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Home/Categories/AI & Machine Learning/Hermes Agent
Logo of Hermes Agent

Hermes Agent

Open source alternative to Grok Bot, MindStudio, Lindy AI and Muse

  • 255.5K stars
  • MIT
  • Active this week
  • Last commit 1 day ago

Last verified Oct 20, 2026

Runs a self-hosted AI agent with persistent memory, tool use, and multi-channel chat across CLI and messaging apps. Best for teams that want ChatGPT-like workflows without vendor lock-in.

Visit websiteGitHub255.5K stars1-click deploy on Hostinger
Screenshot of Hermes Agent
TL;DR

Hermes Agent is a self-hosted AI agent from Nous Research with persistent memory, skill creation, tool use, and multi-channel chat. It replaces hosted assistant workflows like ChatGPT Projects, Claude, or single-device coding agents when you need an agent that learns across sessions and can run on your own server. MIT licensed and installable on Linux, macOS, WSL2, native Windows beta, and Termux.

Read the full breakdownHide the full breakdownWho it is for, how it works, trade-offs, self-hosting, the quick start and the FAQ
who it's for

Who Hermes Agent is for#

AI power users building a personal operating agent

Hermes can remember context, create skills, and work from messaging apps.

Skip if:

you want a hosted chat account with minimal setup.

Research teams testing agent memory and skills

the project exposes a practical loop for persistent agent improvement.

Skip if:

you need a locked-down enterprise admin console first.

Developers running cloud-based agents

Hermes can live on a VPS or sandbox while users talk to it from chat.

Skip if:

all work must stay on a local laptop.

the problem

The problem it solves#

Most AI assistants forget too much between sessions or trap memory inside a vendor product. That limits long-running work, personal operating context, and team-specific procedures, especially when the assistant needs to act from a server instead of a single laptop.

The second pain is channel sprawl. Users want the same agent in CLI, Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, and voice workflows, but each integration usually becomes a separate bot with its own context and maintenance burden.

how Hermes Agent solves it

How it solves it#

Persistent memory system

Persistent memory system grows across sessions, with nudges to store useful context and retrieve past conversations.

Reusable skills system

Skills system can create and reuse procedural knowledge after complex tasks, following the agentskills.io standard.

Messaging gateway

Messaging gateway supports CLI plus channels such as Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, and Teams.

Model-provider choice

Model-provider choice includes Nous Portal, OpenRouter, NovitaAI, NVIDIA NIM, Hugging Face, OpenAI, and compatible endpoints.

Flexible terminal backends

Terminal backends include local, Docker, SSH, Singularity, Modal, Daytona, and Vercel Sandbox for different deployment models.

strengths · trade-offs

Strengths and trade-offs#

Strengths

  • Long-term agent growthHermes Agent focuses on long-term agent growth, which makes it stronger for recurring work than one-off chatbot sessions.
  • One agent across chat appsThe multi-channel gateway lets a single agent meet users in chat apps without splitting context across separate bots.
  • Provider flexibilityProvider choice helps teams tune cost, latency, model capability, and data policy without rewriting the agent workflow.
  • MIT licenseThe MIT license makes the project easier to adapt for research labs, internal automation, and custom agent environments.

Trade-offs

  • -Operational setup requiredHermes Agent is more operationally involved than a hosted assistant. You need to manage the runtime, credentials, messaging channels, and model providers.
  • -Memory hygiene mattersPersistent memory is valuable only if users curate it. Poor memory hygiene can create stale context or incorrect assumptions over time.
  • -Broad surface can be excessiveThe broad capability surface can be too much for teams that only need a simple coding copilot or chat interface.
install · quick start

Quick start#

bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
guide · self-host

How to self-host Hermes Agent#

Deploy Hermes on your own server to run a self-hosted AI agent with persistent memory and tool use.

  • A Linux server with SSH access (a small server is enough; any VPS provider works, e.g. Hostinger)
  • An API key for your model provider of choice

  1. 01Install Hermes and its dependencies

    The official installer handles Python 3.11, uv, Node.js, ripgrep, and ffmpeg. Run it on your server and follow any prompts it surfaces.

    curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash

  2. 02Run the setup wizard

    The setup wizard configures everything in one pass, including your model provider API key. Complete it before starting the agent.

    hermes setup

  3. 03Start the interactive CLI

    Once setup is complete, the hermes command opens the terminal UI where you can talk to the agent directly.

    hermes

  4. 04Connect a messaging gateway

    To reach the agent from Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, or Email, run gateway setup then start the gateway process. After that, messages from the connected app go straight to your agent.

    hermes gateway setup
hermes gateway start
tech stack · detected from GitHub

What it's built on#

Languages
JavaScriptPythonTypeScript
Frameworks
React
Tooling
esbuild
frequently asked

FAQ#

What makes Hermes Agent different from a chatbot?

Hermes Agent is designed to keep improving across sessions through persistent memory, reusable skills, and tool workflows. A normal chatbot usually answers in the moment and forgets most operating context.

Can Hermes Agent run on my own server?

Yes. Hermes Agent can run on a VPS, local machine, GPU cluster, or serverless-style environment, depending on the backend you choose. You still need credentials for model providers and messaging channels.

Which models does Hermes Agent support?

Hermes Agent can use many providers, including Nous Portal, OpenRouter, NovitaAI, NVIDIA NIM, Hugging Face, OpenAI, and compatible endpoints. You can switch providers without rebuilding the agent workflow.

Looking for more

Other ways to replace Grok Bot, MindStudio, Lindy AI and Muse#

paperclip

Featuredfor Grok Bot

Self-hosted AI agent management with org charts and budgets

105,118 GitHub starsVisit

OpenMausBot

#2 in the Grok Bot guide

Local-first agent team on your existing CLI subscriptions

5,280 GitHub stars

OpenBot

#3 in the Grok Bot guide

Per-agent isolation with a policy-gated audit trail

6,875 GitHub stars

openhuman

#4 in the Grok Bot guide

Memory, reach, and workflow orchestration

42,188 GitHub stars
All 11 Grok Bot alternatives8 open source Grok Bot alternatives, ranked
by category

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Hermes Agent, OpenCode, MarkItDown460

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REA (Reverse Engineer Anything), superpowers, Skills for Real Engineers
Hostinger

Run Hermes Agent on your own server

Hostinger sets Hermes Agent up as a one-click app on a VPS.

Deploy on Hostinger

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