#Hermes Agent Hands-on Practice

This chapter ties everything together with one complete example: from install to a Telegram personal assistant that reports proactively.

#Goal

Build a Hermes assistant that:

1. Chats and runs tasks normally in the terminal
2. Connects to Telegram for remote control
3. Pushes to-dos and a news summary to Telegram every morning at 8 AM
4. Remembers your preferences with basic security enabled

#Step 1: Install

curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
hermes doctor      # Self-check the environment

#Step 2: Configure the Model

hermes setup
# In the wizard, pick a provider (e.g., OpenRouter), enter the API key, choose a model

Or manually:

hermes config set provider openrouter
hermes model       # Choose a specific model

Put the key in ~/.hermes/.env:

OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-...

#Step 3: First Conversation & Building Memory

hermes

Tell it your preferences so it writes them to memory:

Please remember: my name is Alex, I'm a backend developer, and I prefer bullet points over long paragraphs.
Keep all summaries to 5 items or fewer.

These get distilled into USER.md / MEMORY.md and persist across sessions.

#Step 4: Tighten Tools & Security

hermes tools       # Enable only what you need

• Disable non-essential high-risk tools
• Keep command approval on; allowlist only trusted read-only commands
• Consider switching risky actions to the Docker backend

See Permissions & Security.

#Step 5: Connect Telegram

Create a bot via Telegram's @BotFather, get the token, then:

hermes gateway setup
# Choose Telegram, enter the Bot Token

Put the token in .env:

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=123456:ABC-...

Start the gateway:

hermes gateway

Be sure to enable DM pairing + user allowlist so only your account can command it.

Send the bot a message on Telegram:

/new
Hi — confirm you can receive my messages?

#Step 6: Set Up Daily Proactive Push (Cron)

Define the scheduled task in natural language:

Every morning at 8:00, organize today's to-dos (no more than 5),
add 3 AI-news summaries, and send them to my Telegram.

Hermes creates a Cron task that runs unattended and pushes results through the gateway.

#Step 7: Distill into a Skill

Once a multi-step flow runs smoothly, solidify it:

Save the flow "organize to-dos + news summary + push to Telegram" as a skill,
so I can run /daily-brief to trigger it.

Then you can simply:

/daily-brief

#Verification Checklist

[ ] Terminal chat with hermes works
[ ] Model configured; /model can switch
[ ] Preferences saved to memory (a new session continues them)
[ ] Tools minimized + command approval on
[ ] Telegram gateway connected, DM pairing + allowlist on
[ ] Daily 8 AM push is live
[ ] Flow saved as the /daily-brief skill

#Going Further

• Add a Cron audit task to monitor your server and alert
• Use sub-agents to research multiple sources in parallel
• Connect a second platform (e.g., Slack) for your team
• Browse agentskills.io to install more community skills

#Next Steps

• Use Cases — more reproducible patterns
• Multi-Agent — scale up your workflows
• Resources — official docs and community