hermes-agent/website/docs/user-guide/cli.md

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1	CLI Interface	Master the Hermes Agent terminal interface — commands, keybindings, personalities, and more

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.

:::tip Hermes also ships a modern TUI with modal overlays, mouse selection, and non-blocking input. Launch it with hermes --tui — see the TUI guide. :::

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"

# Start with one or more skills preloaded
hermes -s hermes-agent-dev,github-auth
hermes chat -s github-pr-workflow -q "open a draft PR"

# 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

# Isolated git worktree (for running multiple agents in parallel)
hermes -w                         # Interactive mode in worktree
hermes -w -q "Fix issue #123"     # Single query in worktree

Interface Layout

The Hermes CLI banner, conversation stream, and fixed input prompt rendered as a stable docs figure instead of fragile text art.

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

Status Bar

A persistent status bar sits above the input area, updating in real time:

 ⚕ claude-sonnet-4-20250514 │ 12.4K/200K │ [██████░░░░] 6% │ $0.06 │ 15m

Element	Description
Model name	Current model (truncated if longer than 26 chars)
Token count	Context tokens used / max context window
Context bar	Visual fill indicator with color-coded thresholds
Cost	Estimated session cost (or n/a for unknown/zero-priced models)
Duration	Elapsed session time

The bar adapts to terminal width — full layout at ≥ 76 columns, compact at 52–75, minimal (model + duration only) below 52.

Context color coding:

Color	Threshold	Meaning
Green	< 50%	Plenty of room
Yellow	50–80%	Getting full
Orange	80–95%	Approaching limit
Red	≥ 95%	Near overflow — consider /compress

Use /usage for a detailed breakdown including per-category costs (input vs output tokens).

Session Resume Display

When resuming a previous session (hermes -c or hermes --resume <id>), a "Previous Conversation" panel appears between the banner and the input prompt, showing a compact recap of the conversation history. See Sessions — Conversation Recap on Resume for details and configuration.

Keybindings

Key	Action
Enter	Send message
Alt+Enter or Ctrl+J	New line (multi-line input)
Alt+V	Paste an image from the clipboard when supported by the terminal
Ctrl+V	Paste text and opportunistically attach clipboard images
Ctrl+B	Start/stop voice recording when voice mode is enabled (voice.record_key, default: ctrl+b)
Ctrl+G	Open the current input buffer in $EDITOR (vim/nvim/nano/VS Code/etc.). Save and quit to send the edited text as the next prompt — ideal for long, multi-paragraph prompts.
Ctrl+X Ctrl+E	Emacs-style alternate binding for the external editor (same behavior as Ctrl+G).
Ctrl+C	Interrupt agent (double-press within 2s to force exit)
Ctrl+D	Exit
Ctrl+Z	Suspend Hermes to background (Unix only). Run fg in the shell to resume.
Tab	Accept auto-suggestion (ghost text) or autocomplete slash commands

Multiline paste preview. When you paste a multi-line block, the CLI echoes a compact single-line preview ([pasted: 47 lines, 1,842 chars — press Enter to send]) instead of dumping the whole payload into the scrollback. The full content is still what gets sent; this is just display polish.

Markdown stripping in final responses. The CLI strips the most verbose markdown fences and **bold** / *italic* wrappers from final agent replies so they render as readable terminal prose rather than raw source. Code blocks and lists are preserved. This does not affect gateway platforms or tool results — they keep their markdown for native rendering.

Slash Commands

Type / to see the autocomplete dropdown. Hermes supports a large set of CLI slash commands, dynamic skill commands, and user-defined quick commands.

Common examples:

Command	Description
/help	Show command help
/model	Show or change the current model
/tools	List currently available tools
/skills browse	Browse the skills hub and official optional skills
/background <prompt>	Run a prompt in a separate background session
/skin	Show or switch the active CLI skin
/voice on	Enable CLI voice mode (press Ctrl+B to record)
/voice tts	Toggle spoken playback for Hermes replies
/reasoning high	Increase reasoning effort
/title My Session	Name the current session

For the full built-in CLI and messaging lists, see Slash Commands Reference.

For setup, providers, silence tuning, and messaging/Discord voice usage, see Voice Mode.

:::tip Commands are case-insensitive — /HELP works the same as /help. Installed skills also become slash commands automatically. :::

Quick Commands

You can define custom commands that run shell commands instantly without invoking the LLM. These work in both the CLI and messaging platforms (Telegram, Discord, etc.).

# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
quick_commands:
  status:
    type: exec
    command: systemctl status hermes-agent
  gpu:
    type: exec
    command: nvidia-smi --query-gpu=utilization.gpu,memory.used --format=csv,noheader
  restart:
    type: alias
    target: /gateway restart

Then type /status, /gpu, or /restart in any chat. See the Configuration guide for more examples.

Preloading Skills at Launch

If you already know which skills you want active for the session, pass them at launch time:

hermes -s hermes-agent-dev,github-auth
hermes chat -s github-pr-workflow -s github-auth

Hermes loads each named skill into the session prompt before the first turn. The same flag works in interactive mode and single-query mode.

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:

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:

1. Alt+Enter or Ctrl+J — inserts a new line
2. 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

Busy Input Mode

The display.busy_input_mode config key controls what happens when you press Enter while the agent is working:

Mode	Behavior
"interrupt" (default)	Your message interrupts the current operation and is processed immediately
"queue"	Your message is silently queued and sent as the next turn after the agent finishes
"steer"	Your message is injected into the current run via /steer, arriving at the agent after the next tool call — no interrupt, no new turn

# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
display:
  busy_input_mode: "steer"   # or "queue" or "interrupt" (default)

"queue" mode is useful when you want to prepare follow-up messages without accidentally canceling in-flight work. "steer" mode is useful when you want to redirect the agent mid-task without interrupting — e.g. "actually, also check the tests" while it's still editing code. Unknown values fall back to "interrupt".

"steer" has two automatic fallbacks: if the agent hasn't started yet, or if images are attached, the message falls back to "queue" behavior so nothing is lost.

You can also change it inside the CLI:

/busy queue
/busy steer
/busy interrupt
/busy status

:::tip First-touch hint The very first time you press Enter while Hermes is working, Hermes prints a one-line reminder explaining the /busy knob ("(tip) Your message interrupted the current run…"). It only fires once per install — a flag in config.yaml under onboarding.seen.busy_input_prompt latches it. Delete that key to see the tip again. :::

Suspending to Background

On Unix systems, press Ctrl+Z to suspend Hermes to the background — just like any terminal process. The shell prints a confirmation:

Hermes Agent has been suspended. Run `fg` to bring Hermes Agent back.

Type fg in your shell to resume the session exactly where you left off. This is not supported on Windows.

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. This command can also be enabled for messaging platforms — see configuration.

Tool Preview Length

The display.tool_preview_length config key controls the maximum number of characters shown in tool call preview lines (e.g. file paths, terminal commands). The default is 0, which means no limit — full paths and commands are shown.

# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
display:
  tool_preview_length: 80   # Truncate tool previews to 80 chars (0 = no limit)

This is useful on narrow terminals or when tool arguments contain very long file paths.

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 -c "my project"                     # Resume a named session (latest in lineage)
hermes --resume 20260225_143052_a1b2c3     # Resume a specific session by ID
hermes --resume "refactoring auth"         # Resume by title
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 /title My Session Name inside a chat to name the current session, or hermes sessions rename <id> <title> from the command line. Use hermes sessions list to browse past sessions.

Session Storage

CLI sessions are stored in Hermes's SQLite state database under ~/.hermes/state.db. The database keeps:

• session metadata (ID, title, timestamps, token counters)
• message history
• lineage across compressed/resumed sessions
• full-text search indexes used by session_search

Some messaging adapters also keep per-platform transcript files alongside the database, but the CLI itself resumes from the SQLite session store.

Context Compression

Long conversations are automatically summarized when approaching context limits:

# In ~/.hermes/config.yaml
compression:
  enabled: true
  threshold: 0.50    # Compress at 50% of context limit by default

# Summarization model configured under auxiliary:
auxiliary:
  compression:
    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.

Background Sessions

Run a prompt in a separate background session while continuing to use the CLI for other work:

/background Analyze the logs in /var/log and summarize any errors from today

Hermes immediately confirms the task and gives you back the prompt:

🔄 Background task #1 started: "Analyze the logs in /var/log and summarize..."
   Task ID: bg_143022_a1b2c3

How It Works

Each /background prompt spawns a completely separate agent session in a daemon thread:

• Isolated conversation — the background agent has no knowledge of your current session's history. It receives only the prompt you provide.
• Same configuration — the background agent inherits your model, provider, toolsets, reasoning settings, and fallback model from the current session.
• Non-blocking — your foreground session stays fully interactive. You can chat, run commands, or even start more background tasks.
• Multiple tasks — you can run several background tasks simultaneously. Each gets a numbered ID.

Results

When a background task finishes, the result appears as a panel in your terminal:

╭─ ⚕ Hermes (background #1) ──────────────────────────────────╮
│ Found 3 errors in syslog from today:                         │
│ 1. OOM killer invoked at 03:22 — killed process nginx        │
│ 2. Disk I/O error on /dev/sda1 at 07:15                      │
│ 3. Failed SSH login attempts from 192.168.1.50 at 14:30      │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

If the task fails, you'll see an error notification instead. If display.bell_on_complete is enabled in your config, the terminal bell rings when the task finishes.

Use Cases

• Long-running research — "/background research the latest developments in quantum error correction" while you work on code
• File processing — "/background analyze all Python files in this repo and list any security issues" while you continue a conversation
• Parallel investigations — start multiple background tasks to explore different angles simultaneously

:::info Background sessions do not appear in your main conversation history. They are standalone sessions with their own task ID (e.g., bg_143022_a1b2c3). :::

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