hermes-agent/website/docs/user-guide/features/code-execution.md

---
sidebar_position: 8
title: "Code Execution"
description: "Sandboxed Python execution with RPC tool access — collapse multi-step workflows into a single turn"
---

# Code Execution (Programmatic Tool Calling)

The `execute_code` tool lets the agent write Python scripts that call Hermes tools programmatically, collapsing multi-step workflows into a single LLM turn. The script runs in a sandboxed child process on the agent host, communicating via Unix domain socket RPC.

## How It Works

```python
# The agent can write scripts like:
from hermes_tools import web_search, web_extract

results = web_search("Python 3.13 features", limit=5)
for r in results["data"]["web"]:
    content = web_extract([r["url"]])
    # ... filter and process ...
print(summary)
```

**Available tools in sandbox:** `web_search`, `web_extract`, `read_file`, `write_file`, `search_files`, `patch`, `terminal` (foreground only).

## When the Agent Uses This

The agent uses `execute_code` when there are:

- **3+ tool calls** with processing logic between them
- Bulk data filtering or conditional branching
- Loops over results

The key benefit: intermediate tool results never enter the context window — only the final `print()` output comes back, dramatically reducing token usage.

## Security

:::danger Security Model
The child process runs with a **minimal environment**. API keys, tokens, and credentials are stripped entirely. The script accesses tools exclusively via the RPC channel — it cannot read secrets from environment variables.
:::

Only safe system variables (`PATH`, `HOME`, `LANG`, etc.) are passed through.

## Configuration

```yaml
# In ~/.hermes/config.yaml
code_execution:
  timeout: 300       # Max seconds per script (default: 300)
  max_tool_calls: 50 # Max tool calls per execution (default: 50)
```