Tutorial 1: Installing Hermes — Easier Than You Think

This is part of the Hermes Agent official tutorial series. View all tutorials

Think of installing Hermes like ordering a pizza — you don’t need to grow the wheat, make the dough, or build the oven. You just call, and it shows up ready to eat. The Hermes installer does all the heavy lifting for you, so you can go from zero to chatting in under two minutes.

Step 1: Pick Your Installation Path

You have two main options — choose whichever feels more comfortable:

Option A: With Hermes Desktop (recommended for beginners)
If you’re on macOS or Windows, head to hermes-agent.nousresearch.com and download the Hermes Desktop installer. Run it like any normal app installer. This gives you both a graphical app and the command-line tool.

Option B: Command-line only
Prefer the terminal? No problem. You just need Git (on Linux, also curl and xz-utils). Then run one of these:

Linux / macOS / WSL2 / Android (Termux):

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

Windows (native PowerShell):

iex (irm https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.ps1)

That’s it. One line. The installer handles everything else.

Step 2: Let the Installer Do Its Magic

The installer is like a personal assistant that sets up your entire workspace. Here’s what it does automatically:

Installs all dependencies (Python, Node.js, ripgrep, ffmpeg)
Clones the Hermes repository
Creates a virtual environment (so it doesn’t mess with your other projects)
Sets up the global hermes command
Configures your LLM provider

You don’t need to touch any of this. Just run the command and wait.

Step 3: Know Where Things Live (Optional but Helpful)

If you’re curious where everything went, here’s the quick map:

Installer Type	Code Location	`hermes` Binary	Data Directory
Per-user (normal)	`~/.hermes/hermes-agent/`	`~/.local/bin/hermes`	`~/.hermes/`
Root-mode (`sudo`)	`/usr/local/lib/hermes-agent/`	`/usr/local/bin/hermes`	`/root/.hermes/`

Don’t worry about memorizing this — just know that your personal settings (auth, skills, sessions) live in ~/.hermes/, so you won’t lose them even if you reinstall.

Step 4: Start Chatting

After installation, reload your shell so it picks up the new hermes command:

source ~/.bashrc   # or: source ~/.zshrc

Then simply type:

hermes

And you’re in! You can start talking to Hermes right away.

Step 5: Configure Your Preferences (When You’re Ready)

You don’t have to configure anything to start — but when you want to customize, here are the handy commands:

hermes model          # Choose your LLM provider and model
hermes tools          # Configure which tools are enabled
hermes gateway setup  # Set up messaging platforms (Slack, Discord, etc.)
hermes config set     # Set individual config values
hermes config get     # Inspect individual config values
hermes setup          # Run the full setup wizard all at once

Pro tip: If you want the fastest path to a fully-loaded setup, use:

hermes setup --portal

This logs you into Nous Portal — one subscription that gives you access to 300+ models plus the Tool Gateway (web search, image generation, text-to-speech, cloud browser). No more juggling API keys for every single tool.

What If I Want Desktop Later?

If you started with command-line only but decide you want the desktop app, just run:

hermes desktop

It’ll install and launch Hermes Desktop for you.

Summary

Installing Hermes is genuinely one of the easiest setups you’ll ever do. One command, a few seconds, and you’re ready to chat. The installer handles all the boring stuff — dependencies, paths, environments — so you can focus on the fun part: actually using Hermes.

Next up: In Tutorial 2, we’ll take your first conversation with Hermes — how to ask questions, give commands, and see what this agent can really do. See you there!