Hermes Starter Pack

QUICKSTART

Get an AI agent running itself in about 15 minutes. Three building blocks: a persona (identity), a config (settings), and a cron (a job on a schedule). Wire them together and it runs on its own.

Before you start

  1. Install Hermes & connect your model — walkthrough video.
  2. Have your API key ready (e.g. your Anthropic key).
Step 1 · ~3 min

Create your agent (a profile)

hermes profile create copilot

An isolated agent named copilot — its own config, keys, memory.

Step 2 · ~4 min

Give it settings + a personality

  • Copy config.annotated.yaml → ~/.hermes/profiles/copilot/config.yaml; set model.default + terminal.cwd.
  • Copy a persona, e.g. personas/co-pilot.SOUL.md → ~/.hermes/profiles/copilot/SOUL.md.
  • Put your API key in the profile's own .env — never in config.yaml.

The personas already include the safety block — keep it.

Step 3 · ~1 min

Start the gateway

hermes gateway install

Scheduled jobs only fire while the gateway is running.

Step 4 · ~2 min

Add your first automation

Open crons/01-morning-briefing.md and run the command inside. Then test it now, don't wait:

hermes cron list      # copy the job id
hermes cron run <id>  # run it once, right now

✓ Done — an isolated agent running a job on a schedule.

The one rule

Keep approval gates on — your agent never sends, posts, pays, or deletes without asking (see safety-block.md). Running Hermes in Docker? Prefix commands with docker exec hermes.

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