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Messaging & the gateway

Compare every documented chat platform and remote channel in the messaging directory. Then learn where the gateway runs, who may talk to it and where scheduled results go.

41 resources

All messaging platforms

Compare chat apps and other ways in, with setup needs, features and official docs.

Guides

Hermes Agent messaging: Telegram, Slack, WhatsApp, iMessage, moreCompare messaging platforms, setup needs, feature notes and official documentation.Hermes Agent messaging gateway explainedWhat the Hermes gateway process does, how to set it up and keep it running, who is allowed to talk to your bot, and how chat sessions behave.How to set up Hermes Agent on TelegramConnect Hermes Agent to Telegram: create a bot with Create with QR or BotFather, set your allowlist, start the gateway and chat from your phone.How to set up Hermes Agent on DiscordConnect Hermes Agent to Discord: create a bot, turn on Message Content Intent, invite it, set your allowlist and start the gateway.How to set up Hermes Agent on WhatsApp with the Baileys bridgeConnect Hermes Agent to WhatsApp: link a number with a QR code, set your allowlist, start the gateway and message your agent from your phone.How to set up Hermes Agent on SlackCreate a Slack app from the Hermes manifest, save both tokens, restrict access and start the gateway for DMs, channels and threads.How to set up Hermes Agent on Microsoft TeamsRegister a Teams bot, connect its HTTPS webhook to Hermes, restrict access by user ID and send a first direct message.How to set up Hermes Agent on Google ChatConnect Hermes through a Google Chat app and Pub/Sub pull subscription, restrict users and optionally enable native file uploads.How to set up Hermes Agent on MatrixCreate a Matrix bot account, configure its credentials and allowlists, choose an encryption mode and start a private conversation.How to set up Hermes Agent on SignalLink Signal through signal-cli, restrict access, start both processes and send a first message, with notes on media and keeping the host online.How to set up Hermes Agent on emailUse a dedicated IMAP/SMTP inbox, allow trusted senders, pin sender authentication and start the Hermes email gateway for threaded replies.How to set up Hermes Agent on iMessage with PhotonConnect iMessage through Photon's hosted service without a Mac relay. Set access controls and understand shared-line and incoming-attachment limits.How to set up Hermes Agent on iMessage with BlueBubblesUse an always-on Mac and BlueBubbles to connect iMessage to Hermes. Configure both network directions, authorize senders and check delivery.How to set up Hermes Agent on WhatsApp with the Business Cloud APIConnect business WhatsApp to Hermes with a Meta app, signed HTTPS webhook and allowlist. Understand the 24-hour delivery window.How to set up Hermes Agent with Open WebUI and the API serverUse Open WebUI with the Hermes API server. Set a strong key, keep loopback private and understand Docker reachability and host tool access.

Tools & integrations

Telegram: reach Hermes from a private bot conversationUse Telegram as a conversation and delivery surface while keeping bot credentials and allowed users explicitly controlled.Discord: keep agent conversation scoped to the right peopleConnect Hermes to direct messages or server channels with deliberate mention rules, authorization, and session boundaries.Slack: bring Hermes into your team workspaceConnect Hermes to Slack over Socket Mode so allowed teammates can message it in DMs, channels and threads.WhatsApp: chat with Hermes from your phoneLink Hermes to WhatsApp as a linked device through a bundled Node.js bridge, in bot or self-chat mode.Signal: a private, end-to-end encrypted channel to your agentTalk to Hermes over Signal by linking signal-cli as a secondary device and pointing the gateway at its local HTTP daemon.Email gateway: give Hermes its own inboxLet Hermes read a dedicated mailbox over IMAP and reply over SMTP, with sender authentication on by default.Home Assistant: let Hermes see and control your smart homeInstall the official homeassistant plugin to give Hermes smart-home tools and react to entity state changes.Voice and TTS: spoken replies and voice-note transcriptionChoose a text-to-speech and speech-to-text provider so Hermes can talk back and understand voice messages.

Troubleshooting

Hermes Agent task finished but no message arrivedThe task ran but no message arrived? Check the saved result and intended destination before you run the whole task again.Hermes Agent bot not responding in your chat appWhat to check when your Hermes bot on Telegram, Discord or another chat app stays silent, replies 'unauthorized', or works in DMs but not in groups.

Questions

What is the messaging gateway?

The gateway is a single background process that connects Hermes to all your configured chat platforms, manages their sessions, runs scheduled cron jobs and delivers voice messages. Supported platforms include Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Email, Matrix, Microsoft Teams, Home Assistant and many more.

Set it up with hermes gateway setup, then run it with hermes gateway or as a service with hermes gateway install and hermes gateway start.

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How do I connect Hermes to Telegram, and can I run separate bots there?

Create a bot with @BotFather to get a token, then run hermes gateway setup and choose Telegram. It asks for the token and your allowed user IDs. Or add TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN and TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS to ~/.hermes/.env yourself. Start the gateway with hermes gateway and message your bot. In Hermes Desktop, Messaging has a Create with QR card that creates the bot, detects your user ID and restarts the gateway for you.

For several separately addressable bots, give each its own profile and its own BotFather token. A bot token can only be used by one profile at a time, and each profile keeps its own memory, skills and sessions.

In groups, Telegram's privacy mode hides ordinary messages from bots until you turn it off in BotFather, and telegram.require_mention: true makes a bot answer only when mentioned.

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How do I connect Discord or Slack?

For Discord, create an application and bot token in the Discord developer portal, turn on Message Content Intent (without it Discord refuses the connection), then run hermes gateway setup and pick Discord.

Slack uses Socket Mode, which connects over WebSockets so you don't need a public URL. Create a Slack app, enable Socket Mode, and add the tokens through hermes gateway setup.

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Can I use Hermes on WhatsApp?

Yes. The built-in bridge is based on Baileys, which emulates a WhatsApp Web session, so it needs no Meta developer account or public URL. Run hermes whatsapp and scan the QR code with your phone.

Because it isn't the official Business API, the docs warn about ban risk, and each WhatsApp number supports one paired session. A separate WhatsApp Cloud API option also exists.

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How do I control who can use my bot?

Use allowlists, meaning specific user IDs such as TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS, or DM pairing. With pairing, an unknown user gets an 8-character code and you approve it with hermes pairing approve <platform> <code>. Codes expire after an hour.

unauthorized_dm_behavior can be pair, ignore or decline. An open allow-all mode exists but the docs advise against it.

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How do I keep the gateway running in the background?

Run hermes gateway install to install it as a user service (systemd on Linux, launchd on macOS), then hermes gateway start, stop, restart and status to manage it. On Linux, sudo hermes gateway install --system installs a boot-time system service.

On WSL, where systemd is often unreliable, the docs suggest hermes gateway run in the foreground, inside tmux, or with nohup.

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Why doesn’t my Telegram bot see messages in a group?

Telegram bots have privacy mode switched on by default, so in groups they don't receive ordinary messages. Turn it off in @BotFather under Bot Settings, Group Privacy, then remove and re-add the bot, because Telegram caches the setting when a bot joins. Promoting the bot to group admin also works.

TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS still applies in groups. To stop the bot replying to general chatter, set telegram.require_mention: true.

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How do I stop tool logs and reasoning cluttering my chat?

Set display.tool_progress in config.yaml. off shows only the final response, new shows brief one-liners as new tool calls happen, all includes tool results and verbose adds full arguments and outputs. For messaging platforms the docs suggest off or new. Restart the gateway after editing.

Setting display.tool_progress_command: true enables /verbose in the gateway so you can toggle it per session.

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Can Hermes have its own email inbox?

Yes. The docs walk through giving the agent a dedicated mailbox with the bundled Himalaya email skill, which drives the himalaya CLI over IMAP and SMTP so the agent can read, search, send and organise mail. Create a fresh account rather than handing over your personal inbox, and use an app password if the provider uses 2FA.

This is separate from the Email gateway adapter, which lets people chat with Hermes by emailing it. You can run both, ideally on separate accounts.

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Can Hermes work with Gmail or Outlook, and how do I connect email safely?

There are a few routes. The bundled Google Workspace skill covers Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sheets and Docs through your own Google OAuth app; ask Hermes to set it up and it walks you through. With a Nous identity, hosted connectors such as Gmail run through the Tool Gateway and are managed with hermes connectors or Desktop's Connectors page. For plain IMAP/SMTP mail (Gmail, Outlook and others), the bundled Himalaya skill works with an app password.

To be safe, start with a dedicated mailbox for the agent rather than your main inbox, use app passwords or OAuth (never your main password), and keep risky actions behind approvals. Email content is untrusted input, so be careful about letting it act on instructions found in messages.

Separately, the Email gateway lets people chat with Hermes by emailing it; Outlook / Microsoft 365 works there over IMAP and SMTP.

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Is Telegram or Discord easier to connect, and do they get the same features?

Telegram is usually the quickest: one token from @BotFather, and Hermes Desktop can even create the bot from a QR code. Discord needs an application in the developer portal with Message Content Intent turned on. Slack uses Socket Mode, so none of them needs a public URL.

The core is the same everywhere: one agent with the same memory, skills, tools, slash commands and cron delivery. Differences come from the platforms. Telegram caps bot command menus at 100 entries, Discord can join voice channels for live conversation, and sessions are keyed differently (Slack shares a thread, Discord a channel, while most others are per user).

You can run several at once from one gateway; set each up with hermes gateway setup.

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Can I move a live session from my computer to my phone?

Yes, from the CLI. Run /sethome once in the destination chat (for example your Telegram DM with the bot), then in the CLI session run /handoff telegram. The gateway picks the session up with its full history, and your CLI exits with a hint for resuming locally later with /resume.

It works with Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal and Matrix, needs the gateway running, and is refused mid-turn, so wait for the current reply to finish.

Separately, Desktop and the CLI share sessions with each other, so on your own machines you can simply resume a conversation in another interface.

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