Published
Hermes Mastery
From First Install to a Working AI Team
Hermes AI for Beginners is the on-ramp. This book is the rest of the map: profiles, Bot Mode, group rooms, kanban, cron, and the gateway that is still running after you sleep. Official install is install.sh, install.ps1, or the Desktop app. Skills Hub, not ClawHub. Bots are profiles. Freeze-dated 30 August 2026 against live Nous docs.
Editorial principle
Run the agent. Do not worship it. Official installer only — docs win after freeze. Facts in memory, procedures in skills, durable work on the board, repeating work on the scheduler. Tokens in .env, never in chat. No hosted kids chatbot.
- Chronology
- 2026
- Length
- ~56,500 words
- Reading time
- ~4 hours · 177 pages
Authors
Michael Gannotti
The voices
1 figures across 2026. Each speaks in their own voice, through their own texts.
The operator
nowLocal agent team
Core question: Who runs the agents, and who do they serve?
You. Mastery is an operating practice, not a larger vocabulary.
Chapters
20 chapters. The disagreement is not resolved.
- Complete
Preface
The rest of the map
What does the beginner book leave unfinished?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 1
The agent that stays
What stays when the chat window closes?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 2
Installation that matches the product
Which installer is the product, and which is folklore?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 3
First hour that actually works
What does a first hour look like when it actually works?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 4
Config, providers, credentials
Where do providers and credentials live, and where must they never live?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 5
Tools and toolsets
Which tools should be on, and which should stay off?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 6
Sessions, checkpoints, context files
What is a session, a checkpoint, and a context file — and how do you mix them up?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 7
Memory that compounds
What belongs in memory, and what does not?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 8
Skills as procedural memory
What is a skill, and how is Skills Hub not ClawHub?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 9
Personality without theater
What is a personality file for, if it is not theater?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 10
MCP, plugins, ACP, the local proxy
When is MCP the right socket, and when is a plugin or a proxy?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 11
Hands on the world
When should the agent touch a browser, a desktop, or a microphone?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 12
Gateway and the twenty platforms
What is the gateway, and what does twenty platforms actually mean?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 13
Profiles: one machine, many agents
Why is a Bot a profile with a face, not a second product?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 14
Bot Mode and group chat
What happens in a group room that a DM cannot do?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 15
Kanban versus delegate_task
When is work a kanban card, and when is it a delegate_task phone call?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Chapter 16
Cron, webhooks, goals, and surviving the night
What should still be running after you sleep?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Appendix A
CLI and slash command atlas
Where is the operator atlas?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Appendix B
Sources
What did this freeze date against?
Voices: operator
- Complete
Appendix C
Figure list
Which figures are in the book?
Voices: operator