CLI Interface

Hermes Agent's CLI is a full terminal user interface (TUI) — not a web UI. It features multiline editing, slash-command autocomplete, conversation history, interrupt-and-redirect, and streaming tool output. Built for people who live in the terminal.

Running the CLI

# Start an interactive session (default)
hermes

# Single query mode (non-interactive)
hermes chat -q "Hello"

# With a specific model
hermes chat --model "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4"

# With a specific provider
hermes chat --provider nous        # Use Nous Portal
hermes chat --provider openrouter  # Force OpenRouter

# With specific toolsets
hermes chat --toolsets "web,terminal,skills"

# Resume previous sessions
hermes --continue             # Resume the most recent CLI session (-c)
hermes --resume <session_id>  # Resume a specific session by ID (-r)

# Verbose mode (debug output)
hermes chat --verbose

Interface Layout

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  HERMES-AGENT ASCII Logo                        │
│  ┌─────────────┐ ┌────────────────────────────┐ │
│  │  Caduceus   │ │ Model: claude-sonnet-4     │ │
│  │  ASCII Art  │ │ Terminal: local            │ │
│  │             │ │ Working Dir: /home/user    │ │
│  │             │ │ Available Tools: 19        │ │
│  │             │ │ Available Skills: 12       │ │
│  └─────────────┘ └────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Conversation output scrolls here...             │
│                                                 │
│   (◕‿◕✿) 🧠 pondering... (2.3s)                │
│   ✧٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و✧ got it! (2.3s)                    │
│                                                 │
│ Assistant: Hello! How can I help you today?     │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ❯ [Fixed input area at bottom]                  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The welcome banner shows your model, terminal backend, working directory, available tools, and installed skills at a glance.

Keybindings

Key	Action
`Enter`	Send message
`Alt+Enter` or `Ctrl+J`	New line (multi-line input)
`Ctrl+C`	Interrupt agent (double-press within 2s to force exit)
`Ctrl+D`	Exit
`Tab`	Autocomplete slash commands

Slash Commands

Type / to see an autocomplete dropdown of all available commands.

Command	Description
`/help`	Show available commands
`/quit`	Exit the CLI (also: `/exit`, `/q`)
`/clear`	Clear screen and reset conversation
`/new`	Start a new conversation
`/reset`	Reset conversation only (keep screen)

Tools & Configuration

Command	Description
`/tools`	List all available tools grouped by toolset
`/toolsets`	List available toolsets with descriptions
`/model [name]`	Show or change the current model
`/config`	Show current configuration
`/prompt [text]`	View/set/clear custom system prompt
`/personality [name]`	Set a predefined personality

Conversation Management

Command	Description
`/history`	Show conversation history
`/retry`	Retry the last message
`/undo`	Remove the last user/assistant exchange
`/save`	Save the current conversation
`/compress`	Manually compress conversation context
`/usage`	Show token usage for this session

Skills & Scheduling

Command	Description
`/cron`	Manage scheduled tasks
`/skills`	Search, install, inspect, or manage skills
`/platforms`	Show gateway/messaging platform status
`/verbose`	Cycle tool progress display: off → new → all → verbose
`/<skill-name>`	Invoke any installed skill (e.g., `/axolotl`, `/gif-search`)

tip

Commands are case-insensitive — /HELP works the same as /help. Most commands work mid-conversation.

Skill Slash Commands

Every installed skill in ~/.hermes/skills/ is automatically registered as a slash command. The skill name becomes the command:

/gif-search funny cats
/axolotl help me fine-tune Llama 3 on my dataset
/github-pr-workflow create a PR for the auth refactor

# Just the skill name loads it and lets the agent ask what you need:
/excalidraw

Personalities

Set a predefined personality to change the agent's tone:

/personality pirate
/personality kawaii
/personality concise

Built-in personalities include: helpful, concise, technical, creative, teacher, kawaii, catgirl, pirate, shakespeare, surfer, noir, uwu, philosopher, hype.

You can also define custom personalities in ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

agent:
  personalities:
    helpful: "You are a helpful, friendly AI assistant."
    kawaii: "You are a kawaii assistant! Use cute expressions..."
    pirate: "Arrr! Ye be talkin' to Captain Hermes..."
    # Add your own!

Multi-line Input

There are two ways to enter multi-line messages:

Alt+Enter or Ctrl+J — inserts a new line
Backslash continuation — end a line with \ to continue:

❯ Write a function that:\
  1. Takes a list of numbers\
  2. Returns the sum

info

Pasting multi-line text is supported — use Alt+Enter or Ctrl+J to insert newlines, or simply paste content directly.

Interrupting the Agent

You can interrupt the agent at any point:

Type a new message + Enter while the agent is working — it interrupts and processes your new instructions
Ctrl+C — interrupt the current operation (press twice within 2s to force exit)
In-progress terminal commands are killed immediately (SIGTERM, then SIGKILL after 1s)
Multiple messages typed during interrupt are combined into one prompt

Tool Progress Display

The CLI shows animated feedback as the agent works:

Thinking animation (during API calls):

  ◜ (｡•́︿•̀｡) pondering... (1.2s)
  ◠ (⊙_⊙) contemplating... (2.4s)
  ✧٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و✧ got it! (3.1s)

Tool execution feed:

  ┊ 💻 terminal `ls -la` (0.3s)
  ┊ 🔍 web_search (1.2s)
  ┊ 📄 web_extract (2.1s)

Cycle through display modes with /verbose: off → new → all → verbose.

Session Management

Resuming Sessions

When you exit a CLI session, a resume command is printed:

Resume this session with:
  hermes --resume 20260225_143052_a1b2c3

Session:        20260225_143052_a1b2c3
Duration:       12m 34s
Messages:       28 (5 user, 18 tool calls)

Resume options:

hermes --continue                          # Resume the most recent CLI session
hermes -c                                  # Short form
hermes --resume 20260225_143052_a1b2c3     # Resume a specific session by ID
hermes -r 20260225_143052_a1b2c3           # Short form

Resuming restores the full conversation history from SQLite. The agent sees all previous messages, tool calls, and responses — just as if you never left.

Use hermes sessions list to browse past sessions.

Session Logging

Sessions are automatically logged to ~/.hermes/sessions/:

sessions/
├── session_20260201_143052_a1b2c3.json
├── session_20260201_150217_d4e5f6.json
└── ...

Context Compression

Long conversations are automatically summarized when approaching context limits:

# In ~/.hermes/config.yaml
compression:
  enabled: true
  threshold: 0.85    # Compress at 85% of context limit
  summary_model: "google/gemini-3-flash-preview"  # Model used for summarization

When compression triggers, middle turns are summarized while the first 3 and last 4 turns are always preserved.

Quiet Mode

By default, the CLI runs in quiet mode which:

Suppresses verbose logging from tools
Enables kawaii-style animated feedback
Keeps output clean and user-friendly

For debug output:

hermes chat --verbose

Running the CLI​

Interface Layout​

Keybindings​

Slash Commands​

Navigation & Control​

Tools & Configuration​

Conversation Management​

Skills & Scheduling​

Skill Slash Commands​

Personalities​

Multi-line Input​

Interrupting the Agent​

Tool Progress Display​

Session Management​

Resuming Sessions​

Session Logging​

Context Compression​

Quiet Mode​