# Hermes Agent Setup

> Installs, configures, updates, or troubleshoots Hermes Agent strictly grounded in the official documentation at hermes-agent.nousresearch.com — never from model memory. Use for any task involving Hermes Agent setup, config.yaml, providers, messaging platforms, MCP, skills, or CLI usage.

- Skill: `mdeuerlein/hermes-agent-setup` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add mdeuerlein/hermes-agent-setup`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/mdeuerlein/hermes-agent-setup/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: mdeuerlein (https://skillmd.com/u/mdeuerlein)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/mdeuerlein/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.