Imported from Astra20230303/hermes-agent-handbook (skills/autonomous-ai-agents/hermes-agent/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add Astra20230303/hermes-agent-handbook --skill hermes-agent. Copyright stays with the author (MIT).

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/

Scope & Verification

This skill is a concise operating guide, not the complete source of truth for every Hermes feature. If a Hermes feature, command, or setting is not mentioned here, do not treat that absence as evidence that it does not exist. Check the live repository and official docs before giving a negative answer.

Good verification targets:

• CLI commands: hermes --help, hermes <command> --help, and hermes_cli/main.py
• User documentation: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/
• Source tree: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent

Quick Start

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

# Interactive chat (default)
hermes

# Single query
hermes chat -q "What is the capital of France?"

# Setup wizard
hermes setup

# Change model/provider
hermes model

# Check health
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
/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 (under $HERMES_HOME if set)
$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.

Full config reference: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/configuration

Providers

20+ providers supported. Set via hermes model or hermes setup.

Full provider docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/integrations/providers

Toolsets

Enable/disable via hermes tools (interactive) or hermes tools enable/disable NAME.

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.

Project Context Files

Hermes injects project-level instructions into the system prompt by reading context files from the working directory. The discovery order is first match wins — only one project context source is loaded per session.

SOUL.md (in $HERMES_HOME) is independent and always loaded when present — it sets the agent's identity, not project rules.

Pick the right one

• Use .hermes.md when you want Hermes-specific behavior that lives above the cwd (root + subtree), or when you want rules to inherit from a parent directory. The parent walk stops at the git root, so a home-level .hermes.md won't leak into every project (a git repo's root is the boundary).
• Use AGENTS.md when the same project will also be worked on by other agents (Codex, Claude Code, OpenCode). Those tools all have their own conventions for AGENTS.md, and the "cwd only" contract keeps the file portable.
• Don't put project rules in ~/.hermes/AGENTS.md (or any other home-level location). When Hermes runs with that directory as cwd, the file loads — but only for that one directory. For cross-project context, use SOUL.md (in $HERMES_HOME, identity-only) or install a skill via hermes skills install.

Size and truncation

Each context file is capped at 20,000 characters. Files longer than that get head + tail truncated (the middle is dropped, with a [...truncated...] marker). For large project rules, prefer splitting into multiple skills over cramming one file.

Security

All context files pass through the threat-pattern scanner before reaching the system prompt. Patterns matching prompt injection or promptware are replaced with a [BLOCKED: ...] placeholder. This means an AGENTS.md containing obvious injection attempts won't reach the model — the scanner blocks the content, not the file, so the rest of the file still loads.

Disable for one session

hermes --ignore-rules skips auto-injection of all project context files (.hermes.md, AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules) and SOUL.md identity, plus user config, plugins, and MCP servers. Use it to isolate whether a problem is your setup or Hermes itself.

Example: a small .hermes.md

# My Project

Hermes: when working in this repo, follow these rules.

## Build
- Always run `make test` before declaring a change done.
- Use `uv run` for Python, not `pip install`.

## Style
- Prefer `pathlib.Path` over `os.path`.
- No `print()` in production code — use the `logger`.

That file at /home/me/projects/myrepo/.hermes.md is auto-loaded when Hermes runs in any subdirectory of /home/me/projects/myrepo, but not when it runs in /home/me/other-project.

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       # keep enabled globally

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    # enable
hermes config set privacy.redact_pii false   # disable (default)

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-risk
• off — skip all approval prompts (equivalent to --yolo)

hermes config set approvals.mode smart       # recommended middle ground
hermes config set approvals.mode off         # bypass everything (not recommended)

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.

Voice & Transcription

STT (Voice → Text)

Voice messages from messaging platforms are auto-transcribed.

Provider priority (auto-detected):

1. Local faster-whisper — free, no API key: pip install faster-whisper
2. Groq Whisper — free tier: set GROQ_API_KEY
3. OpenAI Whisper — paid: set VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY
4. Mistral Voxtral — set MISTRAL_API_KEY

Config:

stt:
  enabled: true
  provider: local        # local, groq, openai, mistral
  local:
    model: base          # tiny, base, small, medium, large-v3

TTS (Text → Voice)

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

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 default
• signal.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

1. Check stt.enabled: true in config.yaml
2. Verify provider: pip install faster-whisper or set API key
3. In gateway: /restart. In CLI: exit and relaunch.

Tool not available

1. hermes tools — check if toolset is enabled for your platform
2. Some tools need env vars (check .env)
3. /reset after enabling tools

Model/provider issues

1. hermes doctor — check config and dependencies
2. hermes auth — re-authenticate OAuth providers (or hermes auth add <provider>)
3. Check .env has the right API key
4. 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

1. hermes skills list — verify installed
2. hermes skills config — check platform enablement
3. 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) — both under $HERMES_HOME when it is set.

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

1. Add CommandDef to COMMAND_REGISTRY in hermes_cli/commands.py
2. Add handler in cli.py → process_command()
3. (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   # Full suite
python -m pytest tests/tools/ -q            # Specific area

• 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