Quickstart

This guide walks you through installing Hermes Agent, setting up a provider, and having your first conversation. By the end, you'll know the key features and how to explore further.

1. Install Hermes Agent​

Run the one-line installer:

# Linux / macOS / WSL2
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

After it finishes, reload your shell:

source ~/.bashrc   # or source ~/.zshrc

2. Set Up a Provider​

The installer configures your LLM provider automatically. To change it later, use one of these commands:

hermes model       # Choose your LLM provider and model
hermes tools       # Configure which tools are enabled
hermes setup       # Or configure everything at once

hermes model walks you through selecting an inference provider:

3. Start Chatting​

hermes

That's it! You'll see a welcome banner with your model, available tools, and skills. Type a message and press Enter.

❯ What can you help me with?

The agent has access to tools for web search, file operations, terminal commands, and more — all out of the box.

4. Try Key Features​

Ask it to use the terminal​

❯ What's my disk usage? Show the top 5 largest directories.

The agent will run terminal commands on your behalf and show you the results.

Use slash commands​

Type / to see an autocomplete dropdown of all commands:

Multi-line input​

Press Alt+Enter or Ctrl+J to add a new line. Great for pasting code or writing detailed prompts.

Interrupt the agent​

If the agent is taking too long, just type a new message and press Enter — it interrupts the current task and switches to your new instructions. Ctrl+C also works.

Resume a session​

When you exit, hermes prints a resume command:

hermes --continue    # Resume the most recent session
hermes -c            # Short form

5. Explore Further​

Here are some things to try next:

Set up a sandboxed terminal​

For safety, run the agent in a Docker container or on a remote server:

hermes config set terminal.backend docker    # Docker isolation
hermes config set terminal.backend ssh       # Remote server

Connect messaging platforms​

Chat with Hermes from your phone or other surfaces via Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Email, or Home Assistant:

hermes gateway setup    # Interactive platform configuration

Add voice mode​

Want microphone input in the CLI or spoken replies in messaging?

pip install "hermes-agent[voice]"

# Optional but recommended for free local speech-to-text
pip install faster-whisper

Then start Hermes and enable it inside the CLI:

/voice on

Press Ctrl+B to record, or use /voice tts to have Hermes speak its replies. See Voice Mode for the full setup across CLI, Telegram, Discord, and Discord voice channels.

Schedule automated tasks​

❯ Every morning at 9am, check Hacker News for AI news and send me a summary on Telegram.

The agent will set up a cron job that runs automatically via the gateway.

Browse and install skills​

hermes skills search kubernetes
hermes skills search react --source skills-sh
hermes skills search https://mintlify.com/docs --source well-known
hermes skills install openai/skills/k8s
hermes skills install official/security/1password
hermes skills install skills-sh/vercel-labs/json-render/json-render-react --force

Tips:

• Use --source skills-sh to search the public skills.sh directory.
• Use --source well-known with a docs/site URL to discover skills from /.well-known/skills/index.json.
• Use --force only after reviewing a third-party skill. It can override non-dangerous policy blocks, but not a dangerous scan verdict.

Or use the /skills slash command inside chat.

Use Hermes inside an editor via ACP​

Hermes can also run as an ACP server for ACP-compatible editors like VS Code, Zed, and JetBrains:

pip install -e '.[acp]'
hermes acp

See ACP Editor Integration for setup details.

Try MCP servers​

Connect to external tools via the Model Context Protocol:

# Add to ~/.hermes/config.yaml
mcp_servers:
  github:
    command: npx
    args: ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"]
    env:
      GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN: "ghp_xxx"

Quick Reference​

Next Steps​

• CLI Guide — Master the terminal interface
• Configuration — Customize your setup
• Messaging Gateway — Connect Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Email, or Home Assistant
• Tools & Toolsets — Explore available capabilities