Hermes: a terminal agent and a messaging gateway in one

Most agents live in one window. Hermes runs in your terminal and answers from your chat apps, with one install that brings its own runtime.

Hermes Agent is a free, MIT-licensed AI agent from Nous Research that works as both an interactive command-line tool and a messaging gateway, so you can talk to it in a terminal or from Telegram and Discord. A single install script provisions everything it needs, including uv, Python 3.11, Node.js, ripgrep, ffmpeg and a portable Git Bash on Windows, so it does not depend on what you already have. You choose your own model provider with the hermes model command and control which tools are enabled with hermes tools, and an optional Nous Portal subscription covers 300 or more models plus web search, image generation and text to speech under one account.

What you get

  • An interactive CLI agent and a Telegram or Discord gateway from one install
  • An installer that brings its own Python, Node.js, ripgrep and ffmpeg
  • Your choice of model provider, set with a single hermes model command
  • Optional Nous Portal access to 300+ models under one subscription
  • MIT licensed, from the team behind the Hermes model family

Who this is not for

This is a developer tool that expects a terminal. If you want a polished desktop chat app with no setup, this is not it. On Windows the installer downloads roughly 45MB of portable Git if you do not already have Git.

Credit

Created by Nous Research· MIT licensed, free on GitHub

ProfitizeOS did not build this and does not host it. You get a link straight to the original.

Free. Two fields, then straight to the resource and setup guide.

Common questions

Is Hermes free?

The agent is MIT licensed and free. You still pay whichever model provider you point it at, unless you run a local model. Nous Portal is a separate optional paid subscription.

Do I have to use Nous models?

No. Hermes works with whatever provider you configure. The Portal is a convenience so you do not have to collect five separate API keys, not a requirement.

Does it work on Windows?

Yes, natively, via the PowerShell installer. It installs to your local app data and bundles a portable Git so it does not interfere with any system Git.

How is this different from OpenClaw?

They overlap heavily and Hermes even ships a hermes claw migrate command for people moving across. Hermes leads with the terminal agent and its own bundled runtime; OpenClaw leads with the gateway and multi-channel messaging.

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