For AI agents: The documentation index is at https://docs.digitalocean.com/llms.txt. Markdown versions of pages use the same URL with index.html.md in place of the HTML page (for example, append index.html.md to the directory path instead of opening the HTML document).

Hermes Agent runs on your machine or server and lets you chat with an AI assistant through the terminal, a TUI, or messaging platforms like Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, and email. It is designed for long-running personal automation: it can remember context across sessions, use tools, create and improve skills, run scheduled jobs, and work from a cloud VM instead of being tied to your laptop.

On this Droplet, Hermes is installed for the dedicated hermes user. Start with:

hermes

To configure or change your model provider:

hermes setup
hermes model

For DigitalOcean Gradient, use a Gradient model access key and the preconfigured endpoint https://inference.do-ai.run/v1. The default model in this image is minimax-m2.5.

Useful commands:

hermes doctor          # diagnose setup issues
hermes update          # update Hermes
hermes gateway setup   # configure messaging platforms
hermes gateway start   # start the messaging gateway
hermes tools           # configure available tools

Important paths:

/home/hermes/.hermes/config.yaml
/home/hermes/.hermes/.env
/home/hermes/workspace
/opt/hermes/

Tips:

• Run hermes doctor after setup if anything feels off.
• Use hermes model to switch providers or models later.
• Use hermes gateway setup only if you want messaging integrations.
• Keep API keys in /home/hermes/.hermes/.env, not in shell history.

Links:

• Docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/
• GitHub: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent
• DigitalOcean Gradient: https://cloud.digitalocean.com/gen-ai

Software Included

Creating an App using the Control Panel

Click the Deploy to DigitalOcean button to create a Droplet based on this 1-Click App. If you aren’t logged in, this link will prompt you to log in with your DigitalOcean account.

Creating an App using the API

In addition to creating a Droplet from the Hermes Agent 1-Click App using the control panel, you can also use the DigitalOcean API. As an example, to create a 4GB Hermes Agent Droplet in the SFO2 region, you can use the following curl command. You need to either save your API access token to an environment variable or substitute it in the command below.

curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
         -H 'Authorization: Bearer '$TOKEN'' -d \
        '{"name":"choose_a_name","region":"sfo2","size":"s-2vcpu-4gb","image":"hermesagent"}' \
        "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/droplets"

Getting Started After Deploying Hermes Agent

Getting Started

Follow these steps to get your Hermes Agent instance running as a Droplet on DigitalOcean.

1. Deploy the Droplet

• Deploy the Hermes Agent 1-Click App from the DigitalOcean Marketplace.
• Wait for the Droplet to finish provisioning.
• The DigitalOcean dashboard may say “ready” before SSH is available. If SSH fails, wait about 60 seconds and retry.

2. Connect via SSH

ssh root@your-droplet-ip

On first login, you will see the Hermes welcome message and the setup flow may run automatically.

3. Configure Hermes

Hermes is installed for the dedicated hermes user. The first-login setup runs:

hermes setup

Use the wizard to configure:

• Model provider
• API key or auth method
• Terminal backend
• Tool settings
• Optional messaging gateway

4. Start Chatting

Run:

hermes

This starts an interactive Hermes Agent session in your terminal.

5. Verify Installation

Check Hermes health:

hermes doctor

Check template status:

/opt/hermes/status-hermes.sh

Check the configured model/provider:

hermes model

6. Configure DigitalOcean Gradient Manually

Edit:

nano /etc/environment

Set:

GRADIENT_KEY=your_gradient_model_access_key
GRADIENT_MODEL=minimax-m2.5

Apply the config:

sudo /opt/hermes/apply-gradient-from-env.sh

Hermes writes provider secrets to:

/home/hermes/.hermes/.env

Hermes writes model config to:

/home/hermes/.hermes/config.yaml

7. Configure Messaging Channels

Hermes can connect to messaging platforms such as Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, and email.

Start the gateway setup:

hermes gateway setup

Then start the gateway:

hermes gateway start

Check status:

hermes gateway status