Tools & Toolsets — AI's Hands

Imagine hiring a brilliant assistant who can think, plan, and strategize — but has no hands. They can tell you what should be done, but can’t actually do it. That’s an AI agent without tools. Tools give agents the ability to act: search the web, write files, run commands, or even turn on your smart lights.

---

What Are Tools and Toolsets?

Let’s break it down simply:

• Tool: A single capability, like “search the web” or “read a file.”
• Toolset: A group of related tools bundled together, so you can enable or disable them in one go. For example, a “web toolset” might include both search and page-extraction tools.

Hermes comes with a built-in “toolbox” organized by category. You pick what you need — no coding required.

---

What’s Inside the Toolbox?

Here’s a plain-English tour of the main categories:

Category	What It Does	Example Tools
Web Tools	Search online, read articles	web_search, web_extract
Terminal & File Tools	Run commands, read/write files	terminal, read_file
Browser Tools	Let the agent open pages, view content, take screenshots	browser_navigate, browser_vision
Media Tools	Analyze images, generate pictures, text-to-speech	vision_analyze, image_generate
Task Planning Tools	Create to-do lists, write code, delegate to sub-agents	todo, delegate_task
Memory Tools	Remember what you said, search past conversations	memory, session_search
Scheduled Tasks	Set up alarm-clock-style automations	cronjob
Integration Tools	Connect smart home devices or external services	ha_* (Home Assistant), MCP tools

Note: Cross-session long-term memory (called Honcho) isn’t a built-in tool — it’s a plugin you install separately.

---

How to Enable and Use Tools

You don’t need to write any code. Just open your terminal and run:

hermes tools

This opens an interactive menu. Use the arrow keys to move up and down, press space to select the toolsets you want, and hit Enter to confirm.

Want to enable a single tool quickly? Use:

hermes tools --enable web_search

---

A Special Tool: X (Twitter) Search

Hermes also includes an x_search tool that can search posts and discussions on X. However, it’s off by default — you’ll need xAI credentials (like a SuperGrok account or API key) to activate it.

---

Summary & Practical Tip

In short: Tools are an AI agent’s hands. Toolsets are the organized glovebox — sorted by category, ready when you need them. Hermes ships with tools for everything from web research to file editing to smart-home control, all managed through the hermes tools command.

Practical tip: When you’re starting out, don’t enable everything at once. Pick just 1–2 toolsets that match your current task (say, “web search” and “terminal”), run a simple job end-to-end, then gradually explore more. This keeps things fast, clear, and easy to debug. Remember: it’s not about having every tool — it’s about having the right one.