Every Hermes Agent tip from witcheer at Nous Research, in his own words. Collected in one place and updated daily.
witcheer says each tip ran on a real Hermes box before it shipped. Hermes changes fast, so check your version and the linked doc.
Latest tip #113 · switch projects from the chat · Oct 29, 2026
want to restart your Hermes Agent while you're away from your computer?
/restart
send it in the chat with your bot. it finishes the task it is working on, then restarts and messages you when it is back.
docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/reference/slash-commands#messaging-slash-commands
a source install of Hermes Agent now goes from one published release to the next when you update.
want every commit on main instead?
hermes update --set-channel main
on a source install, Hermes Desktop has the same switch: Settings > About > Updates > Update channel.
docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/getting-started/updating
if your Hermes bot has ever sent "Agent session appears stalled", that is a watchdog, and it never stops the turn.
it speaks up once when you have sent a follow-up and the agent has shown no activity for 5 minutes. then it is your call: /new, /stop, or keep waiting.
raise the number for long jobs, or set 0 to turn it off.
docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/configuration#session-stall-watchdog
Hermes Wingtips #67: hermes debug share
Hermes Wingtips #66: sessions.auto_prune
every conversation you have with Hermes Agent is kept, so you can resume it or search it later. over time, a busy gateway or cron setup collects a lot of ended sessions that nobody will open again.
so what happens to them?
Hermes now tidies up for you: sessions that have ended and sat untouched for a long while are removed when Hermes starts, and the database gives the space back when there is enough to reclaim. anything open, pinned or mid-conversation stays put, and your recent history stays searchable.
if you would rather keep every session forever, it is one command:
hermes config set sessions.auto_prune false
and if you like the cleanup but want a wider window, sessions.retention_days.
Hermes Wingtips #51: checkpoints in one-shot runs
your Hermes Agent snapshots files before it changes them, and that safety net is not limited to interactive sessions. a scripted run gets it too:
(1) hermes chat --checkpoints -q "your task"
the run snapshots each working directory before its first file change, exactly like a live session would. next time you open a session in that folder, /rollback lists those snapshots and can restore from them.
(2) hermes checkpoints status
shows every project the store knows about, with sizes and last touch, from any shell.
Hermes Wingtips #38: hermes doctor
your Hermes Agent ships with its own health check. one command reads your whole setup and prints a pass/fail report:
Hermes Wingtips #33: checkpoints
checkpoints snapshot your project before Hermes Agent writes, patches or runs a destructive command, and /rollback puts things back.
(1) hermes chat --checkpoints
you can turns them on for one session, or keep them on with checkpoints: enabled: true in config.yaml.
(2) /rollback
lists every snapshot; /rollback diff <N> previews the change and /rollback <N> <file> restores a single file. everything lives under ~/.hermes/checkpoints/.
turning this on is great before a big refactor, before letting an agent loose on an unfamiliar repo, or before trying yolo mode!
as an example, here is a live recovery on my own box:
Hermes Wingtips #30: back up your agent before you need to
(1) hermes backup
it writes ~/hermes-backup-<timestamp>.zip with config.yaml, .env, auth, memories, skills, sessions, cron and profiles. it copies the databases through SQLite's own backup API, so you can run it while Hermes is live.
(2) hermes import ~/hermes-backup-<timestamp>.zip puts it all back.
for a fast one, you can use hermes backup --quick, which targets critical state only: config.yaml, state.db, .env, auth and cron jobs.
hermes backup is super useful if you are moving to a new box, if you want to duplicate your agent or before doing any experiment!
Hermes Wingtips #20: how to use export
Hermes sessions export is one command for every format. pick with --format:
(1) md or qmd for a readable archive (one file per session and a manifest under ~/.hermes/session-exports)
(2) html for a self-contained page you can open and share
add --redact when anything leaves the box: it hides API keys, tokens and credentials from the write.
for one particular session: --session-id <id>.
Hermes Wingtips #16: gateway won't restart after a reboot? enable lingering
a user-service gateway runs under your login, so it stops at logout and won't come back after a reboot until you enable lingering.
headless VPS, zero root per restart:
hermes gateway install
sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER
or go boot-level: sudo hermes gateway install --system
Hermes Wingtips #13: keep your Hermes session db lean
your Hermes agent keeps every session in one SQLite db at ~/.hermes/state.db, and we ship auto-prune off by default, so none of your history disappears: it all stays searchable.
we keep it lean: hundreds of sessions sit in
Hermes Wingtips #6: if your Hermes box fills its disk, it's likely not the logs.
the unbounded growers are state-snapshots (750MB on mine), per-run cron output (1,500+ files), and stdout if your host pipes it to a file.
run the disk-cleanup plugin and watch those three before the "no space left" crash.
All tips are written by witcheer and collected here with credit. Card images stay on his X posts.
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