witcheer's Wingtips for Hermes Agent

Release explainers

1. #9 · the plugin catalog

   Sep 17, 2026 · Release explainers · CLI / Desktop

   here are the answers to the questions you asked most under yesterday's plugin catalog announcement:

   Show full tip

   (1) haven't there always been plugins?

   yes. the catalog is a directory on top of the same plugin system: a reviewed list you can install from by name, hermes plugins install <name>, or from the Plugins page under Capabilities in Hermes Desktop.

   (2) how are the community plugins vetted?

   every entry gets in through a pull request that a maintainer reviews and merges, pinned to one exact commit. the entry also declares the tools, hooks and environment variables the plugin uses.

   (3) what about updates after the first review?

   the pin is the update path. when the author pushes new code, your install does not change until a new pin goes through the same review. a plugin pulled from the catalog goes on a removed list and the installer refuses it from then on.

   (4) do I need to update Hermes to see new entries?

   no. Hermes refreshes the catalog from the docs site at most every six hours, so new entries and removals arrive on their own.

   (5) installed is not enabled

   installing puts the plugin on disk. hermes plugins enable <name> switches it on, and hermes plugins list shows which ones came from the catalog.

   (6) can I still install my own repos?

   yes. hermes plugins install <git url> works for any repository, unreviewed and with a warning banner. the catalog is for finding plugins; the URL path is for your own.

   (7) how do I get my plugin in?

   one pull request that adds one yaml file to the plugin-catalog folder: you own the repo, it has a release, the validation check is green.

   https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/plugin-catalog

   SourcesHermes docs: Plugin Catalog

2. #8 · Hermes Business, what a team actually gets

   Sep 15, 2026 · Release explainers · CLI / Desktop / Gateway

   here are the answers to the questions you asked most under yesterday's Hermes Business announcement:

   Show full tip

   (1) where your data lives

   in an isolated tenant per team on Nous infrastructure. Enterprise deployments keep it on infrastructure you control.

   (2) your own machines

   Hermes Enterprise is the same stack on-prem or in your private cloud, with SSO, SLAs and white-glove onboarding. Business is the self-serve version on Nous infrastructure.

   (3) the team skill library

   a skill any member builds is published to the team library and becomes available to everyone's agent.

   (4) one balance, one hosted agent per person

   the team has its own balance, separate from your personal one. you invite colleagues by email from the Team page, each member gets their own hosted Hermes Agent and draws from the team balance under a spend cap you set.

   (5) roles and channels

   owners and admins manage roles, caps and API keys; members sign in and use their agent, on Discord, Telegram, Slack and WhatsApp through the Team Gateway, plus the terminal, the Desktop app and the Cloud.

   (6) models

   every model on the Nous inference API, plus your own provider keys.

   more: https://portal.nousresearch.com/business

   Sourcesportal.nousresearch.com

3. #7 · Hermes on Omarchy

   Sep 9, 2026 · Release explainers · CLI / Desktop

   Hermes Agent is built into Omarchy now. it is an Arch-based Linux setup where everything runs from the keyboard and one menu.

   Show full tip

   here is what you get:

   (1) the desktop app, from the menu

   Omarchy menu > Install > AI > Hermes Desktop. it installs like any other Omarchy app and sets up the Hermes runtime on first launch.

   (2) Hermes as your default agent

   Setup > Defaults > Agent > Hermes. the agent entry in the menu now opens Hermes. the terminal, the default agent and the app all use the same installation.

   (3) two skills come with the OS

   Omarchy ships an omarchy skill and links it into Hermes for you. ask Hermes to change a keybinding, rearrange the bar, set up a hook that runs on theme change or build a theme from scratch, and it knows where the files live and what it must never touch.

   (4) a crash becomes a question you can ask

   when a program crashes, Omarchy shows a notification: click to diagnose with AI. that hands the crash to Hermes with a second built-in skill that reads the core dump and the system journal around that moment, rules out the boring causes first, and tells you whether it is worth reporting.

   (5) your theme, everywhere

   switch an Omarchy theme and Hermes follows: the desktop app, the TUI and the CLI take the same colours.

   SourcesHermes docs: Desktop

4. #6 · web search with no key at all

   Sep 7, 2026 · Release explainers · CLI / Desktop / Gateway

   a fresh install of Hermes Agent can search the web before you have added a single API key.

   Show full tip

   here is what is happening behind that, and what your options are:

   (1) the keyless tier

   with no web credentials configured, web_search and web_extract rotate across the public free tiers of four search vendors: Exa, Parallel, Firecrawl and Keenable. if one of them throttles the request, Hermes retries on the next one in the ring.

   (2) it is the last resort, not the default winner

   any backend you configure or any API key you add takes over immediately. the keyless ring only answers when nothing else can.

   (3) you can turn it off

   web.keyless_fallback: false in config[.]yaml and Hermes never touches the anonymous endpoints.

   (4) if you want guaranteed, unthrottled service, pick a door

   with a Nous Portal subscription, web search and extract run through the Tool Gateway with managed Firecrawl, no key to manage (hermes setup --portal on a new install, or switch web on in hermes tools on an existing one). or add your own key for any vendor and pin it in hermes tools, where Exa, Parallel and Keenable each show a Free (keyless) and a Paid (API key) row.

   https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/web-search

   SourcesHermes docs: Web Search

5. #5 · bot-to-bot messaging

   Sep 5, 2026 · Release explainers · CLI / Desktop

   since the Pantheon release here is how I use Hermes Agent bots: one agent sent a request to another profile's Bot Chat, finished its own turn, and the reply came back later as a notification, attributed to the sender.

   Show full tip

   how it works:

   (1) every bot knows its teammates. the live roster, names and roles, is part of each Bot Chat, so a bot picks the right recipient on its own

   (2) a bot messages another with the message_agent tool: the target is validated against the roster, the message lands in that bot's own Bot Chat with a "Message from" attribution, and the reply arrives when it has one

   (3) you can also hand work off yourself: type "@ researcher have a look at this" in any chat and the active bot composes its own message to that bot. your text is never forwarded verbatim

   this all works headless too: hermes -p <bot> chat opens the same canonical Bot Chat from the CLI, so a VPS fleet messages the same way a Desktop one does.

   https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/bot-mode

   SourcesHermes docs: Bot Mode

6. #4 · live subagent steering

   Sep 3, 2026 · Release explainers · CLI / Desktop / Gateway

   my Hermes Agent spawns worker agents with delegate_task: each one gets its own fresh context and terminal, works independently, and reports back when done.

   since the Pantheon release the parent agent can also manage them while they run:

   (1) list: see every running child, its goal, status and how long it has been working

   (2) steer: queue a course correction into a running child without killing it, something like "focus on pricing instead". it lands at the child's next step and the in-flight work survives

   (3) stop: end a child early, the partial result still comes back

   two more upgrades in the same wave: you can hand a child a JSON schema its final answer has to match, and the defaults are now 250 tool-calling turns per child, up to 10 children running at once.

   https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/delegation

   SourcesHermes docs: Delegation

7. #3 · the MCP command center

   Sep 2, 2026 · Release explainers · Desktop

   managing MCP servers in Hermes Agent is now super user friendly and easy to do.

   this new release added one desktop page where your servers and the whole catalog live together.

   what it does for you:

   (1) adding a server is a paste. drop in what you have and the page imports it.

   (2) background health checks watch every server and nudge you to re-auth when needed.

   (3) a cost overlay shows what each server's tool schemas cost you in tokens, plus 30 days of usage per server.

   (4) hermes:// deep links install a server in one click, always behind an explicit confirmation.

   everything can be managed through the new dashboard!

   SourcesHermes docs: Mcp

8. #2 · /bg vs /btw

   Sep 1, 2026 · Release explainers · CLI / Gateway

   Hermes Wingtips #60: /bg vs /btw

   (1) /bg hands a prompt to a separate session:

   your Hermes Agent works on it in the background while your conversation stays free, and the result comes back when it is done.

   (2) /btw is for a side question about the conversation you are already in:

   it answers from a snapshot, so the task that is currently running never stops.

   they also both work on messaging platforms, not only in the terminal.

   SourcesHermes docs: Slash Commands

9. #1 · real profile browsing

   Aug 30, 2026 · Release explainers · CLI / Desktop / Gateway

   Hermes Wingtips #58: real profile browsing

   it shipped in Hermes Agent this week, and the same questions keep coming back. the two big ones:

   (1) "so the agent can see all my browser logins?"

   it never touches your real browser. it browses a separate copy that you can revoke and delete any time. you stay in control the whole time.

   (2) "does it work fully local, with a local model?"

   yes. with any backend and any model, fully local setups included.

   with this new tool, your agent can easily book flights, check orders, pull invoices and way more!

   SourcesHermes docs: Browser