Best Hermes Agent Tools: 12 I Use + How To Enable Each

The best Hermes Agent tools start with the terminal toolset, because it's the one tool that lets Hermes actually do work on your machine instead of only talking about it.

My second pick is web search and extract, and my third pick is cron jobs.

In this post, "tools" means two things: the built-in toolsets Hermes Agent can call, such as terminal, files, web, browser and cron, and the companion tools I pair with Hermes, such as MCP servers, Telegram, Obsidian, Ollama and Tailscale.

Tools aren't the same as skills or plugins, and I'll explain the difference in one table further down.

I've ranked 12 tools below, and for every one I give you what it does, the real command or config name that switches it on, who it's best for and what it costs.

This is my own ranking from running Hermes every day, so treat it as an operator's opinion and not a lab test.

The Best Hermes Agent Tools: Top 3 At A Glance

• 🥇 The terminal toolset is my number one, because it lets Hermes run commands, install things and start long jobs on its own.
• 🥈 Web search and extract is second, because it gives the agent fresh facts and it works on a new install without any API key.
• 🥉 Cron jobs are third, because they make Hermes do the work on a schedule while I'm asleep.

What Counts As A Tool In Hermes Agent

Hermes Agent is the free, open-source AI agent from Nous Research.

The official docs say tools are functions that extend the agent's capabilities, and that they're organised into toolsets you can enable or disable per platform.

When I ran hermes tools on my own install, which is version 0.21.4, it listed 26 built-in toolsets, and 20 of them were switched on.

Here's how tools differ from the two things people mix them up with.

Thing	What it is	Example	Where to read more
Tool	A tool is a function the model calls to do something.	The terminal tool runs a shell command.	You're reading the right post.
Skill	A skill is an on-demand knowledge document that tells the agent how to do a job.	A skill explains how to write a blog post in my voice.	My list of the best Hermes Agent skills covers those.
Plugin	A plugin is an add-on package that can add new tools, hooks and integrations.	A Brave Search plugin adds a new search tool.	My list of the best Hermes Agent plugins covers those.

A simple way to remember it is that tools are the hands, skills are the training and plugins are extra kit you bolt on.

How I Ranked These Hermes Agent Tools

I ranked them on four things.

• I asked how often I actually use the tool in a normal week.
• I asked how much real work it removes from my plate.
• I asked how easy it is to switch on for a beginner.
• I asked what it costs, with free options scored higher.

Nobody measured these rankings on a benchmark, and I'm telling you that up front.

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The 12 Best Hermes Agent Tools, Ranked

1. The Terminal Toolset

The terminal toolset gives Hermes two tools, terminal and process_manage, so it can run shell commands and manage background processes.

It's on by default in the CLI, and you can switch it on yourself with hermes tools enable terminal.

You choose where commands run with terminal.backend in ~/.hermes/config.yaml, and the docs list local, docker, ssh, singularity, modal, daytona and vercel_sandbox.

Best for: It's best for anyone who wants an agent that builds, installs and fixes things instead of handing you instructions.

Cost: It's free on your own machine, and you only pay if you pick a cloud backend.

2. Web Search And Extract

The web toolset gives Hermes web_search for finding pages and web_extract for reading them.

Firecrawl is the default backend, and a fresh install works with no key at all because Hermes rotates across free tiers from Exa, Parallel, Firecrawl and Keenable.

You change the backend by running hermes tools and picking a provider, or by adding a key such as FIRECRAWL_API_KEY.

Best for: It's best for research, content briefs and any job where the agent needs today's facts.

Cost: It's free to start, Firecrawl's own free tier is 500 credits a month, and SearXNG and DuckDuckGo are free options too.

3. Cron Jobs

The cronjob toolset lets Hermes schedule its own work through one tool called cronjob_manage.

You can create a job from the terminal with hermes cron create "every 2h" "Check server status", or inside a chat with /cron add.

Schedules accept plain forms like 30m and every 2h, and they accept normal cron expressions like 0 9 * * *.

Best for: It's best for daily reports, monitoring and anything you want done before you wake up.

Cost: The scheduler is free, and each run only costs whatever your model charges.

4. File Operations

The file toolset gives Hermes read_file, write_file, patch and search_files.

It's on by default, and it's the reason Hermes can edit a project instead of pasting code at you.

Best for: It's best for coding, note-taking and any work that lives in folders.

Cost: It's free.

5. Subagent Delegation

The delegation toolset gives Hermes one tool called delegate_task, which spawns child agents with their own context and their own terminal sessions.

The docs say it runs up to 10 subagents at once by default, and only each child's final summary comes back to the parent.

Best for: It's best for research across several topics at once, or for splitting a big build into parallel jobs.

Cost: The tool is free, but every subagent uses model tokens, so a batch of ten costs more than one agent.

6. Browser Automation

The browser toolset lets Hermes open pages, click, type and take snapshots with tools such as browser_navigate, browser_click, browser_type and browser_vision.

You can run it against your own Chrome with /browser connect, or use a cloud provider such as Browser Use, Browserbase or Firecrawl.

Best for: It's best for sites with no API, such as dashboards and forms.

Cost: It's free with a local browser, and cloud browsers are paid services.

7. MCP Servers

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol, and it lets Hermes use tools that live outside Hermes, such as Notion, Linear or Stripe.

Run hermes mcp catalog to see the Nous-approved servers, and run hermes mcp install deepwiki to add one by name.

For anything else, use hermes mcp add with --url for a remote server or --command for a local one.

When I ran the catalog command on 10 October 2026, it listed 65 approved servers.

Best for: It's best for connecting Hermes to the business apps you already pay for.

Cost: MCP support is free, and each connected app keeps its own pricing.

8. The Telegram Gateway

The messaging gateway turns Hermes into a bot you can message from your phone.

You create a bot with @BotFather in Telegram, then run hermes gateway setup and paste in the token, which Hermes stores as TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN.

The dashboard and desktop app also have a "Create with QR" button on the Messaging page that does this for you.

Best for: It's best for sending voice notes to your agent and getting cron results while you're out.

Cost: It's free.

9. Obsidian

Obsidian is a free notes app that stores everything as plain text files on your own machine.

I point Hermes at my vault folder, and it reads and writes notes there like any other files.

You must give Hermes the full folder path, because when I skipped that step it built the folders inside its own workspace instead.

Best for: It's best for giving every agent you run the same long-term memory.

Cost: It's free.

10. Ollama

Ollama runs AI models on your own computer, which means Hermes can work offline with no per-token bill.

On a recent Ollama build, the whole wiring is one line: ollama launch hermes --model qwen3.8.

The Hermes docs also list LM Studio as a provider you can pick with hermes model, although I mostly use Ollama myself.

Best for: It's best for private work and for people who want to stop paying for tokens.

Cost: It's free, but you need a machine with enough memory for the model.

11. Vision, Image Generation And Text-To-Speech

These three toolsets are vision, image_gen and tts.

Vision lets the model look at an image you attach with /paste, image generation uses FAL.ai, and text-to-speech uses Edge TTS by default.

Best for: It's best for content work, thumbnails and spoken replies in Telegram.

Cost: Edge TTS is free, and FAL lists the default image model at $0.006 per megapixel in the Hermes docs.

12. Tailscale

Tailscale creates a private network that only your own devices can see.

I install it on my Mac and my phone, and then I can reach my Hermes machine from anywhere without opening my computer to the internet.

Best for: It's best for anyone who runs Hermes at home and wants it on their phone.

Cost: I use the free plan.

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The Best Hermes Agent Tools Compared At A Glance

Rank	Tool	Type	How you switch it on	Cost
1	Terminal	Built-in toolset	You run hermes tools enable terminal.	It's free.
2	Web search and extract	Built-in toolset	You run hermes tools enable web.	It's free to start.
3	Cron jobs	Built-in toolset	You run hermes cron create.	It's free.
4	File operations	Built-in toolset	You run hermes tools enable file.	It's free.
5	Delegation	Built-in toolset	You run hermes tools enable delegation.	The tool is free, and the tokens aren't.
6	Browser	Built-in toolset	You run hermes tools enable browser.	It's free with a local browser.
7	MCP servers	Integration	You run hermes mcp install or hermes mcp add.	It's free, plus the app's own price.
8	Telegram gateway	Companion	You run hermes gateway setup.	It's free.
9	Obsidian	Companion	You give Hermes the full vault path.	It's free.
10	Ollama	Companion	You run ollama launch hermes.	It's free.
11	Vision, images and speech	Built-in toolsets	You pick backends in hermes tools.	It's free to paid, depending on the backend.
12	Tailscale	Companion	You install it on each device.	The personal plan is free.

How To Enable Hermes Agent Tools, Step By Step

Here's the exact routine I'd give a new operator.

1. Run hermes tools to open the interactive menu, where every toolset shows as enabled or disabled.
2. Run hermes tools list if you only want to read the current state without changing anything.
3. Run hermes tools enable browser to switch a toolset on, and swap the name for any other toolset.
4. Run hermes tools disable video_gen to switch one off that you don't need.
5. Add --platform telegram to either command when you want the change to apply to one platform only.
6. Use hermes chat --toolsets "web,terminal" when you want a single session with a short tool list.
7. Type /tools list inside a chat to check what's live in that session.

Tools are set per platform, so your Telegram bot can have a smaller tool list than your terminal.

That's a useful safety habit, because a bot you message from your phone doesn't always need full terminal access.

Every Built-In Toolset I Saw In hermes tools

The ranked list is my shortlist, so here's the full picture from my own install.

Toolset	What it does
web	It searches the web and extracts page content.
browser	It automates a real browser.
terminal	It runs shell commands and background processes.
file	It reads, writes, patches and searches files.
code_execution	It runs Python scripts that call Hermes tools.
vision	It analyses images.
video	It analyses video, and it's off by default.
image_gen	It generates images.
video_gen	It generates video through plugin backends.
x_search	It searches public X posts, and it needs xAI credentials.
tts and stt	They handle text-to-speech and speech-to-text.
skills	It lists, views and manages skills.
todo	It keeps a task list inside a session.
kanban	It lets agents work a shared task board.
memory	It manages persistent memory across sessions.
session_search	It searches past conversations.
connections	It connects apps and catalogue MCP servers.
clarify	It lets the agent ask you a question.
delegation	It spawns subagents.
cronjob	It schedules recurring tasks.
computer_use	It controls the desktop in the background on macOS, Windows and Linux.
context_engine, homeassistant, spotify and yuanbao	These were listed but switched off on my install.

Computer use deserves a quick note, because it needs a helper called cua-driver that you install with hermes computer-use install.

Two More Companion Tools Worth Knowing

Claude Code pairs well with Hermes in two ways.

The official Claude Subscription DirectSDK plugin from Nous Research lets Hermes use your existing Claude subscription as its brain, and I covered it the day it was announced on 22 September 2026.

The command hermes import-agent claude-code also copies your Claude Code MCP servers, skills and instructions into Hermes.

The Nous Tool Gateway is the other one.

It comes with a paid Nous Portal subscription and routes web search, image generation, text-to-speech and cloud browsing through one account, and you turn it on with hermes setup --portal.

I'd only look at it if you're tired of juggling separate API keys.

Common Mistakes With Hermes Agent Tools

The first mistake is switching everything on, because every extra tool is one more option the model has to weigh on each turn.

The second mistake is giving a messaging bot the same tools as your terminal without thinking about who can message it.

The third mistake is expecting a cron job to create more cron jobs, because Hermes blocks that on purpose to stop runaway loops.

The fourth mistake is forgetting that delegation multiplies your token spend.

The fifth mistake is installing community MCP servers or plugins without reading what they do first.

If you're still setting Hermes up, my guide on how to set up Hermes Agent in one click gets you to a working install first.

If you want real jobs to hand these tools, my list of the best Hermes Agent use cases is the next read.

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Related Reading

• The Hermes Agent plugins marketplace shows you how to add tools through plugins.
• My Hermes MCP server setup for Codex goes deeper on MCP.
• The best Hermes Agent skills covers the training side of the agent.

Also On Our Network

• 🌐 The Hermes Agent tools that pay off for a business
• 🌐 Every Hermes Agent tool scored in one verdict
• 🌐 How these Hermes tools fit an Agent OS
• 🌐 Which model to run under your Hermes tools

FAQ: Best Hermes Agent Tools

What are the best Hermes Agent tools?

My top three are the terminal toolset, web search and extract, and cron jobs.

After those, I rank file operations, subagent delegation, browser automation, MCP servers, the Telegram gateway, Obsidian, Ollama, the media tools and Tailscale.

How do I enable a tool in Hermes Agent?

You run hermes tools for the interactive menu, or you run hermes tools enable followed by the toolset name.

You add --platform telegram when you want the change to apply to one platform only.

What is the difference between Hermes tools, skills and plugins?

A tool is a function the model calls, a skill is a knowledge document that tells the agent how to do a job, and a plugin is an add-on package that can add new tools.

Are Hermes Agent tools free?

Hermes Agent is free and open source under the MIT licence, and its built-in toolsets cost nothing to switch on.

Some tools lean on outside services that can cost money, such as FAL.ai for images or a cloud browser.

How do I add an MCP server to Hermes Agent?

You run hermes mcp catalog to see the approved servers and hermes mcp install with a name to add one.

For any other server, you run hermes mcp add with --url or --command.

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About Julian

I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.

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Switch on the terminal, web and cron first, add the rest one at a time, and you'll have the best Hermes Agent tools working for you.