Safety & Troubleshooting — Hermes for Creators

Core Safety Rules

Start Low-Risk

Begin with notes, outlines, research, and drafts. Expand to file edits and automations after you understand how the agent behaves.

Keep Backups

Your creative work is irreplaceable. Use Time Machine, cloud sync, or git. Never let the agent be your only copy of anything important.

No Secrets in Chats

Don't paste API keys, passwords, bank info, or private tokens into agent conversations. Use environment variables and config files instead.

Keep Approvals On

Leave manual approval prompts enabled until you understand what the agent will do without asking. Expand authority after trust is earned.

No Casual Destructive Commands

Don't ask the agent to delete files, overwrite projects, or run system commands you don't understand. Read before you approve.

Expand Gradually

Add tools, permissions, and automations one at a time. Each new capability is a new boundary to understand.

Recommended Safety Config

Run these after initial setup to enable sensible defaults.

hermes config set approvals.mode manual
hermes config set security.redact_secrets true

Manual approvals — Hermes asks before executing terminal commands, file writes, and other actions
Secret redaction — attempts to scrub secrets from logs and outputs

Tool Expansion Order

Start with tools that make the agent useful and safe. Add flashy tools after you have a workflow.

Phase	Tools	Why
Day 1	file, terminal, memory, skills	Read/write your workspace, remember context
Week 1	web/search, browser, cron	Research, scheduling, proactive briefs
Later	image gen, video gen, TTS, computer use	After keys, billing, and trust are established

Verification Checklist

Run through this after setup and again whenever something feels off.

hermes doctor — no critical errors
hermes status — agent and gateway running
hermes gateway status — Telegram connected
hermes tools list — expected tools enabled, nothing unexpected
hermes cron list — scheduled jobs match what you intended
Approvals mode is manual
Secret redaction is enabled
Creative OS folder exists and is backed up
Test: ask Hermes to recall your onboarding context
Test: send a Telegram message and confirm response

Troubleshooting

Install fails or `hermes doctor` reports errors

Re-run the install script. Check that you have a supported OS and required dependencies (Node, etc.). Read the error output — hermes doctor usually tells you exactly what's missing.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
hermes doctor

Model / provider won't connect

Run hermes model and re-select your provider. For Nous Portal, complete the browser login flow. For API providers, confirm your API key is set. Model availability on free tiers can change — verify in the portal.

hermes model
hermes status

Telegram bot not responding

Confirm bot token is correct (from @BotFather)
Run hermes gateway status — should show running
Restart: hermes gateway stop then hermes gateway start
Send a message to your bot in Telegram (not in a group first — test 1:1)

hermes gateway setup
hermes gateway install
hermes gateway start
hermes gateway status

Agent forgot my context

Check that memory tools are enabled. Re-paste the onboarding prompt. Confirm your Creative OS folder and MEMORY.md exist. Ask Hermes explicitly to save durable facts.

Cron job not firing

hermes cron list
hermes cron status

Verify the schedule exists, the gateway is running, and the time zone matches your expectation. Re-create the cron if needed.

Agent did something unexpected

This is why manual approvals exist. Review what was approved. Tighten tool access. Reduce scope. Start with read-only tasks until behavior is predictable. Run your verification loop before you trust the output.

When Things Go Wrong

Recovery steps

Stop the gateway: hermes gateway stop
Restore files from backup if needed
Run hermes doctor to diagnose
Review recent agent actions and approvals
Re-enable manual approvals if you disabled them
Restart with reduced tool access and narrower scope