| A real terminal interface | Full TUI with multiline editing, slash-command autocomplete, conversation history, interrupt-and-redirect, and streaming tool output. |
| Lives where you do | Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, and CLI — all from a single gateway process. Voice memo transcription, cross-platform conversation continuity. |
| A closed learning loop | Agent-curated memory with periodic nudges. Autonomous skill creation after complex tasks. Skills self-improve during use. FTS5 session search with LLM summarization for cross-session recall. Honcho dialectic user modeling. Compatible with the agentskills.io open standard. |
| Scheduled automations | Built-in cron scheduler with delivery to any platform. Daily reports, nightly backups, weekly audits — all in natural language, running unattended. |
| Delegates and parallelizes | Spawn isolated subagents for parallel workstreams. Write Python scripts that call tools via RPC, collapsing multi-step pipelines into zero-context-cost turns. |
| Runs anywhere, not just your laptop | Six terminal backends — local, Docker, SSH, Daytona, Singularity, and Modal. Daytona and Modal offer serverless persistence — your agent's environment hibernates when idle and wakes on demand, costing nearly nothing between sessions. Run it on a $5 VPS or a GPU cluster. |
| Research-ready | Batch trajectory generation, Atropos RL environments, trajectory compression for training the next generation of tool-calling models. |
---
## Quick Install
```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
```
Works on Linux, macOS, and WSL2. The installer handles everything — Python, Node.js, dependencies, and the `hermes` command. No prerequisites except git.
> **Windows:** Native Windows is not supported. Please install [WSL2](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install) and run the command above.
After installation:
```bash
source ~/.bashrc # reload shell (or: source ~/.zshrc)
hermes setup # configure your LLM provider
hermes # start chatting!
```
---
## Getting Started
```bash
hermes # Interactive CLI — start a conversation
hermes model # Switch provider or model
hermes setup # Re-run the setup wizard
hermes gateway # Start the messaging gateway (Telegram, Discord, etc.)
hermes update # Update to the latest version
hermes doctor # Diagnose any issues
```
📖 **[Full documentation →](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/)**
---
## Documentation
All documentation lives at **[hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/)**:
| Section | What's Covered |
|---------|---------------|
| [Quickstart](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/getting-started/quickstart) | Install → setup → first conversation in 2 minutes |
| [CLI Usage](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/cli) | Commands, keybindings, personalities, sessions |
| [Configuration](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/configuration) | Config file, providers, models, all options |
| [Messaging Gateway](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/messaging) | Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Home Assistant |
| [Security](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/security) | Command approval, DM pairing, container isolation |
| [Tools & Toolsets](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/tools) | 40+ tools, toolset system, terminal backends |
| [Skills System](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/skills) | Procedural memory, Skills Hub, creating skills |
| [Memory](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/memory) | Persistent memory, user profiles, best practices |
| [MCP Integration](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/mcp) | Connect any MCP server for extended capabilities |
| [Cron Scheduling](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/cron) | Scheduled tasks with platform delivery |
| [Context Files](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/context-files) | Project context that shapes every conversation |
| [Architecture](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/developer-guide/architecture) | Project structure, agent loop, key classes |
| [Contributing](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/developer-guide/contributing) | Development setup, PR process, code style |
| [CLI Reference](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/reference/cli-commands) | All commands and flags |
| [Environment Variables](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/reference/environment-variables) | Complete env var reference |
---
## Contributing
We welcome contributions! See the [Contributing Guide](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/developer-guide/contributing) for development setup, code style, and PR process.
Quick start for contributors:
```bash
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent.git
cd hermes-agent
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
uv venv .venv --python 3.11
source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install -e ".[all,dev]"
uv pip install -e "./mini-swe-agent"
python -m pytest tests/ -q
```
---
## Community
- 💬 [Discord](https://discord.gg/NousResearch)
- 📚 [Skills Hub](https://agentskills.io)
- 🐛 [Issues](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/issues)
- 💡 [Discussions](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/discussions)
---
## License
MIT — see [LICENSE](LICENSE).
Built by [Nous Research](https://nousresearch.com).
