Hermes Agent Setup Checklists: Personal, Team & Production

Three checklists. One for personal setup, one for team deployment, one for production security. Print them, bookmark them, run through them.

Checklist 1: Personal Setup (15 Minutes)

Getting Hermes running on your own machine for the first time.

Prerequisites

• [ ] Machine has 4GB+ RAM (8GB recommended)
• [ ] 2GB+ free disk space
• [ ] Running Linux, macOS, or WSL2
• [ ] Terminal open and ready

Installation

• [ ] Run install script: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
• [ ] Verify install: hermes --version returns a version number
• [ ] If “command not found”: run source ~/.bashrc or restart terminal

Initial Setup

• [ ] Run hermes setup and complete wizard
• [ ] Choose LLM provider (Ollama for free local, or paste an API key)
• [ ] If using Ollama: confirm ollama serve is running in another terminal
• [ ] Run hermes status — all checks show ✓

First Test

• [ ] Run hermes to enter interactive CLI
• [ ] Ask it something: What is Hermes Agent?
• [ ] Got a response? ✅ You’re done

Optional: Connect a Platform

• [ ] Choose one: Discord, Slack, or Telegram
• [ ] Get bot token (see Platform Guide)
• [ ] Run hermes setup again, add platform
• [ ] Send a message to the bot — it replies ✅

Checklist 2: Team Deployment (1 Hour)

Setting up Hermes for a team of 2–50 people with Discord or Slack.

Infrastructure

• [ ] Server/VPS provisioned (4+ vCPU, 16GB RAM recommended)
• [ ] SSH access confirmed
• [ ] Firewall rules set (only allow required ports)
• [ ] Domain/IP decided for Hermes server

Installation on Server

• [ ] Connect via SSH
• [ ] Run Hermes install script
• [ ] Verify: hermes --version
• [ ] Run hermes setup wizard on server

LLM Backend

• [ ] Decided: Ollama (free) or cloud API (paid)?
• [ ] If Ollama: installed and ollama serve running
• [ ] If Ollama: model downloaded (ollama pull mistral)
• [ ] If cloud API: API key set in environment variable
• [ ] Test LLM: hermes test-llm passes

Platform Setup

• [ ] Chosen primary platform: Discord / Slack / Telegram
• [ ] Bot created and token obtained
• [ ] Token stored in .env file (not hardcoded in config)
• [ ] File permissions set: chmod 600 ~/.hermes/.env
• [ ] Bot connected: hermes setup → platform config
• [ ] Bot visible in platform (Discord server / Slack workspace / Telegram)

Permissions

• [ ] Discord: Bot has “Send Messages” + “Read Message History” in channels
• [ ] Slack: Bot scopes set correctly in Slack App settings
• [ ] Telegram: Bot started with /start command

Verification

• [ ] hermes status — all ✓
• [ ] Send test message to bot — it responds
• [ ] Learning enabled: hermes config show | grep learn
• [ ] Memory directory exists: ls ~/.hermes/memory/

Team Onboarding

• [ ] Share bot invite link with team
• [ ] Document which channels/servers Hermes monitors
• [ ] Create brief “how to use Hermes” doc for team
• [ ] Set expectations: it gets smarter over time, not immediately

# Quick: run in background with screen
screen -S hermes
hermes
# Press Ctrl+A, D to detach

Checklist 3: Production Security (Before Go-Live)

Run through this before exposing Hermes to real users or sensitive data.

Secrets & Credentials

• [ ] All tokens in environment variables (zero hardcoded in config files)
• [ ] .env file has chmod 600 permissions
• [ ] API keys not in version control (.gitignore includes .env)
• [ ] Separate API keys for dev and production
• [ ] Key rotation schedule documented (recommend: 90 days)

Network Security

• [ ] Hermes server NOT directly exposed to public internet
• [ ] Platform webhooks (Discord/Slack/Telegram) go through firewall only
• [ ] SSH access via key pairs only (password auth disabled)
• [ ] Unused ports closed on firewall
• [ ] Internal-only access if possible (VPN or private network)

Data & Privacy

• [ ] Home directory encrypted (BitLocker / FileVault / LUKS)
• [ ] Hermes memory directory permissions: chmod 700 ~/.hermes
• [ ] Understand what conversations Hermes logs
• [ ] Data retention policy defined and documented
• [ ] GDPR/privacy compliance reviewed (if applicable)

Platform Token Security

• [ ] Discord bot permissions set to minimum (not “Administrator”)
• [ ] Slack app scopes reviewed — remove anything not needed
• [ ] Token invalidation process documented (what to do if leaked)
• [ ] Monitoring in place for unexpected bot activity

Monitoring & Logging

• [ ] Logs enabled: log_level: "info" in config
• [ ] Log file writable and rotating: logrotate configured
• [ ] Alerts set up for errors (email/Slack notification)
• [ ] API usage monitoring in place (watch for unexpected spikes)

Incident Response

• [ ] Know how to revoke/rotate all tokens (documented)
• [ ] Know how to audit Hermes memory: ls ~/.hermes/skills/
• [ ] Emergency stop process documented: pkill hermes
• [ ] Team contact list for security incidents

Final Verification

• [ ] Run hermes status — all green
• [ ] Test all connected platforms respond correctly
• [ ] Review ~/.hermes/skills/ — no unexpected skill files
• [ ] Check logs are clean: tail -50 ~/.hermes/logs/hermes.log

Quick Diagnostic Commands

Paste these whenever something seems off:

# Overall status
hermes status

# Check LLM connection
hermes test-llm

# View all platform connections
hermes config show

# Check memory size
du -sh ~/.hermes/memory/

# Last 50 log lines
tail -50 ~/.hermes/logs/hermes.log

# List all learned skills
ls ~/.hermes/skills/

# Follow logs in real-time
tail -f ~/.hermes/logs/hermes.log

What to Read Next

• Config Templates — Ready-to-paste config files
• Security Guide — Why each security item matters
• Troubleshooting — Fix specific problems
• Platform Connections — Discord, Slack, Telegram setup

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