Hermes Agent, without the guesswork
Hermes Agent is an open-source AI agent from Nous Research that runs on hardware you control. Unlike a hosted assistant, it keeps its memory on your own disk, connects to your own messaging apps, and costs nothing to license. Unlike a chatbot, it remembers — and gets more useful the longer you run it.
It also ships a release most weeks, and not all of them are quiet. This site exists for the part the official docs do not cover: what actually changed in the latest version, what it broke, and the fix that actually works. Every article says which release it was tested against, and gets updated when a new one invalidates it.
Latest tracked release: v0.20.0 — The "Herald" release — Hermes gets a voice you can interrupt, talks to other agents over A2A v1.0, and cites its sources. Rolls up everything since v0.19.0, including the v0.19.1 patch window. All releases →
Hermes Agent at a glance
| Built by | Nous Research |
|---|---|
| License | MIT — free, including commercial use |
| Runs on | Linux, macOS, Windows, WSL2 |
| Install | Desktop installer, pip install hermes-agent, or the official install script |
| Hardware | No GPU needed with a hosted model provider; 4 GB RAM is the practical floor |
| Memory | Persistent across sessions, stored locally |
| Interfaces | CLI, TUI, desktop GUI, plus chat gateways for Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal and more |
| Data | Stays on your machine — no telemetry, no cloud lock-in |
| Current version | v0.20.0 |
Start here
Pick whichever describes you right now.
Install Hermes Agent
Choose your platform, use the official installer, and verify the result.
Installation problemFix “command not found”
Confirm the binary exists, repair PATH, and run hermes doctor.
Fix an HTTP 400
Check the provider, model identifier, access and context requirements.
Existing installationCheck before upgrading
Read breaking changes first, take a snapshot, then update deliberately.
Fixes
- Fix: "hermes: command not found" after a successful install
The installer finished but your shell can't find hermes. It's almost always ~/.local/bin missing from PATH. Here's how to confirm it and fix it for good.
Aug 5, 2026
- Fix: Hermes Agent HTTP 400 on the first chat
Setup worked but `hermes chat` fails with a 400. Nine times out of ten it is a model name your provider does not recognise. Prove it in one command.
Aug 5, 2026
Guides
- How to connect Hermes Agent to Telegram
Connect Hermes Agent to Telegram securely with BotFather, the gateway wizard, user allowlisting, background service setup, and silent-bot fixes.
Aug 12, 2026
- The cheapest VPS that actually runs Hermes Agent 24/7
Hermes is self-hosted, so it needs a box that never sleeps. Here's what the RAM floor really is, and which providers hit it without overpaying.
Aug 5, 2026
- How to install Hermes Agent on macOS
Works on Apple Silicon and Intel with one command. The parts that trip people up are zsh PATH, Git needing Xcode tools, and a laptop that sleeps.
Aug 5, 2026
- How to install Hermes Agent on Windows
Native PowerShell and WSL2 both work, but they are not equivalent. Here is the command for each, which one to pick, and what goes wrong on either.
Aug 5, 2026
- How to install Hermes Agent on Linux
The one-line install takes about a minute. This covers the prerequisites per distro, why you must not use sudo, and how to keep it running after you log out.
Aug 5, 2026
Common questions
What is Hermes Agent?
Hermes Agent is an open-source, self-hosted AI agent framework from Nous Research, released under the MIT license. It runs on your own machine, keeps memory that persists across sessions, and connects to messaging platforms like Telegram, Discord and Slack through a gateway process.
Is Hermes Agent free?
The software itself is free and MIT-licensed. What costs money is whatever model provider you point it at, plus a server if you want it running around the clock. For most people the model usage is the larger bill by a wide margin.
What makes Hermes different from a normal chatbot?
Persistent memory. A chatbot starts each session blank; Hermes keeps what it learned on disk you control and can search it later. It also turns successful workflows into reusable skills, so the same task gets cheaper the second time.
Do I need a GPU to run Hermes Agent?
Not if you use a hosted model provider, which is how most people run it. Hermes orchestrates; the model runs elsewhere. A GPU is only needed if you also intend to serve the model locally, which is a completely different budget.
How often does Hermes Agent get updated?
Roughly weekly. That pace is a genuine advantage and a genuine hazard: fixes land fast, but upgrades can break a working setup. Read the changelog before pulling, and snapshot first.
Why trust this site
Everything here is tested against a real install before it goes up, and each article carries the version it was verified on plus a genuine last-updated date. When a release breaks something documented here, the article gets corrected rather than left to rot. This is an independent resource and is not affiliated with Nous Research — the official repo and its docs remain the source of truth for the software itself. More about how this works →