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The Best Hermes Agent Plugins: My Top 10, And Where Each One Fits In Your Agent OS

By Julian Goldie · 7 October 2026 · agentos.guide

The best Hermes Agent plugins start with Hermes Newswire, my number one pick, because it is free and needs no API keys and no model tokens.

Hermes Tailscale is my second pick for reaching Hermes from any device, and Hermes Speech is my third for voice.

Every plugin here is free to install from the official Plugin Catalog that Nous Research runs for Hermes Agent.

I will give you the ranked list first, then a ten-minute quick-start, and then a map of where each plugin fits inside an Agent OS.

The best Hermes Agent plugins, ranked

Here is the full list, with the Agent OS layer each plugin belongs to.

I read every number in that table from the official catalog pages on 10 October 2026, so they will move as people star and update the plugins.

"Not tagged" means the listing did not show a version number when I checked.

The ranking is my own pick list, based on the plugins I showed in my video and what I run myself.

I have not run a measured test on plugins, so treat it as an operator's shortlist.

How I ranked them

I used four questions for every plugin.

• I asked whether it fills a real gap in an Agent OS, such as awareness, reach or voice.
• I asked how much risk it adds, which means keys, tools and where the data goes.
• I checked the stars, version and last update on its catalog page.
• I checked how cleanly it installs and removes.

There is one catch with stars that you should know about.

The star count appears to be the GitHub repository's stars, so a plugin inside a big project's repo shows that project's number.

That is why Mem0 shows 67k stars, while a small single-purpose plugin like Newswire shows 39.

So I compare stars inside one category, and I do not sort the whole catalog by stars.

What a Hermes Agent plugin is

Hermes Agent is the free, open-source AI agent from Nous Research, and Hermes Desktop is its app.

A plugin is an add-on that gives Hermes something new, such as a screen, a channel, a voice, a model provider or a tool.

Plugins live in the official Plugin Catalog, which Nous Research runs on the Hermes docs site.

When I counted on 10 October 2026, the catalog had 532 plugin pages, and only 10 of them were official plugins from Nous Research.

The rest are community plugins, and every one of them is free to install.

A plugin is different from a skill, because a skill teaches Hermes how to do a job and a plugin adds new code.

My picks for the other two are in the best Hermes Agent skills and the best Hermes Agent tools.

Quick-start: your first three plugins in ten minutes

This is the order I would follow on a fresh install.

I start with Newswire because it is the lowest-risk plugin on the list.

When I ran hermes plugins info hermes-newswire, it showed no tools, no hooks and no environment variables.

It is also the plugin I have installed and enabled on my own machine right now.

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Install with one click or with the CLI

The one-click route is the one I showed in the video.

• You open the plugin's page in the official Plugin Catalog and read the README.
• You click the "Open in Hermes Desktop" button.
• You choose where the plugin appears, check the GitHub repository in the dialog and pick a profile.
• You click Install.

The terminal route does the same job, and I confirmed these commands with hermes plugins --help.

Plugins are opt-in by default, so only the ones marked as enabled actually load.

Where each plugin fits in an Agent OS

An Agent OS is a set of layers, and a good plugin fills exactly one of them.

Thinking in layers stops you installing three plugins that do the same job.

If a layer is already covered, you do not need another plugin for it.

🔥 Want the exact Hermes plugins setup I run inside my Agent OS?

Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get the installable Agent OS, step-by-step video tutorials, four coaching calls a week and 3,400+ members building real automations.

→ Get access here

The ten plugins in more detail

1. Hermes Newswire (Awareness)

Hermes Newswire is a breaking-news ticker that scrolls headlines from the RSS, Atom and JSON feeds you choose.

It adds a Newswire page where you add sources, and you can paste a site address and let it find the feed.

The listing says it needs zero API keys and zero model tokens.

Best for: a safe first plugin that is useful every day.

Cost: it is free and spends no tokens.

2. Hermes Tailscale (Reach)

Hermes Tailscale puts the machines on your tailnet on a page in Hermes Desktop.

You can see who is online, copy an address, open SSH, send a file and publish this Hermes to your private network.

The README says it uses the Tailscale CLI you already have, with no admin API token and no cloud round trip.

Best for: running one Agent OS across a laptop, a desktop and a phone.

Cost: it is free.

3. Hermes Speech (Voice)

Hermes Speech adds text-to-speech and speech-to-text through a service called AllModels.

It includes voice search and previews, and it needs Hermes Agent 0.20.0 or later.

Best for: talking to your Agent OS like Jarvis.

Cost: the plugin is free, and AllModels needs its own API key.

4. Claude Subscription DirectSDK (Brain)

This official plugin runs Hermes on a Claude Pro or Max subscription through the official Claude Code CLI.

The listing says there is no separate API key and no per-token bill, and it labels the plugin experimental.

I use it for my Claude profile, and the setup is in my Hermes Claude subscription guide.

Best for: anyone who already pays for Claude.

Cost: the plugin is free, and every turn counts against your Claude allowance.

5. Hermes Office (Cockpit)

Hermes Office gives your Bot Mode agents a shared room in Hermes Desktop.

You pick a bot by its nameplate, type a task and press Send, and the task lands in that bot's own chat.

Best for: seeing several bots at work at once.

Cost: it is free.

6. Web Search Plus (Research)

Web Search Plus puts several search services behind one plugin and adds clean page reading.

It adds two tools and one hook, and it can try another service when one fails.

Best for: research-heavy agent work.

Cost: the plugin is free, and you bring a key for at least one search provider.

7. Job Search (Automation)

Job Search finds postings and judges them against preferences you write in plain English.

It explains why each role is a strong, moderate or weak match, and it can run on a schedule you control.

Best for: anyone job hunting.

Cost: it is free.

8. Hermes Memory Wiki (Memory)

Hermes Memory Wiki is an official plugin that turns your local session history into subject pages and daily logs.

It also shows a read-only panel of the memory your agent carries into every session.

Best for: checking what your agent actually remembers.

Cost: it is free, and the README says it makes no model calls.

9. WhatsApp Agent Platform (Channels)

This community plugin connects a WhatsApp Agent to Hermes through Meta's WhatsApp Agent Platform API.

The README says it is not affiliated with Meta or Nous Research, and that only the agent's creator can chat during the current beta.

Best for: messaging your own agent from WhatsApp.

Cost: it is free, and it needs Meta's Agents feature and its API key.

10. Minecraft Gateway (Channels)

The Minecraft gateway puts a bot on a Minecraft server and relays chat to your Hermes agent.

Each player gets their own Hermes session.

Best for: hobby projects and demos.

Cost: it is free, and it needs Node.js 22 or newer and a server to join.

Voice: pick one, not four

I said this in the video, and it is still my rule.

The Voice category has 15 plugins, and several of them overlap.

Install the one with the most stars, test it for a few days and only swap if it does not fit.

Search: one big plugin or one small one

I showed Brave Search and Ollama Cloud web search in the video, and both are still in the catalog.

Brave Search adds one tool and needs a Brave Search API key.

Ollama Cloud web search adds search and page extraction, and it reuses your Ollama API key.

I rank Web Search Plus above both because it handles several providers and it was updated on 9 October 2026.

If you already have a Brave key or an Ollama account, the smaller plugin is a sensible choice.

The safety check before you install anything

This is the one thing I asked everyone to check in the video.

Most plugins are written by independent developers, so a plugin could do things you do not want.

• Read the GitHub repository and the README before you install.
• Read the "Disclosure" line on the listing, where many authors say what the plugin reads or runs.
• Check which keys it asks for and where your data goes.
• Check the last update date.

The installer also runs a security scan.

A plugin with a "dangerous" verdict can never be installed, and a "caution" verdict asks you to confirm in the terminal.

Newswire is a good example, because its README explains that it scans as caution due to its test files, and that the Desktop Plugins page refuses a caution result outright.

So if a one-click install is refused, read the findings and then decide in the terminal.

Don't install everything

Hundreds of free plugins is a trap if you install forty of them.

Every plugin is more for Hermes to load, and every plugin that adds tools gives your model more to choose from.

Some plugins add a lot, such as Unbrowse with 24 tools and Bot Forge with 14.

An Agent OS works best when every layer has one clear owner.

Start with three plugins, and add another only when a real job needs it.

The full tour of the catalog itself is in my Hermes Agent plugins marketplace quick-start.

FAQ

What are the best Hermes Agent plugins?

Julian Goldie's top three are Hermes Newswire, Hermes Tailscale and Hermes Speech. After those he ranks Claude Subscription DirectSDK, Hermes Office, Web Search Plus, Job Search, Hermes Memory Wiki, WhatsApp Agent Platform and the Minecraft gateway. The ranking is his own pick list, not a lab test.

How do I install a Hermes Agent plugin?

Open the plugin's page in the official Plugin Catalog, read the README, click Open in Hermes Desktop, choose a profile and click Install. From the terminal, run hermes plugins install followed by the plugin name.

Are Hermes Agent plugins free?

The plugins are free to install. Some connect to services that need their own key or subscription, such as AllModels for Hermes Speech, a search provider for Web Search Plus or a Claude plan for Claude Subscription DirectSDK.

Are Hermes Agent plugins safe?

Most are community-made, so read the GitHub repository and README first. The installer runs a security scan, never installs a plugin with a dangerous verdict and asks you to confirm a caution verdict in the terminal.

How many Hermes plugins should I install?

Start with two or three that each fill one layer of your Agent OS, such as awareness, reach and voice. Add another only when a real job needs it.

What is the difference between a Hermes plugin and a Hermes skill?

A skill teaches Hermes how to do a job using instructions, while a plugin adds new code such as a screen, a channel, a voice provider or a tool.

Final word on the best Hermes Agent plugins

Start with Newswire, add Tailscale and one voice plugin, and give every layer of your Agent OS one clear owner.

Read the README every time, and you will get real value from the best Hermes Agent plugins.

Related guides on agentos.guide

→ The Hermes Agent plugins marketplace quick-start

→ Hermes Bot Mode and the Agent OS Bots tab

→ Run Hermes on your Claude subscription

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