How to learn AI agents for free comes down to four free things: free lessons, free agent software, a free brain and free practice.
You can have all four running today without entering a card number anywhere.
This page is the setup walkthrough, so I'll give you the exact commands and the exact clicks.
Here's the whole $0 path in seven steps before we go deep.
- Join one free community and pick one free course, so you have somewhere to ask questions.
- Install Hermes Agent, which is free and open source.
- Connect a free brain from Nous Portal and choose the variant marked free.
- Add OpenRouter's free models as your backup brain.
- Install Ollama and run a local model on your own machine.
- Give your agent one small job and run it every day for a week.
- Add a free interface like Herald OS or StarNet once the basics feel easy.
How To Learn AI Agents For Free: The Short Answer
You learn AI agents by running one, and running one costs nothing in 2026.
An AI agent has two parts, and it helps to keep them apart in your head.
The body is the agent software, which handles the tools, the memory, the files and the chat.
The brain is the model, which does the thinking behind every reply.
Free agent software exists, and free brains exist, so the only thing you spend is time.
Here is the full $0 stack on one screen.
| Layer | Free pick | What it costs | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lessons | AI Money Lab and my free YouTube courses | It's free to join and free to watch. | You have to do the work yourself. |
| Agent software | Hermes Agent | It's free and open source under the MIT licence. | You install it from the terminal. |
| Hosted brain | Nous Portal free models | The free variants are priced at zero. | Some are time-limited and they can be rate limited. |
| Backup brain | OpenRouter models with a free tag | They are free to call. | Free tiers come with rate limits. |
| Local brain | A model running in Ollama | It's free, because it runs on your machine. | Small local models are weaker. |
| Interface | Herald OS or StarNet | Both are free and MIT licensed. | Herald OS is alpha software. |
I wrote an earlier version of this path on my main site, and you can read that Hermes and OpenClaw learning path too.
This page is the updated walkthrough with the free models that are live right now.
🔥 Want my exact How To Learn AI Agents For Free setup, step by step? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get step-by-step video trainings, my installable Agent OS and four coaching calls a week with 3,400+ members building real automations. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom
Step 1: Get Your Free Lessons And A Place To Ask Questions
Learning alone is the slowest way to do this, so start by joining one free room.
My free community is AI Money Lab, and it had more than 93,000 members when I checked today.
Its about page lists free AI courses, 50+ free AI tools, 200+ ChatGPT SEO prompts and 1,000+ n8n workflows.
Then pick one free course and finish it before you start another.
I have two free courses on YouTube that fit this path.
The first is "How to Build Agent OS - FREE Course!", which is the video at the top of this page.
The second is my two-hour Hermes course, which is further down.
There are also good free courses from other providers, and I checked each one on its own page on 13 October 2026.
| Free course | Provider | What the page shows | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Agents Course | Hugging Face | It calls itself a free course, and the certification process is free. | It asks for basic Python and basic knowledge of LLMs. |
| AI Agents for Beginners | Microsoft | It's an open GitHub repo with 18 lessons under the MIT licence. | It's written for beginners who will read code. |
| Introduction to LangGraph | LangChain Academy | The page says "Enroll for free" and lists 55 lessons with 6 hours of video. | It's aimed at developers. |
| Introduction to Model Context Protocol | Anthropic Academy | The registration button is labelled free. | It teaches MCP servers and clients in Python. |
I'll be straight with you: I haven't taken those four courses myself.
I've listed them because their own pages show them as free today, and because they cover the theory my videos skip.
If you want a ranked list instead of a path, my best free AI agent course post does that job.
Step 2: Install Hermes Agent (Free And Open Source)
Hermes Agent is the open-source agent from Nous Research, and it's the body of this whole stack.
The code is on GitHub at NousResearch/hermes-agent under the MIT licence.
You install it with the official script, reload your shell and run the setup wizard.
curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash
source ~/.zshrc
hermes setup
The wizard asks you to choose a model provider and sign in.
Don't overthink that screen, because you can change the model later with hermes model.
Before you go further, run hermes doctor to check the install.
Then type hermes and say hello to it in the terminal.
That first reply matters more than any lesson, because now you have a real agent to practise on.
Don't try to configure everything on day one.
Get it running, ask it one question, and stop there for the night.
Step 3: Connect A Free Brain From Nous Portal
Nous Portal is the model portal from Nous Research, and Hermes connects to it by default.
Run hermes portal to log in, or choose the Portal option inside hermes setup.
I checked the Nous inference API today, 13 October 2026, and ten models were priced at zero.
| Free model on Nous Portal | Made by | Model ID I saw |
|---|---|---|
| Solar Mini 4 (free) | Upstage | upstage/solar-mini4:free |
| MissingNo | A lab that hasn't been named | stealth/missingno |
| Step 3.7 Flash | StepFun | stepfun/step-3.7-flash:free |
| Step 5 Preview | StepFun | stepfun/step-5-preview:free |
| LongCat 2.0 | Meituan | meituan/longcat-2.0:free |
| LongCat 2.5 Preview | Meituan | meituan/longcat-2.5-preview:free |
| Laguna XS 2.1 | Poolside | poolside/laguna-xs-2.1:free |
| Laguna S 2.1 | Poolside | poolside/laguna-s-2.1:free |
| Ling 3.0 Flash (two variants) | inclusionAI | inclusionai/ling-3.0-flash-fin:free and -sante:free |
Please treat that table as a snapshot and not a promise.
Solar Mini 4 was announced as free for two weeks, and MissingNo is free "for a limited time" with no end date published.
So some of those names will leave the free list, and new ones will arrive.
That's fine, because the skill you're learning is how to run an agent, and the brain is one setting.
Use One Profile Per Model
This is the habit I'd copy from day one.
I create a new Hermes profile for every model I test, and I name the profile after the model.
A profile is an isolated copy of Hermes with its own settings, model and memory.
hermes profile create solar-mini-4
hermes -p solar-mini-4
When a free model gets rate limited, I open a different profile and keep working.
My Solar Mini 4 Hermes walkthrough shows the profile setup click by click.
My Hermes MissingNo setup does the same for the stealth model.
The One Mistake That Costs Money Here
Solar Mini 4 appears twice in the model list.
One entry is upstage/solar-mini4:free, and it costs nothing.
The other entry is upstage/solar-mini4, and today the API priced it at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens.
That isn't a big number, but it isn't zero, and it's very easy to click the wrong one.
So open hermes dashboard, click Models, click "Set main model", type "solar" and read the label before you pick.
Always choose the variant marked free.
🔥 Want me to show you this setup step by step? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom, I've got a full Hermes Agent course plus my installable Agent OS, with free-model setups already covered. You'll be learning alongside 3,400+ members with four coaching calls a week. It's a paid community, and everything on this page works without it. → Get access here
Step 4: Add OpenRouter's Free Models As A Backup
Free models get busy, so I never rely on one provider.
OpenRouter lists models with ":free" at the end of the ID.
I counted 15 of them through the OpenRouter API today.
That list included Gemma 4 31B, Gemma 4 26B, Laguna XS 2.1, Laguna S 2.1, LFM 2.5 2.6B, Inkling, Inkling Small and several NVIDIA Nemotron models.
You create an OpenRouter key, add it during hermes setup, and choose one of the free model IDs.
Make a second profile for it, so your Nous profile stays untouched.
The trap is the same as before, because the paid version of a model sits next to the free one.
If the ID doesn't end in ":free", it isn't free.
I also wouldn't add credits to the account while you're learning, because an empty balance can't be spent by accident.
Step 5: Run A Local Model With Ollama
A local model runs on your own machine, so there is no meter at all.
Ollama is the easiest way to do that, and it's open source under the MIT licence.
The Hermes docs describe the local route in three moves.
- You pull a model with
ollama pulland the model name. - You run
hermes modeland select "Custom endpoint (self-hosted / VLLM / etc.)". - You enter
http://localhost:11434/v1as the URL, skip the API key and type the model name.
Pick a model that fits your memory, because a model that's too big will crawl.
My run Hermes free forever guide shows a small local model running on an 8GB machine.
The honest trade-off is quality.
A tiny local model won't plan like a frontier model, and it will fail at harder tasks.
It's still the best way to learn, because you can run it all day and it never sends you a bill.
Step 6: Give Your Agent One Small Job
This is the step where the learning actually happens.
Start with one agent doing one job, and make the job boringly simple.
Here are the first five jobs I'd practise, in order.
| Day | What to type | What you learn |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "test" | You learn that the profile, the provider and the model all work. |
| 2 | "Read this folder and summarise the three newest files." | You watch the agent call a tool for the first time. |
| 3 | "Find the latest AI automation news from the last 7 days with sources." | You see research, sources and a summary in one run. |
| 4 | "Turn that summary into five social posts." | You learn how context carries across turns. |
| 5 | "/learn" followed by a topic you care about | You watch Hermes write a reusable skill. |
When I tested Solar Mini 4 with the news job, it came back fast with a breakdown and sources.
When I tested MissingNo, the /learn command worked really well and it was quick.
A coding task was weaker, because a simple ping-pong style game took about five minutes and wasn't frontier level.
That's the pattern you'll see with free brains.
They're good enough for basic agent tasks, and they aren't a replacement for Claude Opus 5.5.
After those five days, schedule one of the jobs so it runs without you.
A daily to-do recap or a morning inbox summary is a great first automation.
Step 7: Add A Free Interface When The Terminal Gets Old
You don't need this step to learn, so only do it once the first six feel easy.
Herald OS is a free, MIT-licensed agent operating system that uses Hermes Agent as the interface.
It gives you a dashboard, spaces, missions, memory, files and automations on top of the same Hermes install.
It's alpha software from an independent developer, so expect rough edges and keep backups.
My free Hermes Agent OS guide walks through the Mac install.
StarNet is the other free one, and it's also MIT licensed.
It shows your agents inside a pixel-art space station, and they level up as you use them.
I'll be honest about StarNet, because I think it's fun to play with and I don't think it has a huge number of practical use cases yet.
Fun matters when you're learning, though, because you'll practise more if you enjoy it.
My StarNet AI agent walkthrough covers the setup.
Hidden Costs To Avoid When You Learn AI Agents For Free
A $0 stack only stays at $0 if you know where the charges hide.
- The paid model variant is the big one, so always choose the entry marked free.
- Free windows end, so check the free list again before you start a long task.
- Paid voice is opt-in, and the Herald OS docs list the live voice engine at $0.05 per minute through an OpenAI key.
- The free voice engine in Herald OS uses on-device transcription, so stick with that one.
- Rate limits can tempt you to top up, and switching to another free profile is the better move.
- New hardware isn't needed, because hosted free models run on someone else's machine.
- A card on file is a risk, so don't add credits to any provider while you're still learning.
I also can't promise what Hermes Cloud hosting costs on your account, so read what the Portal shows before you deploy a cloud agent.
The local install in step 2 is the route I know costs nothing.
What Will Eventually Cost Money, And When It's Worth It
I don't think a complete beginner should pay for anything in the first few weeks.
Here's when paying starts to make sense.
| What you might pay for | When it's worth it | When it isn't |
|---|---|---|
| A stronger model | Your agent does a real job every week and the free brain keeps failing at it. | You haven't finished the five practice jobs yet. |
| Live voice | You talk to your agent daily and the free voice feels too slow. | You're still learning in the terminal. |
| Coaching and a done-for-you setup | You're stuck, or you want to skip months of trial and error. | You haven't installed anything yet. |
Ready To Go Further? (Paid)
This part is a paid upsell, and I'm labelling it clearly.
The AI Profit Boardroom is my paid community, with 3,400+ members and four coaching calls a week.
It includes my installable Agent OS and courses on Hermes Agent, Grok Bot, DeepSeek Harness, Claude Opus 5.5 and Jev AI.
FatRank named it the #1 AI community after testing 27 communities.
I'd join it after you've shipped a few agents on the free stack and you want to move faster.
🔥 Already running an agent on the free stack? The AI Profit Boardroom is where I share the full Agent OS, the Hermes Agent course and four live coaching calls a week, so you can bring your stuck agent to a call and get it fixed. It's paid, and it's for people who've already done the free steps above. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom
Related Reading
- My wider roadmap is in how to learn AI agents.
- If you've never touched a terminal, start with how to learn AI agents from scratch.
- My ranked list of free courses is in best AI agent course free.
Also On Our Network
- 🌐 What a business owner should practise on a free agent stack
- 🌐 Every free AI agent learning tool, rated
- 🌐 The $0 Agent OS learning path
- 🌐 Which free brain to practise on, with real bench scores
FAQ: How To Learn AI Agents For Free
How do I learn AI agents for free?
Join a free community, install Hermes Agent, connect a free model and give the agent one small job each day.
Add a local model with Ollama when you want to practise without any rate limits.
Is Hermes Agent really free?
Yes, Hermes Agent is open source under the MIT licence.
The model provider is the only part that can bill you, so choose a free model or a local one.
Which free models can I use to practise?
The Nous inference API listed ten zero-priced models on 13 October 2026, including Solar Mini 4 free, MissingNo, Step 3.7 Flash and LongCat 2.0.
OpenRouter listed 15 models with a free tag on the same day.
Both lists change, so check them inside Hermes before you start.
What is the biggest hidden cost?
The biggest hidden cost is picking the paid variant of a model by accident.
Solar Mini 4 is listed twice, so choose the entry marked free.
Do I need a powerful computer?
A normal laptop is enough for hosted free models.
A local model needs enough memory to run well, and smaller models are weaker.
When is it worth paying?
It's worth paying when one agent already does a real job for you every week.
Until then, the free stack teaches the same core skills.
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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.
I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.
- I've built a 7-figure SEO and link-building agency, Goldie Agency, with 70+ people in Bangkok.
- I've grown a YouTube channel to 400,000+ subscribers.
- I wrote the book "Link Building Mastery", which covers nine link building strategies.
- I run GoldieBench, where I score AI models on real one-shot builds.
→ Get my best AI training inside the AI Profit Boardroom
Install the agent, pick the free brain, run one small job a day, and that's how to learn AI agents for free.
