hermes

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• SKILL.md

SKILL.md (first lines)

# hermes

Install, configure, and run Hermes Agent — an AI agent CLI by NousResearch with
tool-calling, skills, messaging gateway, and MCP support.

## Orientation

Run the following commands before proceeding:

```bash
which -a hermes
which hermes
hermes version
hermes --help
```

## Installation

The preferred install method on Linux/macOS is the git installer:

```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
```

Pass `--skip-browser` to skip Playwright/Chromium (recommended for headless servers):

```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash -s -- --skip-browser
```

After install, reload the shell:

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

Install layout (root user):

| Path | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `/usr/local/lib/hermes-agent/` | Source and virtualenv |
| `/usr/local/bin/hermes` | Launcher binary |
| `~/.hermes/.env` | API keys and secrets |
| `~/.hermes/config.yaml` | Non-secret config |
| `~/.hermes/SOUL.md` | Personality customization |

## Workflow

1. Confirm the tool is present: `hermes version`
2. Run the health check: `hermes doctor`
3. Configure the provider and model: `hermes model`
4. Set API keys: `hermes config set OPENROUTER_API_KEY sk-or-...`
5. Start chatting: `hermes` or `hermes --tui`
6. Run a one-shot prompt (non-interactive): `hermes -z "your prompt"`

## Configuration

Settings are split across two files:

- **Secrets** (`~/.hermes/.env`): API keys, tokens, passwords
- **Config** (`~/.hermes/config.yaml`): model, terminal backend, compression, etc.

Use `hermes config set` to write to the correct file automatically:

```bash
hermes config set model anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5
hermes config set OPENROUTER_API_KEY sk-or-...
hermes config set terminal.backend docker
hermes config set OPENROUTER_BASE_URL https://gateway.ai.cloudflare.com/v1/<id>/<slug>/openrouter
```

View current config:

```bash
hermes config
hermes config edit   # open in $EDITOR
```

## Provider Setup

### OpenRouter (recommended)

```bash
hermes config set OPENROUTER_API_KEY sk-or-...
hermes config set model anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5
```

Use a Cloudflare AI Gateway as the base URL (optional — for caching/observability):

```bash
hermes config set OPENROUTER_BASE_URL https://gateway.ai.cloudflare.com/v1/<account-id>/<slug>/openrouter
```

Set `OPENROUTER_BASE_URL` in `~/.hermes/.env`, not `config.yaml`. If
`hermes config set` writes it to `config.yaml`, move it manually.

Model IDs for OpenRouter are just `provider/model` — do **not** prefix with `openrouter/`:

```bash
# Correct
hermes config set model anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5

# Wrong — results in HTTP 400 "not a valid model ID"
hermes config set model openrouter/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5
```

### Anthropic direct

```bash
hermes config set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY sk-ant-...
hermes config set model claude-sonnet-4-5
```

### Custom / self-hosted endpoint

```bash
hermes config set CUSTOM_BASE_URL http://localhost:11434/v1
hermes config set model my-model-name
```

From jason-riddle/agent-skills, MIT.

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