Installing the Hermes agent

Hermes installs with one line on Linux, macOS, WSL2 and Termux, one PowerShell line on native Windows, or a desktop installer on macOS and Windows. The installer fetches everything it needs, including its own Python and Node, and puts a hermes command on your path. That part really is two minutes. The part the docs spend more words on is keeping it running when you are not there.

The install

• Linux, macOS, WSL2 or Android via Termux: one curl line piped to bash. The only prerequisite is Git; on Linux also curl and xz.
• Native Windows: one PowerShell line. It brings uv, Python 3.11, Node, ripgrep, ffmpeg and a portable Git, with no administrator rights.
• Hermes Desktop: an installer for macOS and Windows that sets up the command line and the desktop app together; a command-line install can add the desktop app later.
• Per-user installs land under a hidden hermes folder in your home directory; root installs follow the usual /usr/local layout for shared machines.

Reload the shell, type hermes, and you are chatting. Separate commands then pick the provider and model, decide which tools are enabled, connect Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp or Signal, and diagnose anything that went sideways. Nous also offers a portal login that covers hundreds of models and a hosted tool gateway in one subscription, if you would rather not collect API keys.

What can go wrong

• Windows Defender or another antivirus quarantines the uv binary the installer ships. The project documents it as a false positive, with a verification recipe and a folder-level exclusion.
• A service account without sudo cannot install Chromium’s system libraries; the docs split the install into a one-time admin step and a user-level install, or skip the browser.
• The gateway stops at logout. A user-level service does not start at boot until lingering is enabled for that user.

Get Hermes Agent up and running in under two minutes!

The always-on part

Hermes is designed to be talked to from Telegram while it works on a machine elsewhere, and that is also the honest cost: a machine that stays on, a provider account, keys, updates, backups, and the gateway process kept alive through reboots. The install is two minutes; the operating is a standing commitment. Hermes vs OpenClaw compares that commitment across the two engines.

Or have it installed for you

Hosted Hermes on Diali is Hermes installed, updated and kept running on an isolated instance in the EU, with WhatsApp, SMS and the chat dashboards available alongside the usual channels, and AI credits included so no provider account is needed on day one. Same agent, none of the machine.

• One line to install, on every desktop platform and on Android.
• Provider, tools and channels are separate commands you can rerun at any time.
• Keeping it alive is the real job, and it is the one you can delegate.

New to it altogether? What is the Hermes agent is the explainer.