Hermes Agent

Hermes Agent is an open-source, terminal-native autonomous coding and task agent by Nous Research. It features persistent memory, agent-created skills, and a messaging gateway with 21 platform adapters (Telegram, Discord, Slack, Google Chat, WhatsApp, Signal, SMS, Email, and more).

AnyAPI is not a built-in provider in Hermes Agent. You configure it as a named custom OpenAI-compatible provider via the custom_providers: list.

Quick Start

Get your API key

Store the key as a secret

Add the key to ~/.hermes/.env (Hermes keeps secrets separate from settings):

echo 'ANYAPI_API_KEY=your-key-here' >> ~/.hermes/.env

Run the provider wizard

hermes model

When prompted:

Select Custom endpoint (self-hosted / VLLM / etc.)
Provider name: anyapi
Base URL: https://api.anyapi.ai/v1
API key env var: ANYAPI_API_KEY
Default model: openai/gpt-4o (or any model from the AnyAPI catalog)

Start Hermes

hermes chat

Your agent now routes requests through AnyAPI.

Manual Configuration

For full control, edit the config files directly instead of using hermes model.

Set the API key

~/.hermes/.env:

ANYAPI_API_KEY=your-key-here

Configure provider and model

~/.hermes/config.yaml:

model:
  default: openai/gpt-4o
  provider: custom:anyapi
  base_url: https://api.anyapi.ai/v1

custom_providers:
  - name: anyapi
    base_url: https://api.anyapi.ai/v1
    key_env: ANYAPI_API_KEY
    api_mode: chat_completions

Verify

hermes config show

Model Format

AnyAPI uses the vendor/model format. Always include the vendor prefix:

model:
  provider: custom:anyapi
  default: openai/gpt-4o          # correct
  # default: gpt-4               # wrong — missing vendor prefix

Browse all available models at anyapi.ai/ai-models or query the API:

curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $ANYAPI_API_KEY" \
  https://api.anyapi.ai/v1/models | jq -r '.data[].id'

Advanced Configuration

Context window

Set the context length for the default model:

model:
  default: openai/gpt-4o
  context_length: 128000

For per-model overrides:

custom_providers:
  - name: anyapi
    base_url: https://api.anyapi.ai/v1
    key_env: ANYAPI_API_KEY
    models:
      openai/gpt-4o:
        context_length: 128000
      google/gemini-2.5-pro:
        context_length: 1000000

Auxiliary (side) models

Hermes runs side LLM tasks (vision, compression, title generation, etc.) and lets you override the model per task:

auxiliary:
  vision:
    provider: custom:anyapi
    model: openai/gpt-4o
  compression:
    provider: custom:anyapi
    model: openai/gpt-4o-mini
  title_generation:
    provider: custom:anyapi
    model: openai/gpt-4o-mini

Tasks not overridden inherit from the main model: block.

Fallback providers

A list of backups Hermes tries when the primary model fails:

fallback_providers:
  - provider: custom:anyapi
    model: openai/gpt-4o
  - provider: custom:anyapi
    model: openai/gpt-4o-mini

Anthropic-style endpoint

AnyAPI also exposes Anthropic’s /v1/messages format for Claude models:

model:
  default: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6
  provider: custom:anyapi-anthropic

custom_providers:
  - name: anyapi-anthropic
    base_url: https://api.anyapi.ai/v1
    key_env: ANYAPI_API_KEY
    api_mode: anthropic_messages

Configuration Examples

GPT-4o
Gemini 2.5 Pro
Multi-model with fallbacks

model:
  default: openai/gpt-4o
  provider: custom:anyapi
  base_url: https://api.anyapi.ai/v1

custom_providers:
  - name: anyapi
    base_url: https://api.anyapi.ai/v1
    key_env: ANYAPI_API_KEY

model:
  default: google/gemini-2.5-pro
  provider: custom:anyapi
  base_url: https://api.anyapi.ai/v1

custom_providers:
  - name: anyapi
    base_url: https://api.anyapi.ai/v1
    key_env: ANYAPI_API_KEY

model:
  default: openai/gpt-4o
  provider: custom:anyapi
  base_url: https://api.anyapi.ai/v1

custom_providers:
  - name: anyapi
    base_url: https://api.anyapi.ai/v1
    key_env: ANYAPI_API_KEY
    api_mode: chat_completions

auxiliary:
  compression:
    provider: custom:anyapi
    model: openai/gpt-4o-mini
  title_generation:
    provider: custom:anyapi
    model: openai/gpt-4o-mini

fallback_providers:
  - provider: custom:anyapi
    model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6
  - provider: custom:anyapi
    model: openai/gpt-4o-mini

Gateway Mode

When running Hermes as a messaging gateway (Telegram, Discord, Slack, etc.), the configuration is identical. Restart the service after changes:

hermes gateway restart

Troubleshooting

No API key / provider not found

Hermes can’t find your AnyAPI key.

Verify the env file: grep ANYAPI ~/.hermes/.env
Re-run the wizard: hermes model → Custom endpoint
Confirm YAML uses key_env: ANYAPI_API_KEY (or the alias api_key_env:)

Authentication failed (HTTP 401)

Your key is invalid, revoked, or has no credits.

Validate the key at dash.anyapi.ai
Check your balance/quota
Reissue the key if needed

Model not found / Bad Request (HTTP 400)

The model ID is unknown or missing the vendor prefix.

List the live catalog: curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $ANYAPI_API_KEY" https://api.anyapi.ai/v1/models
Use vendor/model form (e.g. openai/gpt-4o, not bare gpt-4o)

Base URL errors

The endpoint must be exactly https://api.anyapi.ai/v1 — no trailing slash, no /chat/completions suffix (Hermes appends that automatically).

Schema validation warnings

If Hermes warns about unknown YAML keys, check that you are using:

custom_providers: (plural list), not custom_provider:
auxiliary.<task>.provider, not auxiliary_providers:
model.context_length, not context_limits:

Rate limiting (HTTP 429)

Check usage at dash.anyapi.ai, upgrade your plan, or route side tasks to cheaper models via auxiliary.*.

Best Practices

Keep credentials in .env, never in config.yaml
Configure fallbacks — AnyAPI gives you many providers behind one key, use them for resilience
Route side tasks to small models — use auxiliary.* with cheaper models like openai/gpt-4o-mini
Always use vendor/model format — bare model names will not resolve
Monitor usage at dash.anyapi.ai

Support

AnyAPI Dashboard: dash.anyapi.ai
AnyAPI Discord: Discord community
AnyAPI Email: support@anyapi.ai
Hermes Agent Issues: github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/issues

Get started

Features

Use Cases

Developer guides

Integrations

API Reference

Hermes Agent

Hermes Agent

Quick Start

Manual Configuration

Set the API key

Configure provider and model

Verify

Model Format

Advanced Configuration

Configuration Examples

Gateway Mode

Troubleshooting

Best Practices

Support

​Hermes Agent

​Quick Start

​Manual Configuration

​Set the API key

​Configure provider and model

​Verify

​Model Format

​Advanced Configuration

​Configuration Examples

​Gateway Mode

​Troubleshooting

​Best Practices

​Support

Hermes Agent

Quick Start

Manual Configuration

Set the API key

Configure provider and model

Verify

Model Format

Advanced Configuration

Configuration Examples

Gateway Mode

Troubleshooting

Best Practices

Support