Full Hermes Agent Setup Tutorial: Step-by-Step Walkthrough

0:00- In this video, I'll show you exactly how to set up Hermes Agent step-by-step without writing a single line of code. Hermes Agent is an AI agent (light music) that runs on its own server 24 hours a day. You can message it from your phone or your computer whenever you need something done. And because it's running on that server and not on your computer,

0:18it keeps working even when you're not around. Your computer can be turned off. You can be at work or you can be asleep and it's still going. So you can give it a job once and it figures out the steps and does the work all on its own. It can even keep doing that job on a schedule

0:33for as long as you want. And when something you care about changes, it messages you first before you even think to ask. This video is made for complete beginners, so you don't need any technical experience. My name is Caleb, and I'll walk you through the whole thing one step at a time. Now, I know the idea of setting up your first AI agent can sound pretty intimidating, but trust me,

0:53it's a lot easier than you think. I've designed this video so you can follow along from having absolutely nothing to being fully set up by the end. So just stick with me and by the time we're done, you'll have your own agent running on its own server connected to your phone and already working on its first job.

1:09And Hermes Agent itself is completely free. The only two things you'll have to pay for are the small server that it runs on, which is just a few dollars a month, and the AI model that it thinks with, which is $20 a month. I'll show you exactly where each of those come in as we go.

1:24Now, here's what you can expect next in this video. First, we'll get your agent a home on its own server with a super easy one-click setup. Then we'll connect it to the AI model it thinks with, and I'll show you the one that gives you the most for your money. After that, we'll connect it to your phone

1:39so you can reach it from anywhere. And finally, we'll give it its first real job and you'll watch it get to work all on its own. Every step is timestamped in the video description, so if you ever need to come back to one of them, it's right there for you. But before we set anything up, let me show you what makes Hermes Agent so different from ChatGPT or Claude, because once you see it, every step after this

2:00is gonna make a lot more sense. In a regular AI chat, you ask a question, you get an answer, and then it just sits there and waits for you. An agent goes a lot further than that. It has tools so it can search the web and read and write files. It works towards a goal on its own,

2:16and it remembers how you like things done. Now, if you already use ChatGPT or Claude, some of this is gonna sound familiar because under the hood, Hermes Agent uses the same kind of AI models that they do. The difference is everything built around the model, and that comes down to three things you just can't get from either of them.

2:34The first is your choice of model. ChatGPT and Claude only let you use the models that their own company makes, but Hermes Agent connects to any model from any company. So you can put a cheap one on the boring everyday jobs and a powerful one on the hard ones, all inside the same agent.

2:51The second is ownership. ChatGPT and Claude are services you rent, so they come with limits and with features that the company can take away whenever it wants. Hermes Agent is free software running on your own server, so no one can put a limit on it and no one can switch off something that you rely on.

3:06And the third is where your agent lives. ChatGPT and Claude can only talk to you inside of their own apps, but your Hermes Agent gets its own Telegram account so it can message you just like any other contact in your phone. So with all that said, it's time for the first step, which is getting your server. Your agent needs a home that stays on around the clock, and the server we're using comes with

3:28a one-click setup for Hermes Agent. So it's up and running in just a few minutes without you installing anything by hand. We're gonna be using Hostinger for this, and I recommend it to pretty much any beginner out there for one really important reason. On most other servers, you'd have to instal Hermes Agent yourself, but Hostinger actually has a one-click setup

3:47that does the entire installation for you. So if you're a complete beginner, that makes this whole process significantly easier. It's also way easier to maintain down the road since things like updates and restarts are built right in. And on top of that, their plans are super affordable. To get your server at the lowest price possible, just go to this link on screen right here

4:07or click the first link at the top of the video description. And once you go to that link, you'll land on this page right here. So this is Hostinger's page for Hermes Agent. From here, go ahead and click Choose Plan. And that's gonna bring you down to the plan options. And again, by using the link in the video description, it's gonna get you this coupon right here

4:26and it's already applied. For the plan, I'd recommend going with KVM1. It's the smallest plan and it runs one agent just fine. And if you ever need more power later on, you can upgrade at any time. So under KVM1, I'll click Choose Plan. And that'll bring you to your cart. At the top, the first thing that we'll choose

4:46is our billing period. It's set to 24 months by default, but I'd recommend going with the 12-month option. So I'll click in right here and I'll change this from 24 months to 12 months. You'll still get the coupon, but you're not locked in for two whole years. Now, let's scroll down a little. Below this, you'll see a few add-ons. The first one is ready to use AI,

5:09and it's checked on by default. It signs you up for a different AI service and we'll be bringing our own, so we'll uncheck this. And you can leave the rest of these how they are. Now we'll scroll down a bit more. And under Choose a Server Location, Hostinger will pick one for you. It's usually the best one for you automatically,

5:28so we'll just leave it how it is. So with all of that done, over on the right, I'll click Continue. And that's gonna bring you to the register page where you create your Hostinger account. You can sign up with Google, with GitHub, or with your email. I'll use my email address. Then we'll scroll down a bit here and click Register.

5:52And that'll bring you to the checkout page. This is where you'll enter your billing information and your payment details. Once your payment goes through, Hostinger brings you straight to this page, the Hermes Agent configuration. Right at the top, there's a button to generate a key for AI models. We'll skip that since we're connecting our own model

6:10in just a few minutes. Below that, the admin username is already set to Hermes and we'll keep that how it is. And under it is your admin password, which is how you'll log into your agent. To see it, over on the right, click this eye icon, then highlight your password and copy it. Make sure you save it somewhere safe,

6:30like a password manager so you don't lose it. Then I'll click the eye icon again to hide it. And the last field for Oxylabs is optional, so you can leave it empty. Then down at the bottom, let's click Deploy. And now Hostinger is setting up your server and your agent. This whole setup takes a few minutes,

6:49so I'll fast forward through it.

6:53And after a bit, Hostinger brings you into its Docker Manager. If you see a survey pop up, you can just click Skip. And in the list, you'll see Hermes Agent, and right now its status says Created. That means that it's still being set up, so I'll fast forward to whenever it's done. All right, and now it has a green check that says Running. And the second one, called Traffic,

7:17is what keeps your connection secure. So we'll just leave this alone. Now let's open up your agent. In the Hermes Agent row under access, you'll see a link that says Open. So let's click Open. And that opens the login page for your Hermes dashboard in a new tab. I'll leave the Docker Manager tab open

7:36because we'll come back to it later. And I'd recommend bookmarking this page because this is where you'll come back to to manage your agent. Now I'll click into username and type "Hermes," then click into Password and paste in the password that you saved a moment ago. Then click Sign In. And here you are in your Hermes Agent dashboard. Up at the top, there's a bar asking if you want

8:02to share usage with a Nous. Over on the right, I'll click No Thanks. And on the left is the menu where everything we do from here happens. Your agent is installed and running, but it doesn't have an AI model yet, so it can't actually think. So that's what we'll set up next. To give your agent a model, we'll connect it

8:21to an account that supplies one. For this video, we'll be using Nous Portal, which is made by the same people who make Hermes Agent. To sign up, just go down to the video description and click on the second link that you see there. That's gonna bring you to the Nous Portal invite page. One subscription to this gives you over 200 models,

8:41hosted tools for your agent and monthly credits. Let's scroll down a little. Every month you get $22 of credits, and by using the link in the description, you get $15 off your first month. At the bottom, click claim your invite. And this is where you'll create your Nous account. You can use your email or sign up with Google,

9:02Microsoft, or GitHub. I'll use my email, so I'll type it in here. Then click Continue With Email. You'll get a six-digit code sent to your email address. So copy that and type it in right here.

9:22And once you're signed up, you'll land on this checkout page. And right here, you'll see that the first month discount is already applied. Over on the right is where you'll enter your card details and your billing address. And once that's filled in, click Subscribe.

9:38Once your payment goes through, you'll land on this page. And on the left, under Balance, you'll see your $22 of credits. We're done with this page, so I'll close this tab. And that brings us back to the Hermes dashboard. In the menu on the left, let's scroll down and then click Keys. And this is the keys page

10:00where your agent keeps every account it can use. The first one in the list is Nous Portal, and that's the one that we want. So over on the right, click Login. And that opens a new tab on Nous Portal, and this page asks if you want to let Hermes Agent use your plus plan.

10:17So go ahead and click connect. And now we're done with Nous Portal, so I'll close this tab too. And back in the dashboard, Nous Portal now says connected. And with that done, let's go ahead and pick a model. On the left, let's scroll up and then click Models. This page shows the model your agent thinks with,

10:37and right now under Main Model, it says Unset. So next to Main Model, click Change. In this window, Nous portal is already selected on the left, and on the right are all the models it offers. At the top, click into the search bar. And here we'll type DeepSeek to narrow it down. There's a few versions here, so make sure you pick the one

10:59that just says DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, with nothing after it. It's fast, it's good at using tools, and a message with it costs a fraction of a cent, so it's really all you need while you're still learning. And depending on when you're watching this video, there may be a newer version of this model by now. So if you see one, just go ahead

11:17and pick the newest DeepSeek Flash model in the list. So I'll click this here, then down at the bottom, click Switch. And it asks if you want to reload to apply it, so click Reload. And now the main model says DeepSeek V4.1 Flash. Now to make sure it actually works. On the left, click Chat. And this is the chat window where you can talk

11:43to your agent right from the dashboard. Over on the right, click New Chat. And we'll wait a few seconds here for the new chat to start. Then click into the chat window and I'll type "Hello," then press enter. The first reply can take about 20 seconds or so, so let's give it a moment.

12:06And there's our first reply. So this means that your agent can actually think now. Right now, the only place that you can talk to your agent is right here in this browser tab. So let's give it its own Telegram account so it can reach you wherever you are. If you don't have Telegram yet, go ahead

12:21and download that now. It's free and you can use it on your phone or on your computer. I'll be using the desktop app here, but it works the exact same way on your phone. In the menu on the left, click Channels. This page is where your agent connects to the apps you use, and Telegram is the first one up here.

12:40Under Quick Setup, click Create with QR. Let's scroll down a little here so we can see the whole thing. You'll get this QR code and it stays good for 30 minutes. If you're using Telegram on your phone, just scan it with your camera. And if you have Telegram on your computer like I do,

12:57then down here, click Open Telegram. That opens a new tab and Chrome asks if it can open Telegram desktop. So click Open Telegram Desktop. And that opens a chat with the Hermes bot in Telegram. Down at the bottom, click Start. It's gonna ask you to create your Hermes bot, so click Create Bot. A window pops up where you can change your bot's name

13:24if you want to, but I'll just leave this how it is. So now I'll click Create and that drops you into a chat with your brand new bot, but it's not actually connected to your server yet. So on the left, go back to the Hermes bot chat and click Connect To This Bot, and it says Bot Connected

13:44and to return to Hermes to save your setup. So I'll click Okay. Now let's open up our internet browser again. We don't need the Telegram tab anymore, so I'll close it. And back in the dashboard, your bot now shows up as ready. Under Allowed Users, you'll see your Telegram ID, and that means only you can talk to it.

14:05So go ahead and click Save and Restart. Now you'll see Telegram says Gateway Stopped. This page might tell you to restart it up here, but the most reliable way is to restart the whole application from Hostinger. So at the top, I'll click the Docker Manager tab. In the Hermes Agent row over on the right, click the three dots,

14:28then click Restart. That restarts the whole application and it takes about a minute, so I'll fast forward to whenever it's done. And once it's done, that message goes away and the Manage button works again. Now, if I go back to the dashboard tab, you'll see it can still say Gateway stopped. There's no need to worry about this because the real test is whether your bot

14:53answers you in Telegram. So to make sure everything is working properly, we'll switch back over to Telegram. Your new bot's username is right here in this message, the one starting with Hermes. At the top left, I'll click into the search box and type the username of my new bot, and I'll click on it to open the chat.

15:15And that brings you to the chat with your new bot. Down at the bottom, click Start. Start on its own doesn't actually do anything, so let's send it a message. I'll click into the message box and type, "Can you hear me?" And then press Enter. The first reply can take a little while, so let's give it a moment.

15:38And there it is. You'll also get a message saying that there's no home channel set. The home channel is where your agent sends you updates on its own, like the results of a job. So right here in that message, click /set home. And now it says Home Channel Set. So this chat is where your agent will reach you.

15:56So your agent has a server, a model, and your phone. Now let's give it a real job. A great first job is a watcher. That's something it checks on a schedule and it only messages you when something changes. You tell it what you care about once and from then on it comes to you. I'll do this right here in Telegram

16:14in that same chat with my bot. So down at the bottom, I'll click into the message box and I'll type this out. "Watch round trip flight prices from Austin to Orlando in December for me." So there I'm telling it what to watch. "Build yourself a reusable skill for the check and keep track of what you've already shown me." That's how it does the job the same way every time

16:36without repeating itself. "Schedule it every few hours and message me on Telegram only when there's something new." And that's when it runs and when it's allowed to message me. So I'll press Enter to send this. At the top, you'll see that it says "Typing," which means it's working on it. This is gonna take a while because the agent has to go out to the web, figure out how to do the job,

16:57build the skill, and put it on a schedule. This took about half an hour for me, so I'll fast forward to whenever it's done.

17:05And here's the response. It tells you what it's watching, the cheapest fares it's found so far, and how often it'll check, which in my case is every three hours. Now I'll head back to my internet browser. And at the top, click the Hermes Dashboard tab. In the menu on the left, click Cron. And this is the Cron page

17:25where you can see every job your agent has scheduled. At the top of the list is the one it just made, the flight fare watch. Under it, you can see it runs every three hours, and next to that is when it runs next. And from now on, whenever it finds something new, it'll message you on Telegram.

17:41You won't have to ask, and it reaches out all on its own. And before we wrap up, let's take a quick tour of the pages you'll come back to the most. On the left, click Chat. This is where you can talk to your agent anytime, right from your browser. Then click Sessions. This keeps all your past conversations with your agent.

18:01Then click Skills. These are the things your agent knows how to do, like the skill it built for our flight watcher. We've already seen Cron, where your scheduled jobs live, and Channels where your apps like Telegram connect. Then click Models. This is where you can switch the model your agent thinks with at any time.

18:23And if something ever seems off, click Logs. This shows you exactly what your agent has been doing. And down here, Gateway Status tells you if your agent is up and running. Now let's switch over to Hostinger. At the top, I'll click the Docker Manager tab. On the left, click Overview.

18:45This is your server's home base. At the top is your Hermes Agent app, and you can see it's running. Below that is your server itself, and these show how much of its CPU, memory, and disc it's using. And down here is your plan and when it renews. On the left, Docker Manager is where your agent runs and where we restarted it earlier, and Backups & Monitoring is where

19:07your server's backups are kept. If you ever get stuck or can't find something, at the top right, click Agent. That opens Hostinger's AI Assistant, so you can just ask it what you need. I've used it before myself and it's surprisingly helpful. You now have Hermes Agent fully set up, and if you haven't gotten your server yet, go to this link on screen right here

19:29or click the first link at the top of the video description. If you found this video helpful, make sure to leave a like and subscribe for more tutorials just like this one. With that said, thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next video.