Hermes Agent Setup Guide — Free AI Agent in 20 Minutes

No code. No API keys to start. Just one command and you have a working AI agent on your machine.

What is Hermes Agent?

Hermes is a free, open-source AI agent by Nous Research. It runs in your terminal, on your desktop, and in Telegram/Discord/WhatsApp. It can write code, search the web, send emails, run tasks on a schedule, and learn from experience.

Step 1: Install (60 seconds)

Windows (PowerShell):

iex (irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.ps1)

Mac/Linux/WSL:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Step 2: Start chatting

After install, type:

hermes

You're now chatting with your own AI agent. Ask it anything.

Step 3: Pick your model

Type /model or run hermes model to choose from 200+ models. The free Nous Portal gives you access without any API keys.

Step 4: Connect to your phone

hermes gateway

Then connect Telegram, Discord, or WhatsApp. Your agent is now in your pocket.

Step 5: Add skills

Hermes has 250+ pre-built skills. Browse them with /skills. They cover SEO, email, content, research, and more.

What you can build (real examples)

Email agent that handles your inbox while you sleep
SEO content machine that researches + writes + publishes
Lead classifier that scores every inquiry instantly
Cron scheduler that runs tasks daily, weekly, hourly
Multi-agent swarm for parallel task execution

Case Study: What we built in 30 days

Using only Hermes Agent (free), we deployed:

8 AI agents running 24/7
30 sellable products
5 YouTube videos
177 outreach emails sent
Agent OS dashboard

All from one Dell laptop. No GPU. No team.

Want us to set it up for you? → Hermes Services — from £2K/month