Hermes agent setup

Setting up Hermes is a handful of commands after a two-minute install, and the docs are clear about the order: pick a model, decide which tools are on, connect the messaging platforms, and install the gateway as a service so it survives logout. There is also a shortcut that does the provider and the tool gateway in one command. Here is the sequence, what each step asks, and the things that trip people after it.

The commands, in order

• hermes: start chatting in the terminal; the first run is the fastest way to know the install worked.
• hermes model: choose the provider and the model. hermes tools: choose which tools are enabled.
• hermes gateway setup: the interactive wizard for messaging platforms, with arrow keys, showing what is already configured and offering to start or restart the gateway when done.
• hermes gateway install: a user service on Linux or a launchd service on macOS, or a boot-time system service on a server with the system flag.
• hermes setup: the full wizard that configures everything at once, and hermes doctor when something is off.

The portal shortcut is one command with the portal flag: it logs you into Nous Portal, sets Nous as the provider and turns on the tool gateway, which bundles web search, image generation, speech and a cloud browser under one subscription. It is the lowest-friction path for unattended runs because the sign-in refreshes itself. the Hermes messaging gateway has the platform table for the messaging step.

Bots need both a model provider and tool providers (TTS, web). A Nous Portal subscription bundles all of them.

What trips people after setup

• The gateway stops at logout until lingering is enabled for the user; a user service is not a boot service.
• Saved is not connected: credentials stored by the wizard can enable a platform, but an enabled platform can still show the gateway stopped.
• Memory pays off at session boundaries, so a chat that never ends never re-reads the updated memory files; start a new session on purpose.

Coming from OpenClaw

A migrate command imports an OpenClaw setup, and the two agents share the same chat apps and the same skill format, so the switch is a smaller move than it looks. Hermes vs OpenClaw is the honest comparison for deciding whether to make it.

The setup that is not yours to do

Keeping the gateway alive, updated and paid for is the standing part. Installing the Hermes agent covers the install-time traps, and Hosted Hermes on Diali is Hermes set up for you on an isolated instance in the EU, with WhatsApp, SMS and the chat dashboards from the dashboard and AI credits included on day one.

In short

• Model, tools, gateway setup, gateway install, in that order.
• The portal flag does the provider and the tool gateway in one.
• Lingering, saved-versus-connected, and session boundaries are the three after-setup traps.