Hermes Skill

Agent skill for self-hosting, installing, configuring, operating, updating, troubleshooting, and learning to use NousResearch Hermes Agent.

This skill keeps SKILL.md lean and routes detailed procedures into references for:

• setup, updates, backups, and health checks
• first-run tutorials, self-hosted gateway setup, and daily usage flows
• read-only operations and Slack gateway checks
• exact local CLI discovery through hermes --help and hermes <command> --help
• official documentation link routing
• Slack gateway setup with Socket Mode
• tmux-managed Hermes sessions
• in-session slash commands
• providers, toolsets, config paths, security, and privacy toggles
• operator-level plugins, tools, skills, and MCP management
• delegate_task subagents and when to use Kanban instead
• voice, transcription, TTS, image input, and media troubleshooting
• self-improvement review after Hermes behavior or command changes are discovered
• profiles, cron, webhooks, skills, memory, MCP, dashboards, and logs
• troubleshooting known gateway, token, update, and stale-skill issues

Install

npx skills add dandacompany/hermes-skill

To install only this skill from the repo when prompted by compatible CLIs:

npx skills add dandacompany/hermes-skill --skill hermes

Usage

Ask your coding agent to use the hermes skill when working with Hermes Agent:

Use the hermes skill and walk me through self-hosting Hermes with Slack gateway.

The skill begins every task by checking the local Hermes installation:

python3 scripts/hermes_check.py --json

Refresh the generated local command map after Hermes updates:

python3 scripts/hermes_check.py --write-help references/command-map.generated.md

Run read-only operations checks:

python3 scripts/hermes_ops_check.py
python3 scripts/hermes_slack_check.py

What This Is

• A self-hosting and operator runbook for Hermes Agent.
• A setup and tutorial skill for users who want Hermes working locally or through gateways.
• A safety layer that checks local CLI behavior before trusting remembered commands.
• A practical guide for Slack, plugins, tools, skills, MCP, cron, profiles, and daily use.
• A Kanban operator guide for profile workers, isolated workspaces, dependencies, and task notifications.
• A delegation guide for short-lived subagents, parallel checks, and choosing the right durable alternative.

What This Is Not

• A source-code contribution guide for Hermes internals.
• A replacement for the official bundled hermes-agent skill when developing Hermes itself.
• A tool that updates Hermes or changes secrets without user approval.

Keywords

Hermes Agent, Hermes Slack bot setup, Hermes gateway self hosting, Hermes install tutorial, Hermes operations runbook, Hermes plugins, Hermes tools, Hermes MCP, Hermes cron, Hermes profiles, Hermes Kanban, Hermes delegate_task, Hermes subagents.

Why This Exists

Hermes Agent changes quickly. Third-party examples can become stale, especially around CLI commands. This skill treats the local Hermes executable as the source of truth and keeps long guidance outside SKILL.md so agents load only the references needed for the user's setup, operations, and learning task.

Notes

• Do not print full API keys, Slack tokens, or OAuth credentials.
• Run hermes update --check before update decisions.
• Do not run hermes update without explicit approval.
• Prefer foreground hermes gateway run while debugging Slack, then install/start the gateway service after validation.

Sources

• Official Hermes docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/
• Hermes GitHub: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent
• skills.sh docs: https://skills.sh/docs