Hermes Agent

An AI program that works through the steps of a task: reads, compares and prepares a result. A plain chat only answers.

Example You ask: “Go through my notes and list the tasks.” The agent opens the file, reads it and hands back a table.

The AI engine that understands your requests and writes replies. LLM stands for “large language model”.

Example OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google provide models. In Hermes, choose a specific supported model; a chat-app account does not always include API access.

A service that routes requests to many AI models through one API, account, and billing system. The selected provider runs the model.

Example Hermes → OpenRouter → model at a provider. An OpenRouter key authorizes requests; a ChatGPT subscription does not fund this account.

The company or program that provides a model. Hermes borrows its intelligence from it.

Example OpenAI serves its models, OpenRouter routes to models from multiple providers, and Ollama can run a model locally.

The request you write to the AI. The more precisely you describe the result, the better it gets.

Example Weak: “Make a note”. Better: “List the tasks from the file in a table: person, task, deadline”.

Everything the AI can see while working: your request, the earlier conversation and loaded files.

Example A pasted note enters the conversation context. Session history may remain saved, but it is not the same as persistent memory used in new conversations.

A unit a model uses to count text. It may be part of a word, a character, or a short whole word. Counts depend on language and model and affect context limits and often costs.

Example A short request is a few dozen tokens, a long document is thousands.

The limit on how much text a model can hold at once. When a chat gets too long, the oldest parts drop out.

Example A 64K window means roughly 64 thousand tokens, not pages. Instructions, history, and tool results also occupy space.

When the AI states something confidently but wrongly. That is why you should always check important facts.

Example The AI invents a deadline that was not in the file. Ask for a quote from the source.

Selected facts and preferences Hermes keeps for later chats. It has a limit, so only important things are saved.

Example “Answer briefly and in Polish” is saved once and applies next time.

The file with Hermes’s personality: tone, style and rules for how it behaves.

Example Write “address me informally, no jargon” and every reply will sound that way.

The file with information about you: who you are, what you do and how you like to work.

Example Write that you run a small business and Hermes will pick examples for it.

A saved instruction for a repeatable task. It helps maintain a workflow but does not guarantee identical or correct results.

Example A “weekly report” skill collects data, builds a table and formats it your way.

A tool for a single action, like reading a file, searching a page or sending a message.

Example Hermes uses a “read file” tool to open your note.

A standard for connecting outside services to Hermes, such as a calendar, database or messenger.

Example You connect a calendar through MCP and Hermes can read your meetings.

An add-on that gives Hermes new features without changing the program itself.

Example A plugin adds a new integration or view you can switch on and off.

A tool that lets Hermes open pages, read them and, if you allow it, click selected elements.

Example You ask for a price comparison of three shops and Hermes visits each page.

A mode where Hermes operates your computer like a person: it looks at the screen, clicks and types.

Example Use it for programs with no other access, and always under your control.

A window where you type commands as text. This is where you install and start Hermes.

Example You type the install command and press Enter.

A long string of characters that works like a password for an AI service. Never show it to anyone or paste it in a chat.

Example You paste it only in settings, never in a chat or a public file.

A group of tools switched on together, such as web (search) or terminal. You enable toolsets separately for the terminal and each messenger.

Example In hermes tools you turn off the browser for Telegram but keep it in the terminal.

A catalogue of ready-made skills from many sources: Nous Research, Anthropic, OpenAI and the community. Over 100,000 entries.

Example Looking for a PDF skill: hermes skills search pdf.

A task that runs by itself at a set time. It only works while the computer or server is on.

Example Every day at 8:00 Hermes collects news and sends you a summary.

A bridge between Hermes and messengers such as Telegram or Discord. It lets you write to it from your phone.

Example You send a Telegram message and Hermes works on your computer.

A helper Hermes hands part of the work to. Several can work at once, each on a different task.

Example One subagent reads the contract, another checks the numbers and Hermes merges the results.

A separate Hermes with its own memory and settings. Useful for keeping work and private life apart.

Example One profile for the business, another for home matters.

A repeatable chain of steps from a request to a finished result that you can save and reuse.

Example A meeting note, then a task list, then a draft message to the team.

Telegram's official bot for creating bots. It issues the token you give to Hermes.

Example You send /newbot, pick a name and receive a token.

A saved state taken before a change, which you can return to if something goes wrong.

Example Before a big file change you make a checkpoint and roll back if you dislike the result.

An AI model running on your hardware. It can process text locally; connected search, messengers, and other services may still send data outside.

Example A good choice for confidential documents if you have a powerful computer.

Software with public code that anyone can read, run and check. Hermes is such a project.

Example You can see what the program does because the code is open.

A rented computer on the internet that runs around the clock. You can keep Hermes on it so it works while your own computer is off.

Example Hermes checks email at night while your laptop is closed.

Hermes pauses before a risky command (e.g. deleting files) and waits for your approval. Set the mode in approvals.mode: manual, smart or off.

Example In Telegram you reply “yes” to allow it or “no” to refuse.

The list of people a messenger bot answers at all. Everyone else is ignored.

Example TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS=123456789 — the bot listens only to you.

An isolated “box” where the agent runs commands. A wrong command cannot touch the rest of your computer — except folders you mount into the container: changes there are real.

Example hermes config set terminal.backend docker