# Hermes Agent review

> Hermes Agent is an open-source, self-hosted AI agent by Nous Research with persistent memory, self-created skills, and a messaging gateway.

Devtoolwatch Board, the week of Oct 25–31, 2026. Canonical page: https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/nousresearch-hermes-agent/

## TL;DR

Hermes Agent is a self-hosted AI agent from Nous Research that runs in a terminal UI, a desktop app, or messaging apps like Telegram and Slack. It is for developers who want an agent that runs on servers or cloud sandboxes. Hermes Agent creates and improves skills from experience and keeps memory across sessions.

## Hermes Agent at a glance

- **Category:** [Coding agents](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/categories/coding-agents/)
- **Maintained by:** Nous Research (organization, [@NousResearch](https://github.com/NousResearch) on GitHub)
- **License:** MIT
- **Language:** Python, TypeScript, JavaScript
- **Repository:** [github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent)
- **Website:** [hermes-agent.nousresearch.com](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com)
- **PyPI package:** [hermes-agent](https://pypi.org/project/hermes-agent/) 0.19.0
- **Latest release:** [v0.22.4](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/releases/tag/v0.22.4) on GitHub, Oct 21, 2026
- **First published:** Jul 22, 2025

## What Hermes Agent does

- Hermes Agent creates skills after complex tasks, improves them during use, and is compatible with the agentskills.io open standard.
- Hermes Agent keeps agent-curated memory and searches past sessions with FTS5 search and LLM summarization for cross-session recall.
- Hermes Agent connects to Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Email, and CLI from a single gateway process.
- Hermes Agent includes a built-in cron scheduler for natural-language automations delivered to any connected platform.
- Hermes Agent spawns isolated subagents for parallel work and runs Python scripts that call tools via RPC.
- Hermes Agent works with many model providers, including Nous Portal, OpenRouter, OpenAI, and custom endpoints, switched with hermes model.
- Hermes Agent can connect any MCP server for extended capabilities.

### How it works

Hermes Agent runs as a terminal UI started with hermes, as Hermes Desktop on macOS and Windows, or as a gateway that messaging apps talk to. Commands execute on one of seven terminal backends: local, Docker, SSH, Singularity, Modal, Daytona, or Vercel Sandbox. Models come from your chosen provider, and Nous Portal can also route web search, image generation, TTS, and a cloud browser.

## How to install Hermes Agent

**Linux, macOS, WSL2**

```
curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash
```

**Windows (PowerShell)**

```
iex (irm https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.ps1)
```

### Requirements

- An account or API key with a model provider, or a Nous Portal subscription.
- The PyPI package requires Python 3.11 or later and below 3.14.
- Hermes Desktop requires macOS 12+ or Windows 10/11; Linux installs via terminal.
- Android use requires an aarch64 device with Termux and the signed APT repository.

### First steps

1. Reload your shell with source ~/.bashrc, then run hermes to start chatting in the terminal UI.
2. Run hermes setup to launch the full setup wizard, or hermes setup --portal to use Nous Portal.
3. Run hermes model to choose your LLM provider and model.
4. Run hermes gateway setup and hermes gateway start to talk to Hermes Agent from messaging platforms.

## Who Hermes Agent is for

- Developers who want an always-on agent on a VPS or cloud VM, reachable from Telegram or Slack.
- Users who want to switch between model providers without code changes.
- Teams scheduling unattended tasks like daily reports, nightly backups, or weekly audits.
- OpenClaw users, since Hermes Agent can import settings, memories, skills, and API keys.

### Limitations

- Hermes Agent is free, but model providers and optional hosted services have their own pricing.
- Hermes Agent tasks that need an active agent will not run while a local agent is stopped.
- On Windows, antivirus may flag the bundled uv.exe as a false positive, requiring a folder exclusion.
- Hermes Agent v0.22.2 has a known issue: sessions run under the 0.22.1 gateway cannot be deleted.

## Usage data (the week of Oct 25–31, 2026)

- Board rank: #227 overall, #77 in Coding agents, momentum score 40
- Downloads that week: 35.7k (−59% vs 4-week average)
- New GitHub stars per week (last 12 weeks): Aug 9: 3.8k; Aug 16: 3.5k; Aug 23: 3.9k; Aug 30: 4k; Sep 6: 3k; Sep 13: 2.4k; Sep 20: 2.2k; Sep 27: 2k; Oct 4: 2k; Oct 11: 2.4k; Oct 18: 2.3k; Oct 25: 2.7k

## Hermes Agent alternatives

| Rank | Tool | Stars | Downloads/wk |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | [Cindy](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/makecindy-cindy/) | 8.8k | – |
| #2 | [OpenMausBot](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/milind-soni-openmausbot/) | 9.6k | – |
| #3 | [Orca](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/stablyai-orca/) | 111.7k | – |
| #4 | [OpenBot](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/copilotkit-openbot/) | 9.1k | – |
| #5 | [Agent Reach](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/panniantong-agent-reach/) | 107.2k | – |
| #6 | [Skill Recorder](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/microsoft-skill-recorder/) | 5.6k | – |

## Hermes Agent FAQ

### Is Hermes Agent free and open source?

Yes. Hermes Agent's source code is on GitHub (NousResearch/hermes-agent) under the MIT license, so you can use it for free.

### How do I install Hermes Agent?

Run `curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash`. The hermes-agent package needs Python 3.11 or newer, below 3.14. The install section above has the other options from the project's README.

### Is Hermes Agent still maintained?

Yes. The NousResearch/hermes-agent repository was last updated on Oct 22, 2026, and the latest release, v0.22.4 on GitHub, came out on Oct 21, 2026.

### How popular is Hermes Agent?

Hermes Agent has 259.2k GitHub stars as of Nov 1, 2026. It gained 2.7k new stars in the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, against a 12-week average of 2.9k a week. Its main package had 35.7k downloads that week, −59% against its own 4-week average. That made it #77 among AI coding agents on the Devtoolwatch Board.

### Hermes Agent vs OpenCode: how do they compare?

Hermes Agent and OpenCode are both tracked by Devtoolwatch as AI coding agents. Hermes Agent has 259.2k GitHub stars and OpenCode has 223.6k. OpenCode is an open source AI coding agent that helps you write and run code in a terminal, desktop app, or IDE extension. [OpenCode review](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/opencode/)

### Hermes Agent vs Claude Code: how do they compare?

Hermes Agent and Claude Code are both tracked by Devtoolwatch as AI coding agents. Hermes Agent has 259.2k GitHub stars and Claude Code has 154.1k. In the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, Hermes Agent's main package had 35.7k downloads and Claude Code's had 11.6M. Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic coding tool that reads your codebase, edits files, runs commands, and handles git workflows through natural language. [Claude Code review](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/claude-code/)

### What are the best alternatives to Hermes Agent?

Other AI coding agents on the Devtoolwatch Board in the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, by momentum: Cindy (#1), OpenMausBot (#2), Orca (#3), OpenBot (#4), Agent Reach (#5). The alternatives table above has their numbers.

### Is Hermes Agent local?

Hermes Agent is self-hosted. It can run locally, but also on a VPS, a GPU cluster, SSH hosts, Docker, or serverless backends like Modal and Daytona that hibernate when idle. Hosted agents are managed separately in Nous Portal.

### How do I use Hermes Agent with Discord?

Hermes Agent connects to Discord through its messaging gateway. Run hermes gateway setup and hermes gateway start, then send the bot a message. Many slash commands work in both the CLI and messaging platforms.

### Does Hermes Agent keep data between sessions?

Hermes Agent stores conversations, memories, and skills so you can return to work later. Stopping a local agent does not delete them. Back up the Hermes data directory when moving to another computer.

### Is Hermes Agent safe to use?

Hermes Agent documents security features including command approval, DM pairing, and container isolation. It supports sandboxed backends like Docker and Singularity with container hardening and namespace isolation.

### How do I use Hermes Agent for free?

Hermes Agent itself is free under the MIT license. Nous Portal has a $0 tier limited to free models, and a fresh desktop install opens on a guided setup chat running on a free trial model.

## Sources

1. [NousResearch/hermes-agent on GitHub](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent)
2. [Hermes Agent README](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/blob/main/README.md)
3. [hermes-agent on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/hermes-agent/)
4. [Hermes Agent website](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com)
5. [Release v0.22.4 (Oct 21, 2026)](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/releases/tag/v0.22.4)
6. [Release v0.22.3 (Oct 21, 2026)](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/releases/tag/v0.22.3)
7. [Release v0.22.2 (Oct 15, 2026)](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/releases/tag/v0.22.2)
8. [Hacker News: Migrate from OpenClaw](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48586005)
9. [Hacker News: Hermes Desktop](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48373851)
10. [Hacker News: Nous Research edits GitHub issue to remove plagiarism claims about Hermes Agent](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48187581)
11. [Devtoolwatch Board, the week of Oct 25–31, 2026](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/)