Install and complete a first setup

For Linux, macOS, WSL2, and Android/Termux, the current official path is:

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

On native Windows, the official guide uses PowerShell. The installer handles the supported runtime pieces; after installation, reload the shell so the hermes command is available.

Run hermes setup for the guided setup, or use hermes setup --portal for the documented Nous Portal path. The quickstart recommends getting one clean chat working before layering on gateways, cron, skills, voice, or multi-provider routing.

Hermes stores secrets separately from ordinary configuration. Use its configuration commands instead of hand-editing values into an arbitrary project file.

hermes doctor
hermes model

Run a real conversation, then record what worked: operating system, provider, model, and any toolset you enabled. This small record makes later troubleshooting much faster.