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The full crash course — every screenshot is from the Hermes system I run daily

Hermes AI agent: the full crash course.

By the end of this page you'll know how to install Hermes, set it up properly, and turn it into an AI employee that works for your business 24 hours a day — and gets smarter every single day.

227,995GitHub stars — checked today
6parts in the system
24/7it works while you sleep
Freeopen source · MIT licence
§2

The Reset-to-Zero Problem.

You install it, you open it, you stare at a blank box thinking “now what?” — this course is the full map.

EVERYONE GETS STUCK HERE — THIS COURSE IS THE FULL MAP okay… now what? the blank chat box where everyone stalls home brain memory skills clock team Goal Mode MoA MCP tools every device six parts + the advanced setup most videos never touch
§3 · what you’re dealing with

The fastest-growing agent on Earth.

HERMES · BY NOUS RESEARCH · OPEN SOURCE 228,019 GitHub stars — live count, checked today MIT license Feb 2026 launch a massive number of people said: yes, this is the one Feb 2026 today one of the fastest-growing open-source projects ever
§4 · the whole game

Hermes grows with you.

A normal chatbot resets to zero every day. Hermes never resets — every conversation, correction and skill stacks.

WHAT YOUR AGENT KNOWS, DAY 1 TO DAY 100 day 1 day 50 day 100 normal chatbot: resets to zero daily Hermes: memories + skills + jobs, stacking every conversation adds a little every correction adds a little every skill adds a little — and it stacks
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§5 · the system

The Compound Employee System — six parts.

The home, the brain, the memory, the skills, the clock, the team. Get all six right and you have an employee, not a chatbot.

THE COMPOUND EMPLOYEE SYSTEM — SIX PARTS, ONE EMPLOYEE 1 · The Homelaptop, spare, or cloud 2 · The Brainany model, swappable 3 · The Memoryfiles + search + vault 4 · The Skillsrecipes it keeps 5 · The Clockwork on schedule 6 · Teammany agents You, the managerone dashboard, one fence you set
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§6 · part one · the home

Where does Hermes live?

One copy. One paste. That’s the whole install — watch it happen for real below.

PART ONE · THE HOME — THREE PLACES IT CAN LIVE 1 · Your computer desktop app, or one command copy → paste → done 2 · A spare laptop wipe it, install, leave it on runs all day, off your main machine 3 · A VPS ★ my pick small computer in the cloud on 24/7 · its own fence Then talk to it from your phone — Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, iMessage.

The actual install, start to finish, run fresh for this page. Real session on this machine — output verbatim, window styling is mine.

The fence: read files but not delete · draft emails but never send — you set it, it stays inside itThen talk to it from your phone: Telegram · WhatsApp · Discord · Slack · iMessage
§7 · part two · the brain

Pick the right brain for the right job.

Frontier brain for the hard thinking, local LFM 2.5 for the grunt work — swap in seconds, keep the body, memory and every skill.

Swapping brains on the live install — local, frontier, or both. Real session on this machine — output verbatim, window styling is mine.

Path 1 · frontier: Qwen 3.8 Max — built for 10-day runsPath 2 · local: LFM 2.5 — trained inside the Hermes harnessPath 3 · mix them ★ what I runNote: Anthropic restricted third-party apps — a Claude subscription won’t plug in the same wayNot technical? Tell Hermes “strong model for important work, local for background” — it configures itself
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Skip the setup

Get the Compound Employee System built for you.

Everything in this course is pre-wired inside our Agent OS — Hermes, Claude, OpenClaw and Free Claude Code in one dashboard with a shared Obsidian memory. Apollo for voice, Oracle for watching, Astros feeding you content ideas from real searches.

The full Agent OS zip — Hermes pre-wired, install in an afternoon
The 30-day roadmap for turning Hermes into leads, content and saved hours
Coaching calls every week — share your screen, bring your setup, get it fixed live
A prompt library with the exact prompts we use for skills and scheduled jobs
A room of 4,000+ business owners — someone online 24/7 when you're stuck
Get the Agent OS → Inside the AI Profit Boardroom
Set up in an afternoon · used in 38 countries · daily updates as the system improves
§9 · part three · the memory

The part that makes Hermes different.

Small fact files, session search, an auto-save loop that scans for prompt injections — and an Obsidian vault every agent you own can read. Test it: ask Hermes to check your vault and suggest content ideas — they come back pulled from your actual projects.

THE MEMORY — THREE LAYERS PLUS THE VAULT EVERY AGENT SHARES Fact filessmall on purpose · load every session Session searchasks its own history when needed Auto-save loopkeeps what matters · scans for injections Obsidian vaultreadable notes you own Hermesreads + writes Claude Codereads it too Any future toolsame vault The vault outlives every tool — your memory stops belonging to one app and starts belonging to you.
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§10 · part four · the skills

Correct it once. It sticks forever.

Feedback becomes a saved recipe, and /learn turns any guide on the internet into a training manual for your employee.

Hermes explains skills and /learn in its own words, then lists its real library. Real session on this machine — output verbatim, window styling is mine.

The curator: a skill unused for a month gets flagged, three months gets deleted — it tidies its own desk
§11 · part five · the clock

It shows up with work already done.

These two jobs run on my machine every single day — and one command adds your morning brief.

My real scheduled jobs (timestamps trimmed), plus the exact command that creates a morning brief. Real session on this machine — output verbatim, window styling is mine.

THE CLOCK — THREE PATTERNS, THREE DIFFERENT JOBS Morning briefdaily summary before you wake a report, every day — good start Exception watchersilence when fine · ping when changed the guard dog — my Oracle runs this weekly diff Morning interviewit asks YOU five questions then assigns itself the work it can take off your plate — the agent finds its own jobs
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§12 · part six · the team

One assistant becomes a staff.

42 real profiles live on this machine — subagents split the work, the kanban board tracks it, Goal Mode keeps pushing until the goal is met.

The real profile roster, and the omniroute profile taking a build job. Real session on this machine — output verbatim, window styling is mine.

1 · Subagents — split the work, run at once2 · Profiles — own memory, own skills, own model3 · Kanban board — you manage, agents claim cards4 · Goal Mode — works until the goal is MET5 · Mixture of Agents — two brains fused into one better answer
THE TEAM — BIG BRAIN THINKS, LOCAL BRAIN GRINDS, GOAL MODE KEEPS PUSHING Main agentfrontier brain · the thinker Subagent · researchlocal LFM · fast + free Subagent · comparelocal LFM · fast + free Subagent · reviewlocal LFM · fast + free Goal Mode + kanbankeeps working until the goal is MET Narrow jobs, clear outputs — five clean pieces the main agent can actually combine.
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§13 · the extras

Three extras that make it ridiculous.

THE EXTRAS — POWERFUL TO RIDICULOUS MCP · outside tools email · calendar · notes trust = a settings menu Voice · brain-dump 30s of rambling on a walk → organised in your vault Tailscale · every device private network, all machines it brings the file to you
MCP · plug in email, calendar, notes — permissions are a settings menu, not a leap of faithVoice · ramble on a walk, find it organised in your vaultTailscale · your agent moves between every device you own
§14 · the traps

Seven mistakes that make it feel worse than it is.

SEVEN MISTAKES — AND THE FIX FOR EACH Too many tools too soon✓ Start with one workflow Saving everything to memory✓ Memory is for facts that matter Weak model on hard work✓ Strong once beats weak five times Every idea a scheduled job✓ Jobs end in a decision Trusting subagents unchecked✓ Summaries are drafts Five profiles, no workflow✓ Workflows first Expecting magic✓ Feed it well — it compounds
Too many tools too soonSaving everything to memoryWeak model on hard workEvery idea a scheduled jobTrusting subagents uncheckedFive profiles, zero workflowsTreating it like magic — feed it well and it compounds
§15

What's actually holding people back.

Wrong: "I'm not technical, so this isn't for me."
Right: The install is one copy-paste. Configuration is asking Hermes to configure itself. There's even a built-in health check — Hermes doctor — that explains what's broken in plain words. If you can send a text, you have every skill this needs.
Wrong: "I don't have time to learn another tool."
Right: The setup takes an afternoon; the tasks it takes over stack up for months. One skill = one weekly task gone forever. The tool's whole job is giving time back.
Wrong: "Running agents like this must burn a fortune in tokens."
Right: The everyday 90% runs on a free local model on your own machine, and for big thinking it drives subscriptions and CLIs you already pay for. Inside the Boardroom there are token-efficiency playbooks too.
Don't take my word for it

Members inside the Boardroom run Hermes setups daily — plenty had never touched an AI agent before joining. Their wins are documented in a 158-page doc, in their own words.

Read the 158-page testimonials doc →

The built-in health check answers “I’m not technical” better than I can. Real session on this machine — output verbatim, window styling is mine.

§16 · the plan

Your next seven days, one step a day.

YOUR NEXT SEVEN DAYS — ONE STEP A DAY Day 1Install + one modelDay 2Phone link + one real taskDay 3Teach one skill (/learn)Day 4Connect the tool that mattersDay 5One scheduled decisionDay 6Subagents or Goal ModeDay 7First specialist profile One workflow, then another, then another. That’s how the Compound Employee System compounds.
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I asked Hermes to build something for this page.

The fastest way to show you what an agent employee feels like: give it a job and publish the result. I told my Hermes to design a landing page for a fictional product. What you're scrolling below is its work, embedded live.

BUILT BY HERMES FOR THIS PAGE · one brief, no human edits — scroll it live. open fullscreen ↗
BUILT BY HERMES MIXTURE-OF-AGENTS · the DOOM raycaster that scored 8.6 on my 50-task bench — two brains fused, playable now. play fullscreen ↗
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The official links — read it and run it yourself.

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Real people run this stack right now.

4,000+members inside AIPB
258documented wins
38countries
400KYouTube subscribers
163KX followers
Real member win posted inside the AI Profit Boardroom
Real member win, posted in the Boardroom — read the full doc for hundreds more.
Real member win posted inside the AI Profit Boardroom
Real member win, posted in the Boardroom.
Real member win posted inside the AI Profit Boardroom
Real member win, posted in the Boardroom.
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Your move

Run the Compound Employee System, don't just read it.

The seven-day plan above is the free path — nothing held back. The Boardroom is the shortcut: the Agent OS with Hermes pre-wired, Apollo, Oracle and Astros already running, and people who will fix your actual setup with you on screen-share.

Readers bookmark this page. Operators install tonight — and the person who started three months ago has three months of compounding you can't get back.

The Agent OS with Hermes, Claude, OpenClaw and Free Claude Code in one dashboard
Daily tutorials — from your first cron job to multi-agent kanban with Goal Mode
Weekly coaching calls — share your screen, get your setup fixed live
The prompt library + a member map to find operators near you
4,000+ business owners inside — many ran their first automation in month one
Join the AI Profit Boardroom → 4,000+ members · the Agent OS included
258 documented member wins · 38 countries · someone online 24/7 when you get stuck
§21 · the takeaway

Start today. Give it one job.

Every day you use Hermes it gets a little better; every day you don’t, it stays at zero. Watch what one job turns into.

day 1 · one job day 100 · the compound employee
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