Files
hermes-agent/website/docs/reference/tools-reference.md
Teknium 289cc47631 docs: resync reference, user-guide, developer-guide, and messaging pages against code (#17738)
Broad drift audit against origin/main (b52b63396).

Reference pages (most user-visible drift):
- slash-commands: add /busy, /curator, /footer, /indicator, /redraw, /steer
  that were missing; drop non-existent /terminal-setup; fix /q footnote
  (resolves to /queue, not /quit); extend CLI-only list with all 24
  CLI-only commands in the registry
- cli-commands: add dedicated sections for hermes curator / fallback /
  hooks (new subcommands not previously documented); remove stale
  hermes honcho standalone section (the plugin registers dynamically
  via hermes memory); list curator/fallback/hooks in top-level table;
  fix completion to include fish
- toolsets-reference: document the real 52-toolset count; split browser
  vs browser-cdp; add discord / discord_admin / spotify / yuanbao;
  correct hermes-cli tool count from 36 to 38; fix misleading claim
  that hermes-homeassistant adds tools (it's identical to hermes-cli)
- tools-reference: bump tool count 55 -> 68; add 7 Spotify, 5 Yuanbao,
  2 Discord toolsets; move browser_cdp/browser_dialog to their own
  browser-cdp toolset section
- environment-variables: add 40+ user-facing HERMES_* vars that were
  undocumented (--yolo, --accept-hooks, --ignore-*, inference model
  override, agent/stream/checkpoint timeouts, OAuth trace, per-platform
  batch tuning for Telegram/Discord/Matrix/Feishu/WeCom, cron knobs,
  gateway restart/connect timeouts); dedupe the Cron Scheduler section;
  replace stale QQ_SANDBOX with QQ_PORTAL_HOST

User-guide (top level):
- cli.md: compression preserves last 20 turns, not 4 (protect_last_n: 20)
- configuration.md: display.platforms is the canonical per-platform
  override key; tool_progress_overrides is deprecated and auto-migrated
- profiles.md: model.default is the config key, not model.model
- sessions.md: CLI/TUI session IDs use 6-char hex, gateway uses 8
- checkpoints-and-rollback.md: destructive-command list now matches
  _DESTRUCTIVE_PATTERNS (adds rmdir, cp, install, dd)
- docker.md: the container runs as non-root hermes (UID 10000) via
  gosu; fix install command (uv pip); add missing --insecure on the
  dashboard compose example (required for non-loopback bind)
- security.md: systemctl danger pattern also matches 'restart'
- index.md: built-in tool count 47 -> 68
- integrations/index.md: 6 STT providers, 8 memory providers
- integrations/providers.md: drop fictional dashscope/qwen aliases

Features:
- overview.md: 9 image models (not 8), 9 TTS providers (not 5),
  8 memory providers (Supermemory was missing)
- tool-gateway.md: 9 image models
- tools.md: extend common-toolsets list with search / messaging /
  spotify / discord / debugging / safe
- fallback-providers.md: add 6 real providers from PROVIDER_REGISTRY
  (lmstudio, kimi-coding-cn, stepfun, alibaba-coding-plan,
  tencent-tokenhub, azure-foundry)
- plugins.md: Available Hooks table now includes on_session_finalize,
  on_session_reset, subagent_stop
- built-in-plugins.md: add the 7 bundled plugins the page didn't
  mention (spotify, google_meet, three image_gen providers, two
  dashboard examples)
- web-dashboard.md: add --insecure and --tui flags
- cron.md: hermes cron create takes positional schedule/prompt, not
  flags

Messaging:
- telegram.md: TELEGRAM_WEBHOOK_SECRET is now REQUIRED when
  TELEGRAM_WEBHOOK_URL is set (gateway refuses to start without it
  per GHSA-3vpc-7q5r-276h). Biggest user-visible drift in the batch.
- discord.md: HERMES_DISCORD_TEXT_BATCH_SPLIT_DELAY_SECONDS default
  is 2.0, not 0.1
- dingtalk.md: document DINGTALK_REQUIRE_MENTION /
  FREE_RESPONSE_CHATS / MENTION_PATTERNS / HOME_CHANNEL /
  ALLOW_ALL_USERS that the adapter supports
- bluebubbles.md: drop fictional BLUEBUBBLES_SEND_READ_RECEIPTS env
  var; the setting lives in platforms.bluebubbles.extra only
- qqbot.md: drop dead QQ_SANDBOX; add real QQ_PORTAL_HOST and
  QQ_GROUP_ALLOWED_USERS
- wecom-callback.md: replace 'hermes gateway start' (service-only)
  with 'hermes gateway' for first-time setup

Developer-guide:
- architecture.md: refresh tool/toolset counts (61/52), terminal
  backend count (7), line counts for run_agent.py (~13.7k), cli.py
  (~11.5k), main.py (~10.4k), setup.py (~3.5k), gateway/run.py
  (~12.2k), mcp_tool.py (~3.1k); add yuanbao adapter, bump platform
  adapter count 18 -> 20
- agent-loop.md: run_agent.py line count 10.7k -> 13.7k
- tools-runtime.md: add vercel_sandbox backend
- adding-tools.md: remove stale 'Discovery import added to
  model_tools.py' checklist item (registry auto-discovery)
- adding-platform-adapters.md: mark send_typing / get_chat_info as
  concrete base methods; only connect/disconnect/send are abstract
- acp-internals.md: ACP sessions now persist to SessionDB
  (~/.hermes/state.db); acp.run_agent call uses
  use_unstable_protocol=True
- cron-internals.md: gateway runs scheduler in a dedicated background
  thread via _start_cron_ticker, not on a maintenance cycle; locking
  is cross-process via fcntl.flock (Unix) / msvcrt.locking (Windows)
- gateway-internals.md: gateway/run.py ~12k lines
- provider-runtime.md: cron DOES support fallback (run_job reads
  fallback_providers from config)
- session-storage.md: SCHEMA_VERSION = 11 (not 9); add migrations
  10 and 11 (trigram FTS, inline-mode FTS5 re-index); add
  api_call_count column to Sessions DDL; document messages_fts_trigram
  and state_meta in the architecture tree
- context-compression-and-caching.md: remove the obsolete 'context
  pressure warnings' section (warnings were removed for causing
  models to give up early)
- context-engine-plugin.md: compress() signature now includes
  focus_topic param
- extending-the-cli.md: _build_tui_layout_children signature now
  includes model_picker_widget; add to default layout

Also fixed three pre-existing broken links/anchors the build warned
about (docker.md -> api-server.md, yuanbao.md -> cron-jobs.md and
tips#background-tasks, nix-setup.md -> #container-aware-cli).

Regenerated per-skill pages via website/scripts/generate-skill-docs.py
so catalog tables and sidebar are consistent with current SKILL.md
frontmatter.

docusaurus build: clean, no broken links or anchors.
2026-04-29 20:55:59 -07:00

19 KiB

sidebar_position, title, description
sidebar_position title description
3 Built-in Tools Reference Authoritative reference for Hermes built-in tools, grouped by toolset

Built-in Tools Reference

This page documents all 68 built-in tools in the Hermes tool registry, grouped by toolset. Availability varies by platform, credentials, and enabled toolsets.

Quick counts: 10 browser tools (core) + 2 browser-cdp tools, 4 file tools, 10 RL tools, 4 Home Assistant tools, 2 terminal tools, 2 web tools, 5 Feishu tools, 7 Spotify tools, 5 Yuanbao tools, 2 Discord tools, and 15 standalone tools across other toolsets.

:::tip MCP Tools In addition to built-in tools, Hermes can load tools dynamically from MCP servers. MCP tools appear with a server-name prefix (e.g., github_create_issue for the github MCP server). See MCP Integration for configuration. :::

browser toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
browser_back Navigate back to the previous page in browser history. Requires browser_navigate to be called first.
browser_click Click on an element identified by its ref ID from the snapshot (e.g., '@e5'). The ref IDs are shown in square brackets in the snapshot output. Requires browser_navigate and browser_snapshot to be called first.
browser_console Get browser console output and JavaScript errors from the current page. Returns console.log/warn/error/info messages and uncaught JS exceptions. Use this to detect silent JavaScript errors, failed API calls, and application warnings. Requi…
browser_get_images Get a list of all images on the current page with their URLs and alt text. Useful for finding images to analyze with the vision tool. Requires browser_navigate to be called first.
browser_navigate Navigate to a URL in the browser. Initializes the session and loads the page. Must be called before other browser tools. For simple information retrieval, prefer web_search or web_extract (faster, cheaper). Use browser tools when you need…
browser_press Press a keyboard key. Useful for submitting forms (Enter), navigating (Tab), or keyboard shortcuts. Requires browser_navigate to be called first.
browser_scroll Scroll the page in a direction. Use this to reveal more content that may be below or above the current viewport. Requires browser_navigate to be called first.
browser_snapshot Get a text-based snapshot of the current page's accessibility tree. Returns interactive elements with ref IDs (like @e1, @e2) for browser_click and browser_type. full=false (default): compact view with interactive elements. full=true: comp…
browser_type Type text into an input field identified by its ref ID. Clears the field first, then types the new text. Requires browser_navigate and browser_snapshot to be called first.
browser_vision Take a screenshot of the current page and analyze it with vision AI. Use this when you need to visually understand what's on the page - especially useful for CAPTCHAs, visual verification challenges, complex layouts, or when the text snaps…

browser-cdp toolset

Registered only when a Chrome DevTools Protocol endpoint is reachable at session start — via /browser connect, browser.cdp_url config, a Browserbase session, or Camofox.

Tool Description Requires environment
browser_cdp Send a raw Chrome DevTools Protocol command. Escape hatch for browser operations not covered by the higher-level browser_* tools. See https://chromedevtools.github.io/devtools-protocol/ CDP endpoint
browser_dialog Respond to a native JavaScript dialog (alert / confirm / prompt / beforeunload). Call browser_snapshot first — pending dialogs appear in its pending_dialogs field. Then call browser_dialog(action='accept'|'dismiss'). CDP endpoint

clarify toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
clarify Ask the user a question when you need clarification, feedback, or a decision before proceeding. Supports two modes: 1. Multiple choice — provide up to 4 choices. The user picks one or types their own answer via a 5th 'Other' option. 2.…

code_execution toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
execute_code Run a Python script that can call Hermes tools programmatically. Use this when you need 3+ tool calls with processing logic between them, need to filter/reduce large tool outputs before they enter your context, need conditional branching (…

cronjob toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
cronjob Unified scheduled-task manager. Use action="create", "list", "update", "pause", "resume", "run", or "remove" to manage jobs. Supports skill-backed jobs with one or more attached skills, and skills=[] on update clears attached skills. Cron runs happen in fresh sessions with no current-chat context.

delegation toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
delegate_task Spawn one or more subagents to work on tasks in isolated contexts. Each subagent gets its own conversation, terminal session, and toolset. Only the final summary is returned -- intermediate tool results never enter your context window. TWO…

feishu_doc toolset

Scoped to the Feishu document-comment intelligent-reply handler (gateway/platforms/feishu_comment.py). Not exposed on hermes-cli or the regular Feishu chat adapter.

Tool Description Requires environment
feishu_doc_read Read the full text content of a Feishu/Lark document (Docx, Doc, or Sheet) given its file_type and token. Feishu app credentials

feishu_drive toolset

Scoped to the Feishu document-comment handler. Drives comment read/write operations on drive files.

Tool Description Requires environment
feishu_drive_add_comment Add a top-level comment on a Feishu/Lark document or file. Feishu app credentials
feishu_drive_list_comments List whole-document comments on a Feishu/Lark file, most recent first. Feishu app credentials
feishu_drive_list_comment_replies List replies on a specific Feishu comment thread (whole-doc or local-selection). Feishu app credentials
feishu_drive_reply_comment Post a reply on a Feishu comment thread, with optional @-mention. Feishu app credentials

file toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
patch Targeted find-and-replace edits in files. Use this instead of sed/awk in terminal. Uses fuzzy matching (9 strategies) so minor whitespace/indentation differences won't break it. Returns a unified diff. Auto-runs syntax checks after editing…
read_file Read a text file with line numbers and pagination. Use this instead of cat/head/tail in terminal. Output format: 'LINE_NUM|CONTENT'. Suggests similar filenames if not found. Use offset and limit for large files. NOTE: Cannot read images o…
search_files Search file contents or find files by name. Use this instead of grep/rg/find/ls in terminal. Ripgrep-backed, faster than shell equivalents. Content search (target='content'): Regex search inside files. Output modes: full matches with line…
write_file Write content to a file, completely replacing existing content. Use this instead of echo/cat heredoc in terminal. Creates parent directories automatically. OVERWRITES the entire file — use 'patch' for targeted edits.

homeassistant toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
ha_call_service Call a Home Assistant service to control a device. Use ha_list_services to discover available services and their parameters for each domain.
ha_get_state Get the detailed state of a single Home Assistant entity, including all attributes (brightness, color, temperature setpoint, sensor readings, etc.).
ha_list_entities List Home Assistant entities. Optionally filter by domain (light, switch, climate, sensor, binary_sensor, cover, fan, etc.) or by area name (living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc.).
ha_list_services List available Home Assistant services (actions) for device control. Shows what actions can be performed on each device type and what parameters they accept. Use this to discover how to control devices found via ha_list_entities.

:::note Honcho tools (honcho_profile, honcho_search, honcho_context, honcho_reasoning, honcho_conclude) are no longer built-in. They are available via the Honcho memory provider plugin at plugins/memory/honcho/. See Memory Providers for installation and usage. :::

image_gen toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
image_generate Generate high-quality images from text prompts using FAL.ai. The underlying model is user-configured (default: FLUX 2 Klein 9B, sub-1s generation) and is not selectable by the agent. Returns a single image URL. Display it using… FAL_KEY

memory toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
memory Save important information to persistent memory that survives across sessions. Your memory appears in your system prompt at session start -- it's how you remember things about the user and your environment between conversations. WHEN TO SA…

messaging toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
send_message Send a message to a connected messaging platform, or list available targets. IMPORTANT: When the user asks to send to a specific channel or person (not just a bare platform name), call send_message(action='list') FIRST to see available tar…

moa toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
mixture_of_agents Route a hard problem through multiple frontier LLMs collaboratively. Makes 5 API calls (4 reference models + 1 aggregator) with maximum reasoning effort — use sparingly for genuinely difficult problems. Best for: complex math, advanced alg… OPENROUTER_API_KEY

rl toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
rl_check_status Get status and metrics for a training run. RATE LIMITED: enforces 30-minute minimum between checks for the same run. Returns WandB metrics: step, state, reward_mean, loss, percent_correct. TINKER_API_KEY, WANDB_API_KEY
rl_edit_config Update a configuration field. Use rl_get_current_config() first to see all available fields for the selected environment. Each environment has different configurable options. Infrastructure settings (tokenizer, URLs, lora_rank, learning_ra… TINKER_API_KEY, WANDB_API_KEY
rl_get_current_config Get the current environment configuration. Returns only fields that can be modified: group_size, max_token_length, total_steps, steps_per_eval, use_wandb, wandb_name, max_num_workers. TINKER_API_KEY, WANDB_API_KEY
rl_get_results Get final results and metrics for a completed training run. Returns final metrics and path to trained weights. TINKER_API_KEY, WANDB_API_KEY
rl_list_environments List all available RL environments. Returns environment names, paths, and descriptions. TIP: Read the file_path with file tools to understand how each environment works (verifiers, data loading, rewards). TINKER_API_KEY, WANDB_API_KEY
rl_list_runs List all training runs (active and completed) with their status. TINKER_API_KEY, WANDB_API_KEY
rl_select_environment Select an RL environment for training. Loads the environment's default configuration. After selecting, use rl_get_current_config() to see settings and rl_edit_config() to modify them. TINKER_API_KEY, WANDB_API_KEY
rl_start_training Start a new RL training run with the current environment and config. Most training parameters (lora_rank, learning_rate, etc.) are fixed. Use rl_edit_config() to set group_size, batch_size, wandb_project before starting. WARNING: Training… TINKER_API_KEY, WANDB_API_KEY
rl_stop_training Stop a running training job. Use if metrics look bad, training is stagnant, or you want to try different settings. TINKER_API_KEY, WANDB_API_KEY
rl_test_inference Quick inference test for any environment. Runs a few steps of inference + scoring using OpenRouter. Default: 3 steps x 16 completions = 48 rollouts per model, testing 3 models = 144 total. Tests environment loading, prompt construction, in… TINKER_API_KEY, WANDB_API_KEY

session_search toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
session_search Search your long-term memory of past conversations. This is your recall -- every past session is searchable, and this tool summarizes what happened. USE THIS PROACTIVELY when: - The user says 'we did this before', 'remember when', 'last ti…

skills toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
skill_manage Manage skills (create, update, delete). Skills are your procedural memory — reusable approaches for recurring task types. New skills go to ~/.hermes/skills/; existing skills can be modified wherever they live. Actions: create (full SKILL.m…
skill_view Skills allow for loading information about specific tasks and workflows, as well as scripts and templates. Load a skill's full content or access its linked files (references, templates, scripts). First call returns SKILL.md content plus a…
skills_list List available skills (name + description). Use skill_view(name) to load full content.

terminal toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
process Manage background processes started with terminal(background=true). Actions: 'list' (show all), 'poll' (check status + new output), 'log' (full output with pagination), 'wait' (block until done or timeout), 'kill' (terminate), 'write' (sen…
terminal Execute shell commands on a Linux environment. Filesystem persists between calls. Set background=true for long-running servers. Set notify_on_complete=true (with background=true) to get an automatic notification when the process finishes — no polling needed. Do NOT use cat/head/tail — use read_file. Do NOT use grep/rg/find — use search_files.

todo toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
todo Manage your task list for the current session. Use for complex tasks with 3+ steps or when the user provides multiple tasks. Call with no parameters to read the current list. Writing: - Provide 'todos' array to create/update items - merge=…

vision toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
vision_analyze Analyze images using AI vision. Provides a comprehensive description and answers a specific question about the image content.

web toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
web_search Search the web for information. Returns up to 5 results by default with titles, URLs, and descriptions. Accepts an optional limit (1-100, default 5). The query is passed through to the configured backend, so operators such as site:domain, filetype:pdf, intitle:word, -term, and "exact phrase" may work when the backend supports them. EXA_API_KEY or PARALLEL_API_KEY or FIRECRAWL_API_KEY or TAVILY_API_KEY
web_extract Extract content from web page URLs. Returns page content in markdown format. Also works with PDF URLs — pass the PDF link directly and it converts to markdown text. Pages under 5000 chars return full markdown; larger pages are LLM-summarized. EXA_API_KEY or PARALLEL_API_KEY or FIRECRAWL_API_KEY or TAVILY_API_KEY

tts toolset

Tool Description Requires environment
text_to_speech Convert text to speech audio. Returns a MEDIA: path that the platform delivers as a voice message. On Telegram it plays as a voice bubble, on Discord/WhatsApp as an audio attachment. In CLI mode, saves to ~/voice-memos/. Voice and provider…

discord toolset

Registered on the hermes-discord platform toolset (gateway only). Uses the same bot token as the messaging adapter.

Tool Description Requires environment
discord Read and participate in a Discord server. Actions include search_members, fetch_messages, send_message, react, fetch_channel, list_channels, and more. DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN

discord_admin toolset

Registered on the hermes-discord platform toolset. Moderation actions require the bot to hold the matching Discord permissions.

Tool Description Requires environment
discord_admin Manage a Discord server via the REST API: list guilds/channels/roles, create/edit/delete channels, manage role grants, timeouts, kicks, and bans. DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN + bot permissions

spotify toolset

Registered by the bundled spotify plugin. Requires an OAuth token — run hermes spotify setup once to authorize.

Tool Description Requires environment
spotify_playback Control Spotify playback, inspect the active playback state, or fetch recently played tracks. Spotify OAuth
spotify_devices List Spotify Connect devices or transfer playback to a different device. Spotify OAuth
spotify_queue Inspect the user's Spotify queue or add an item to it. Spotify OAuth
spotify_search Search the Spotify catalog for tracks, albums, artists, playlists, shows, or episodes. Spotify OAuth
spotify_playlists List, inspect, create, update, and modify Spotify playlists. Spotify OAuth
spotify_albums Fetch Spotify album metadata or album tracks. Spotify OAuth
spotify_library List, save, or remove the user's saved Spotify tracks or albums. Spotify OAuth

hermes-yuanbao toolset

Registered only on the hermes-yuanbao platform toolset. Yuanbao is Tencent's chat app; these tools drive its DM/group/sticker APIs.

Tool Description Requires environment
yb_query_group_info Query basic info about a group (called "派/Pai" in the app): name, owner, member count. Yuanbao credentials
yb_query_group_members Query members of a group (for @-mentions, finding a user by name, listing bots). Yuanbao credentials
yb_send_dm Send a private/direct message to a user in a group, with optional media files. Yuanbao credentials
yb_search_sticker Search the built-in Yuanbao sticker (TIM face) catalogue by keyword. Yuanbao credentials
yb_send_sticker Send a built-in sticker to the current Yuanbao chat. Yuanbao credentials