW!! (goodbye OpenClaw!!)
The most energetic 'just install it and see' intro from a big hands-on creator. Watch first if you want momentum before lesson 0's setup.
How to Set Up Hermes Agent for Beginners (Free & Open Source)
The right starting point for Hermes — install plus first messaging gateway in one video. After this you have a working agent you can actually talk to.
How to Install Hermes Agent on Windows (Full Setup + Skills)
The only good Windows walkthrough. Save yourself two hours of WSL detours if you're on Windows.
The AI Agent That Never Forgets: Meet Hermes Agent by Nous Research
A six-minute primer on the 'grows with you' idea. Watch alongside lesson 2 (Give it a memory of you).
7FAQ 7
What is Hermes Agent, and how is it different from a regular chatbot?
Hermes Agent is a free, open-source autonomous AI agent made by Nous Research that runs continuously on your own server or computer. Unlike a chatbot you open in a browser, it lives in your messaging apps (Telegram, Discord, Slack, etc.), remembers everything across conversations, and can take actions — running code, scheduling tasks, searching the web — on its own, without you starting a new session each time.
How do I install Hermes Agent? Do I need to know how to code?
On Linux, macOS, or WSL2 (Windows) you paste one command into a terminal to run the installer, then run a setup command. The installer automatically sets up its dependencies — no coding knowledge is needed, though you do need to be comfortable opening a terminal. A desktop installer is also available on Windows.
Which AI models can it use? Can I run it on my laptop without internet?
Hermes Agent is model-agnostic. Cloud options include OpenRouter, OpenAI, and others. For fully offline use, it works with any local OpenAI-compatible server: Ollama (lowest-friction) or LM Studio (GUI-friendly) running locally. Lightweight local models in the few-billion-parameter range run on a typical laptop.
How does Hermes Agent remember things across conversations?
It uses agent-curated memory: the agent automatically creates and updates memory entries as it works, and periodically reviews and consolidates them. It also stores full conversation history with search plus AI-generated summaries, so it can recall relevant past context even from weeks ago, and tracks your preferences and working style over time.
Which messaging apps does it work in?
Hermes Agent connects to many platforms through a single gateway process — including Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Microsoft Teams, Matrix, and email. You interact with the agent directly inside those apps; it responds to your messages, sends reports, and can transcribe voice memos.
What does 'writing its own skills' mean? Can it really program itself?
After the agent completes a multi-step task, it automatically writes a short plain-text 'skill' file documenting the approach — essentially a reusable procedure. It does not write arbitrary code from scratch; it writes structured instruction files. Skills can be browsed, installed, and shared through a community hub, and the agent can patch or delete its own skills as it learns better approaches.
Can it run scheduled tasks automatically, like a cron job?
Yes. Hermes has a built-in scheduler you configure in plain language. You can tell it things like 'send me a Telegram summary of my emails every morning at 8am' or 'run a nightly backup and post the result to Discord,' and it executes those tasks unattended, delivering results to your chosen messaging platform.
8Glossary 36 terms
Show the 36 terms
Hermes
hermes setup- First-run wizard — it asks which model provider to use and writes your config file.
hermes setup --portal- Set up Hermes using a managed Nous Portal model, so you skip picking your own provider and key.
hermes --tui- Start Hermes in its modern text UI (a full-screen terminal interface).
hermes --continue- Reopen Hermes where you left off — it reloads your last session.
hermes doctor- Health check — verifies your config, model connection and tools, and reports what is wrong.
hermes model- Choose or switch the model (the "brain") Hermes runs on.
hermes gateway setup- Connect chat apps (Telegram, Signal, Slack…) so you can message your agent.
hermes gateway status- Check whether your connected chat apps are reachable.
hermes sessions list- List your saved conversations.
/skills pending- List skills the agent has staged and is waiting for you to review.
/skills diff- Show exactly what a proposed skill would add or change before you accept it.
/skills approve- Accept a staged skill so the agent can reuse it.
/skills reject- Discard a staged skill you do not want.
~/.hermes/config.yaml- Hermes’s main settings file — which provider, model and server it uses. The ~ means your home folder.
~/.hermes/.env- A hidden file holding secrets like API keys, kept out of the main config.
provider: custom- A config setting that points Hermes at any OpenAI-compatible server — used for local models.
base_url- The web address of the model server Hermes talks to (e.g. a local LM Studio server).
OPENAI_API_KEY- The environment variable holding your model key. Local servers ignore it; cloud providers require a real one.
SKILL.md- A saved skill — a short file describing a procedure the agent learned once and can repeat.
config.yaml- Hermes’s settings file (full path ~/.hermes/config.yaml).
curl- A command-line tool that downloads from a web address — here it fetches the install script.
bash- The standard Linux/macOS shell — it runs the downloaded install script.
iex- PowerShell’s Invoke-Expression — runs the text it is given as a command (Windows install).
irm- PowerShell’s Invoke-RestMethod — downloads from a web address (Windows install).
source ~/.bashrc- Reload your shell’s settings so a newly installed command is found without reopening the terminal.
.dmg- A macOS installer file — double-click it to install an app.
.exe- A Windows installer/program file — double-click it to install or run.
CLI- Command-line interface — you type commands in a terminal instead of clicking.
TUI- Text user interface — a richer, full-screen terminal app (menus and panels, still keyboard-driven).
LM Studio- A free desktop app that runs AI models on your own computer and exposes an OpenAI-compatible server.
cron- A scheduler for recurring tasks — e.g. "every weekday at 8am".
token- A chunk of text (~¾ of a word) the model reads or writes; context limits are measured in tokens.
context- How much text the model can consider at once. Hermes needs a model with at least ~64k tokens of context.
localhost- Your own computer, as an address — localhost:1234 is a server running on this machine, port 1234.
gateway- The part of Hermes that connects your chat apps (Telegram, Slack…) to the agent.
artifacts- Everything the agent produced or touched in a session — files, links, images — your record of what it did.
9See also
💬 Discuss this chapter
Ask, share, or report — over on the Heidelberg AI community forum.