Hopper

Hopper by @mykeura adds and manages custom OpenRouter models in Hermes without modifying the built-in catalog.

Hopper gives you a small, personal OpenRouter catalog that you can edit from the command line. It can contain free models while they are temporarily available, as well as paid models available through OpenRouter. Model availability and pricing are controlled by OpenRouter and may change.

Default models

Hopper v1.4.0 starts with this model:

inclusionai/ling-3.0-flash-vl:free

Ling 3.0 Flash VL is the recommended starting point for now: a multimodal model that does not collect data, served via OpenRouter from NovitaAI servers. It is currently free with limited usage.

Manage models

Hopper stores its catalog in a single text file under your Hermes home directory:

OS	Hermes home	Models file
Linux / macOS	~/.hermes	~/.hermes/plugin-data/hopper/models.txt
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\.hermes	%USERPROFILE%\.hermes\plugin-data\hopper\models.txt

If you set the HERMES_HOME environment variable, that path is used instead of the defaults above. You can also point Hopper at a specific catalog with HOPPER_MODELS_FILE.

With the CLI (recommended)

The bundled helper lives at <hermes home>/plugins/hopper/manage.py.

Linux / macOS:

python3 ~/.hermes/plugins/hopper/manage.py list
python3 ~/.hermes/plugins/hopper/manage.py add "provider/model-id"
python3 ~/.hermes/plugins/hopper/manage.py remove "provider/model-id"
python3 ~/.hermes/plugins/hopper/manage.py reset
python3 ~/.hermes/plugins/hopper/manage.py file

Windows (PowerShell):

py "$env:USERPROFILE\.hermes\plugins\hopper\manage.py" list
py "$env:USERPROFILE\.hermes\plugins\hopper\manage.py" add "provider/model-id"
py "$env:USERPROFILE\.hermes\plugins\hopper\manage.py" remove "provider/model-id"
py "$env:USERPROFILE\.hermes\plugins\hopper\manage.py" reset
py "$env:USERPROFILE\.hermes\plugins\hopper\manage.py" file

Windows (CMD):

py "%USERPROFILE%\.hermes\plugins\hopper\manage.py" list
py "%USERPROFILE%\.hermes\plugins\hopper\manage.py" add "provider/model-id"
py "%USERPROFILE%\.hermes\plugins\hopper\manage.py" remove "provider/model-id"
py "%USERPROFILE%\.hermes\plugins\hopper\manage.py" reset
py "%USERPROFILE%\.hermes\plugins\hopper\manage.py" file

Commands:

Command	What it does
list	Print the configured model IDs
add "provider/model-id" …	Add one or more OpenRouter model IDs
remove "provider/model-id" …	Remove one or more OpenRouter model IDs
reset	Restore the bundled default model
file	Print the full path to models.txt

On Windows, use python instead of py if the Python launcher is not installed.

Editing the file directly

Open the models file from the table above (or run the file command to print its exact location) in any text editor:

• One OpenRouter model ID per line (provider/model-id or provider/model-id:free).
• Blank lines are ignored.
• Lines starting with # are comments.
• Duplicate IDs are saved once.
• An empty catalog is valid: it hides every Hopper model.

Save the file, then reopen the Hermes model picker (or press Refresh models in the selector) so the updated catalog appears. After removing a model, restart Hermes Desktop as well; otherwise removed models keep appearing until that refresh.

Hopper uses your normal OPENROUTER_API_KEY.

Install or upgrade

Copy this directory to ~/.hermes/plugins/hopper (or install it with hermes plugins install owner/repo), then:

1. Restart Hermes (or its gateway).
2. Open Capabilities → Plugins and click Rescan.
3. Confirm Hopper is listed as a model provider.
4. Choose a Hopper model from the Hermes model selector.

Your existing model list (~/.hermes/plugin-data/hopper/models.txt) is kept on upgrade.

A small way to support the project

If you are considering the Nous Portal Personal plan, you can use my Nous Portal referral link. It takes $15 off your first month and gives me a $10 referral credit that helps cover the API usage behind my ongoing work on Hopper and related Hermes plugins. It is entirely optional, but it is a simple way for both of us to benefit.

The offer is for new customers starting a new Personal subscription. It applies to the first invoice, and each payment card can be used for only one referral; if the card has already backed another referral, the discount is reversed and no referral reward is paid.

License

MIT License.

Hermes Agent and OpenRouter are separate projects/services. Hopper is an independent plugin and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nous Research, OpenRouter, or InclusionAI.