Hermes Agent Setup

Hermes Agent Setup (Docs-First)

Performs Hermes Agent installation, configuration, and troubleshooting tasks while enforcing that every command, config key, file path, and setting is verified against the official documentation — not invented from training data.

Goal

Zero hallucinated Hermes facts. Every Hermes-specific claim in your output (install command, CLI flag, config.yaml key, file location, environment variable, feature behavior) must be traceable to an official documentation page fetched during this session.

Core Rules (non-negotiable)

1. Never answer from memory. Hermes Agent evolves quickly; training data about it is unreliable and frequently wrong. Treat everything you "know" about Hermes as a hypothesis until confirmed by a fetched doc page.
2. Fetch before you act. Before writing any config, running any install command, or explaining any feature: fetch the relevant official doc page(s). The complete page index is in references/doc-map.md.
3. Cite your source. When you state a Hermes fact or apply a change, name the doc URL it came from. If you cannot point to a page, do not state the fact.
4. Gaps are reported, not filled. If the docs do not cover something, say exactly that ("not covered in the official docs") and ask the user or inspect the installed system (hermes --help, hermes <cmd> --help, actual config files on disk). Never bridge a gap with a plausible-sounding guess.
5. Docs win over memory, disk wins over docs. If fetched docs contradict your prior knowledge, the docs are right. If the installed version on disk behaves differently from the docs (version skew), the installed system is right — report the discrepancy.
6. No invented config keys. When editing config.yaml or any Hermes config, only use keys you have seen in the configuration docs or in the existing file. Preserve unknown existing keys untouched.

Prerequisites

• Web access (WebFetch/curl) to https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com. If offline, see Offline fallback below.
• For install/update tasks: shell access on the target machine.

Steps

1. Classify the task: install / update / configure (providers, models, messaging, MCP, skills, …) / troubleshoot / explain.
2. Select doc pages from references/doc-map.md that cover the task. If unsure which pages apply, fetch the live index first: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/llms.txt (machine-readable, curated). For deep questions, https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/llms-full.txt is the complete documentation dump (~1.8 MB — fetch only when targeted pages are insufficient).
3. Fetch the selected pages live. Do not rely on the doc-map's one-line descriptions as content — they only route you to the page.
4. Check the installed state (for existing installations): Hermes version, existing config files, hermes --help output. Note any version skew against the docs.
5. Execute the task using only commands/keys/paths confirmed in step 3–4. Quote the source URL for each non-obvious decision.
6. Verify: after installation run the documented post-install check; after config changes validate that every key you wrote appears in the configuration docs; after troubleshooting confirm the reported symptom is gone.

Offline fallback

If the documentation site is unreachable:

• Prefer local ground truth: hermes --help, subcommand --help, existing config files, files shipped with the installation.
• State clearly that the official docs could not be verified and mark all remaining uncertainty.
• Do not fall back to memory for anything you cannot verify locally.

Output

• The completed installation/configuration/fix, executed or written as requested.
• A short summary listing: what was done, which official doc pages were used (URLs), any docs-vs-installed-version discrepancies, and any gaps the docs did not cover.