| <p align="center"> |
| <img src="assets/banner.png" alt="Hermes Agent" width="100%"> |
| </p> |
|
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| # Hermes Agent ☤ |
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| <p align="center"> |
| <a href="https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Docs-hermes--agent.nousresearch.com-FFD700?style=for-the-badge" alt="Documentation"></a> |
| <a href="https://discord.gg/NousResearch"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Discord-5865F2?style=for-the-badge&logo=discord&logoColor=white" alt="Discord"></a> |
| <a href="https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/blob/main/LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-green?style=for-the-badge" alt="License: MIT"></a> |
| <a href="https://nousresearch.com"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Built%20by-Nous%20Research-blueviolet?style=for-the-badge" alt="Built by Nous Research"></a> |
| </p> |
|
|
| **The self-improving AI agent built by [Nous Research](https://nousresearch.com).** It's the only agent with a built-in learning loop — it creates skills from experience, improves them during use, nudges itself to persist knowledge, searches its own past conversations, and builds a deepening model of who you are across sessions. Run it on a $5 VPS, a GPU cluster, or serverless infrastructure that costs nearly nothing when idle. It's not tied to your laptop — talk to it from Telegram while it works on a cloud VM. |
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| Use any model you want — [Nous Portal](https://portal.nousresearch.com), [OpenRouter](https://openrouter.ai) (200+ models), [NVIDIA NIM](https://build.nvidia.com) (Nemotron), [Xiaomi MiMo](https://platform.xiaomimimo.com), [z.ai/GLM](https://z.ai), [Kimi/Moonshot](https://platform.moonshot.ai), [MiniMax](https://www.minimax.io), [Hugging Face](https://huggingface.co), OpenAI, or your own endpoint. Switch with `hermes model` — no code changes, no lock-in. |
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| <table> |
| <tr><td><b>A real terminal interface</b></td><td>Full TUI with multiline editing, slash-command autocomplete, conversation history, interrupt-and-redirect, and streaming tool output.</td></tr> |
| <tr><td><b>Lives where you do</b></td><td>Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, and CLI — all from a single gateway process. Voice memo transcription, cross-platform conversation continuity.</td></tr> |
| <tr><td><b>A closed learning loop</b></td><td>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. <a href="https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho">Honcho</a> dialectic user modeling. Compatible with the <a href="https://agentskills.io">agentskills.io</a> open standard.</td></tr> |
| <tr><td><b>Scheduled automations</b></td><td>Built-in cron scheduler with delivery to any platform. Daily reports, nightly backups, weekly audits — all in natural language, running unattended.</td></tr> |
| <tr><td><b>Delegates and parallelizes</b></td><td>Spawn isolated subagents for parallel workstreams. Write Python scripts that call tools via RPC, collapsing multi-step pipelines into zero-context-cost turns.</td></tr> |
| <tr><td><b>Runs anywhere, not just your laptop</b></td><td>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.</td></tr> |
| <tr><td><b>Research-ready</b></td><td>Batch trajectory generation, Atropos RL environments, trajectory compression for training the next generation of tool-calling models.</td></tr> |
| </table> |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## Quick Install |
|
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| ```bash |
| curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash |
| ``` |
|
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| Works on Linux, macOS, WSL2, and Android via Termux. The installer handles the platform-specific setup for you. |
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| > **Android / Termux:** The tested manual path is documented in the [Termux guide](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/getting-started/termux). On Termux, Hermes installs a curated `.[termux]` extra because the full `.[all]` extra currently pulls Android-incompatible voice dependencies. |
| > |
| > **Windows:** Native Windows is not supported. Please install [WSL2](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install) and run the command above. |
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| After installation: |
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| ```bash |
| source ~/.bashrc # reload shell (or: source ~/.zshrc) |
| hermes # start chatting! |
| ``` |
|
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| --- |
|
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| ## Getting Started |
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| ```bash |
| hermes # Interactive CLI — start a conversation |
| hermes model # Choose your LLM provider and model |
| hermes tools # Configure which tools are enabled |
| hermes config set # Set individual config values |
| hermes gateway # Start the messaging gateway (Telegram, Discord, etc.) |
| hermes setup # Run the full setup wizard (configures everything at once) |
| hermes claw migrate # Migrate from OpenClaw (if coming from OpenClaw) |
| hermes update # Update to the latest version |
| hermes doctor # Diagnose any issues |
| ``` |
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| 📖 **[Full documentation →](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/)** |
|
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| ## CLI vs Messaging Quick Reference |
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| Hermes has two entry points: start the terminal UI with `hermes`, or run the gateway and talk to it from Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, or Email. Once you're in a conversation, many slash commands are shared across both interfaces. |
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| | Action | CLI | Messaging platforms | |
| |---------|-----|---------------------| |
| | Start chatting | `hermes` | Run `hermes gateway setup` + `hermes gateway start`, then send the bot a message | |
| | Start fresh conversation | `/new` or `/reset` | `/new` or `/reset` | |
| | Change model | `/model [provider:model]` | `/model [provider:model]` | |
| | Set a personality | `/personality [name]` | `/personality [name]` | |
| | Retry or undo the last turn | `/retry`, `/undo` | `/retry`, `/undo` | |
| | Compress context / check usage | `/compress`, `/usage`, `/insights [--days N]` | `/compress`, `/usage`, `/insights [days]` | |
| | Browse skills | `/skills` or `/<skill-name>` | `/<skill-name>` | |
| | Interrupt current work | `Ctrl+C` or send a new message | `/stop` or send a new message | |
| | Platform-specific status | `/platforms` | `/status`, `/sethome` | |
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| For the full command lists, see the [CLI guide](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/cli) and the [Messaging Gateway guide](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/messaging). |
|
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| --- |
|
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| ## Documentation |
|
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| All documentation lives at **[hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/)**: |
|
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| | 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 | |
|
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| --- |
|
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| ## Migrating from OpenClaw |
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| If you're coming from OpenClaw, Hermes can automatically import your settings, memories, skills, and API keys. |
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| **During first-time setup:** The setup wizard (`hermes setup`) automatically detects `~/.openclaw` and offers to migrate before configuration begins. |
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| **Anytime after install:** |
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| ```bash |
| hermes claw migrate # Interactive migration (full preset) |
| hermes claw migrate --dry-run # Preview what would be migrated |
| hermes claw migrate --preset user-data # Migrate without secrets |
| hermes claw migrate --overwrite # Overwrite existing conflicts |
| ``` |
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| What gets imported: |
| - **SOUL.md** — persona file |
| - **Memories** — MEMORY.md and USER.md entries |
| - **Skills** — user-created skills → `~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/` |
| - **Command allowlist** — approval patterns |
| - **Messaging settings** — platform configs, allowed users, working directory |
| - **API keys** — allowlisted secrets (Telegram, OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, ElevenLabs) |
| - **TTS assets** — workspace audio files |
| - **Workspace instructions** — AGENTS.md (with `--workspace-target`) |
|
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| See `hermes claw migrate --help` for all options, or use the `openclaw-migration` skill for an interactive agent-guided migration with dry-run previews. |
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| --- |
|
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| ## Contributing |
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| We welcome contributions! See the [Contributing Guide](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/developer-guide/contributing) for development setup, code style, and PR process. |
|
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| Quick start for contributors — clone and go with `setup-hermes.sh`: |
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| ```bash |
| git clone https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent.git |
| cd hermes-agent |
| ./setup-hermes.sh # installs uv, creates venv, installs .[all], symlinks ~/.local/bin/hermes |
| ./hermes # auto-detects the venv, no need to `source` first |
| ``` |
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| Manual path (equivalent to the above): |
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| ```bash |
| 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]" |
| scripts/run_tests.sh |
| ``` |
|
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| > **RL Training (optional):** The RL/Atropos integration (`environments/`) ships via the `atroposlib` and `tinker` dependencies pulled in by `.[all,dev]` — no submodule setup required. |
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| --- |
|
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| ## Community |
|
|
| - 💬 [Discord](https://discord.gg/NousResearch) |
| - 📚 [Skills Hub](https://agentskills.io) |
| - 🐛 [Issues](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/issues) |
| - 🔌 [HermesClaw](https://github.com/AaronWong1999/hermesclaw) — Community WeChat bridge: Run Hermes Agent and OpenClaw on the same WeChat account. |
|
|
| --- |
|
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| ## License |
|
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| MIT — see [LICENSE](LICENSE). |
|
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| Built by [Nous Research](https://nousresearch.com). |
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