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☤ Hermes Agent — Full Installation Guide
Open-source AI agent by Nous Research. Self-learning, multi-platform, 18+ LLM providers. Runs on Linux, macOS, and WSL.
🤔 What is Hermes Agent?
Hermes Agent is an AI assistant that runs on your computer — it can write code, manage files, search the web, send messages, and learn from experience. Think of it as a supercharged terminal assistant that remembers everything and gets better over time.
Saves successful workflows as reusable skills. The more you use it, the smarter it gets at your specific tasks.
Same agent on Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, and CLI. All with full tool access.
DeepSeek, OpenAI, Anthropic, local models — swap anytime. Not locked into one provider.
Remembers who you are, your preferences, and past projects across sessions.
✅ Prerequisites
1. Linux, macOS, or WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). Pure Windows not supported — use WSL.
2. Python 3.10+ and Node.js 18+
3. An LLM API key — at least one of: DeepSeek, OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, or local model
4. curl + bash (included on most systems)
🚀 Step-by-Step Installation
Install Hermes Agent
Run this single command in your terminal:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
This downloads and installs everything automatically. Takes ~2-3 minutes.
Set up your API key
Hermes needs an LLM API key to work. Choose one:
💎 DeepSeek (cheapest, great for coding)
hermes config set model.provider deepseekhermes config set model.default deepseek-v4-proecho 'DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=***' >> ~/.hermes/.env
Get key: platform.deepseek.com — platform.deepseek.com
🧠 OpenAI (GPT-4o, o3)
hermes config set model.provider openaihermes config set model.default gpt-4oecho 'OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-...' >> ~/.hermes/.env
🔷 Anthropic (Claude Sonnet)
hermes config set model.provider anthropichermes config set model.default claude-sonnet-4echo 'ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...' >> ~/.hermes/.env
🌐 OpenRouter (access 200+ models)
hermes config set model.provider openrouterhermes config set model.default deepseek/deepseek-chatecho 'OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-...' >> ~/.hermes/.env
Get key: openrouter.ai/keys — openrouter.ai/keys
Verify installation
Check that everything works:
hermes doctor
This checks that Hermes is installed correctly and your API key works.
Start chatting!
Launch the interactive CLI:
hermes
Or ask a single question:
hermes chat -q "What is the best way to learn Rust in 2026?"
💡 Pro Tips
🔧 Change model anytime: hermes model — interactive picker, no config editing.
🔄 Run on messaging apps: hermes gateway setup — connect Telegram, Discord, Slack, etc.
📚 Install skills: hermes skills browse — community skills for crypto, coding, content.
⏰ Schedule tasks: /cron in chat — runs code, checks prices, sends reports on schedule.
🧪 Environment isolation: hermes -w — worktree mode, safe for parallel coding agents.
🔑 Key in .bashrc not working? Move API keys to ~/.hermes/.env — bashrc only loads in interactive shells.
📋 Kanban — Multi-Agent Task Board
Hermes has a built-in durable task board (SQLite DB) that lets you fan out work to multiple agent workers in parallel. Think of it as a project board where the workers are AI agents — you create tasks, they pick them up and complete them autonomously.
Multiple agent profiles pull tasks from the same board simultaneously. Researcher, coder, reviewer — each does their specialty.
6-column board (Triage → Todo → Ready → In Progress → Blocked → Done) with drag-drop, live WebSocket updates.
Parent→child links. A downstream task only activates when all parents are done. Perfect for pipelines: research → build → review.
If a worker OOM/crashes, the task is automatically reclaimed. Spawn failures after N attempts auto-block for human attention.
hermes kanban init # create the default boardhermes kanban create # add a task (interactive TUI)hermes kanban watch # start the dispatcherhermes dashboard # open the web UI
🎨 Skins & Themes
Hermes comes with 9 built-in CLI skins and supports custom YAML themes. Skins control the visual presentation: banner colors, spinner faces, response labels, branding — separate from Personality which controls conversational tone.
Classic gold, kawaii
Crimson war-god
Grayscale minimal
Cool blue dev
Light theme
Ocean vibes
/skin ares # switch to a built-in skin (session only)/skin mytheme # load custom skin from ~/.hermes/skins/mytheme.yaml
Set display.skin in ~/.hermes/config.yaml for a permanent default. The community-built Hermes Mod is a visual skin editor (web UI with live preview) — install via npx hermes-mod.
🏆 Achievements
A Steam-style achievements system built into Hermes. Over 60 collectible badges generated from your real session history — no manual tracking, no opt-in. Just use Hermes and they unlock automatically.
5 tiers: 🥉 Copper → 🥈 Silver → 🥇 Gold → 💎 Diamond → 🏛️ Olympian
How it works: Scans ~/.hermes/state.db session history in background. Some badges are Secret — hidden until their first unlock signal fires.
Where to find them: Dashboard tab (auto-registered, no setup). REST API at /api/plugins/hermes-achievements/ if you want to build on top of it.
Originally authored by @PCinkusz as an external plugin. Now bundled in-tree — installed by default since Hermes v4.
⭐ Our Take
Hermes Agent is the best open-source AI agent we've tested. The skills system is a genuine innovation — it actually learns from experience instead of starting fresh every session. Multi-platform gateway means one agent handles Telegram, Discord, and CLI all at once. Active development, 18+ providers, great docs. If you're getting into AI agents, start here.