# Hermes Skills Hub > Use the Hermes Skills Hub via the local CLI (hermes skills search/inspect/install) — not web search, not the MCP iknowkungfu registry. Covers the command surface, result interpretation, the framework-specific caveat, and inspect-before-install discipline. - Skill: `theheavenlyd3mon/hermes-skills-hub` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add theheavenlyd3mon/hermes-skills-hub` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/theheavenlyd3mon/hermes-skills-hub/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - License: MIT - Author: theheavenlyd3mon (https://skillmd.com/u/theheavenlyd3mon) - Updated: 2026-09-09 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/theheavenlyd3mon/hermes-skills-hub --- # Hermes Skills Hub The "Skills Hub" is primarily a **local CLI subsystem** (not the MCP iknowkungfu registry), with a **docs web front-end** at https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/skills that renders the same index. Know which one the user means (see below). ## The correction that matters When the user says "search the skills hub" / "Hermes skills hub" / "find a skill for X", they mean: ```bash hermes skills search ``` NOT the MCP `iknowkungfu` registry (`mcp__iknowkungfu__search`) — that is a separate small registry (9 skills by samuelgudi). There IS a web front-end: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/skills renders the same hub index (filter-counts bar + built-in catalog by category). When the user says "the skills that are here" / "the Hermes Skill Hub" / "Nous portal / Nous Research documents", they often mean THAT page, not `hermes skills browse` (verified 2026-08-03: user pointed at the URL after I gave the CLI rundown). Page anatomy in `references/docs-skills-page.md`. Division of authority: CLI = what's installable, docs page = what's built-in/optional per source. ## Command surface ```bash hermes skills search # query skills.sh + clawhub + GitHub registries hermes skills inspect # preview a skill (SKILL.md + files) before installing hermes skills install # install into the ACTIVE profile (see targeting below) hermes skills browse # paginated browse of all available skills hermes skills list # installed skills hermes skills check / update # update installed hub skills hermes skills audit # re-scan installed hub skills hermes skills uninstall ``` Search output columns: Name, Description, Source (skills.sh / clawhub / github), Trust (community), Identifier (e.g. `skills-sh/steipete/clawdis/discord`, `clawhub/discord-communities`). Use the **Identifier** with `install` / `inspect`. ## Ambiguous short names `search` / `inspect` / `install` by short name can hit "Multiple skills named X found" (e.g. comfyui, imagegen, peer-review, midjourney each have 2-3). Resolve with the full Identifier from the search table; clawhub entries often resolve with a `clawhub/` prefix (e.g. `clawhub/comfyui`). Short-name inspect may also resolve to a different source than intended — confirm the Source column in the ambiguity table before installing. ## Installing into a specific (non-active) profile `hermes skills install` always targets the ACTIVE profile — `HERMES_PROFILE=` does NOT retarget it (verified 2026-07-28: install with HERMES_PROFILE=finance landed in senna). To install into another profile, point HERMES_HOME at the profile dir: ```bash HERMES_HOME=~/.hermes/profiles/ hermes skills install -y ``` The skill lands at `/skills///` — verify with `find`, and check the same install didn't also pollute the active profile (clean up if it did). Note a hub skill may turn out to be already bundled in the target profile (e.g. axolotl ships under mlops/training/) — "already installed" is a pass, not a failure. ## ⚠️ Framework-specific caveat (install discipline) Most hub results are community-authored for **other agent frameworks** — Clawdbot, OpenClaw, Claude Code, etc. They reference those frameworks' slash-command / API idioms, which do **not** match Hermes's native tool/action model (e.g. Hermes uses the `hermes-discord` toolset + `discord_admin` actions, not another bot's DSL). **Rule: always `hermes skills inspect ` before installing into a Hermes profile.** If the skill's body assumes a non-Hermes framework, either skip it or adapt its steps to Hermes-native tools. Installing a framework-specific skill blindly can inject conflicting instructions into the profile's SOUL/context. ## CLI quirks (learned 2026-08-03) - **Tables truncate.** `browse`/`search` truncate Name and Identifier (~13 chars) regardless of terminal width; `COLUMNS=240` helps but some names still end in `…`. Get full names from `hermes skills search ` rows, or inspect directly. - **awk parsing.** Row shape is `│ 1 │ name │ desc ...` so with `-F'│'` the NAME is field **$3** — field $2 is the row number. Strip trailing `…` before matching. (First attempt grabbed the numbers column — wrong column, wrong diff.) - **Per-source browse-header counts are misleading** (page-count shaped: "611 skills loaded, page 1/611"). Authoritative per-source totals live on the docs page count bar at https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/skills — see `references/docs-skills-page.md` for observed values. - **`--source official` and `--source well-known` resolve to the SAME set** — the 111 Nous first-party optional skills. Don't browse both expecting different content. - **Official identifier quirk:** browse/search may print a shortened identifier (e.g. `official/mlops/stable-diffusion`) that `inspect` REJECTS. Use the full skill name in the identifier (`official/mlops/stable-diffusion-image-generation`). If inspect fails, search the full name and try the name spelled out. ## When to use the hub vs built-in skills - Built-in / profile-authored skills (e.g. `discord-server-management`) are purpose-built for Hermes — prefer those first. - Use the hub to discover capabilities not already in your skill library (e.g. `discord-communities` for guild management, `discord-channel-auditor` for auto-maintaining an info channel). ## References - `references/discord-skills-search.md` — condensed results of `hermes skills search discord` (25 hits) with the relevant ones flagged and the framework caveat applied. - `references/docs-skills-page.md` — anatomy of the docs web front-end (/docs/skills): counts bar, built-in catalog by category, plus framework-caveat evaluation notes for creative-writing and image-generation hub searches. - `references/hub-install-recipes.md` — working install recipe for `skills-sh/...` identifiers (they don't fetch directly; resolve SKILL.md path via GitHub tree API, install the raw URL) + hub-skill vetting checklist before fleet rollout.