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Hermes AI Agent Guide

Hermes AI Agent

Hermes is an AI agent built by Nous Research with persistent memory, skills, and several ways to interact with it.

What is Hermes AI Agent?

Hermes Agent is an autonomous assistant that can use tools, retain selected context across sessions, and load reusable skills. These features are useful when a task spans more than one conversation, but they also make it important to understand what data is stored and which tools are enabled.

Unlike traditional AI coding assistants tethered to an IDE, Hermes can run in a local terminal, a container, or a hosted environment.

Technical jargon → In plain language

Technical jargon: MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets Hermes connect to tools that run outside the agent itself.

In plain language: You can add a compatible server so Hermes can use a browser, database, or other external service.

Why it matters: Each connection expands what Hermes can access, so add only the servers and tools needed for the task.

Key Capabilities

Multi-Platform Messaging

Access Hermes from multiple platforms:

  • CLI (Terminal)
  • Telegram
  • Discord
  • Slack
  • WhatsApp
  • Signal
  • Email
  • And more...

Memory and Skills

  • Memory system — Selected context can persist across sessions
  • Skills — Reusable SKILL.md instructions can be loaded for specific tasks
  • Cross-session recall — Stored observations can be searched and summarized

Review what the agent can access

Hermes can run terminal commands, read and modify files, use networked services, and connect to external MCP servers. Start with the smallest useful toolset, keep credentials out of prompts and configuration files, and use a separate test project until the workflow is understood.

Built-in Tools

Category Tools
Web web_search, web_extract
Terminal terminal, process, file ops
Browser browser_navigate, browser_snapshot, browser_vision
Vision vision_analyze, image_generate
Memory memory, session_search
Automation cronjob, send_message
Delegation Delegate subagents

Research and extension surfaces

  • Batch Trajectory Generation — Generate training data at scale
  • Atropos RL — Reinforcement learning environments
  • MCP integration — Connect compatible external tool servers
  • Tool-calling Training — Export to ShareGPT format

Installation

Quick Install

curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash

After installation:

source ~/.bashrc  # or source ~/.zshrc
hermes  # Start chatting!

Quick Start

# Interactive setup (recommended first run)
hermes setup --portal

# Interactive CLI
hermes chat

# Choose or change your model provider later
hermes model

# Configure toolsets
hermes tools

# Check the installation and configuration
hermes doctor

# Start messaging gateway
hermes gateway

Use Cases

For Common Users

Personal AI Assistant

  • Daily task automation
  • Research and summarization
  • Writing and editing
  • Calendar and schedule management

Learning Companion

  • Explain complex topics
  • Create study guides
  • Quiz generation
  • Cross-session memory of your learning progress

Productivity Booster

  • Email drafting
  • Meeting summaries
  • Content creation
  • Automated reminders via cron

For Researchers

RL Training

  • Atropos RL environments
  • Trajectory generation for model training
  • Tool-call data export

Multi-Model Comparison

  • Mixture of Agents (MOA) routing
  • Multiple models via OpenRouter
  • Benchmark workflows

Agent Architecture Research

  • Multi-agent orchestration
  • Skill systems (agentskills.io compatible)
  • Memory and personality modeling

For Developers

Coding Assistant

  • Full terminal access
  • Git integration
  • File operations
  • Browser automation for web testing

DevOps Automation

  • SSH/Docker/Singularity backends
  • Cron scheduling with delivery
  • MCP server integration

Custom Skill Development

  • Create reusable skills
  • Skill sharing via agentskills.io
  • Plugin system

Configuration

Models

Hermes supports multiple providers:

# Set provider
hermes model

# Provider options change over time; use the interactive list rather than
# relying on a static list in an article.

Toolsets

# Enable specific toolsets
hermes chat --toolsets "web,terminal,file,browser"

# View all available
hermes tools

Gateway Setup

# Set up Telegram/Discord/etc
hermes gateway setup
hermes gateway start

Verification

  • Last reviewed: 2026-09-09
  • Primary sources: Hermes Agent documentation, Hermes quickstart, MCP documentation
  • Scope: Installation, first-run commands, memory/skills wording, and MCP guidance were checked against the current official documentation. Provider names, tool availability, and messaging integrations may change.

Resources