Hermes

Hermes (Nous Research) is a command-line / TUI coding agent. It talks to any OpenAI-compatible provider, so it rides the ZeroSignal network like any other tool — and unlike the GUI apps in this section, the proxy can configure it for you.

There are two ways to wire it up, depending on where you are:

• Already have Hermes installed? Run zs-proxy connect hermes — one command, done.
• Setting Hermes up for the first time? Hermes won't run until you pick a provider, and its setup wizard has a Custom Endpoint option — point that at the proxy.

Either way, do the shared setup from How-to guides first: the proxy must be running (zs-proxy proxy start) and funded (zs-proxy fund).

The quick way: zs-proxy connect hermes

Hermes is a first-class connect target, so if it's already installed you don't touch a config file:

zs-proxy connect hermes                          # configure Hermes to use the proxy
zs-proxy connect hermes --model qwen3-coder      # ...and pin a default model
zs-proxy connect hermes --print                  # preview the merged config, write nothing

This merges a zerosignal provider into your existing ~/.hermes/config.yaml (backing the original up to config.yaml.bak) and makes it the active provider — your other Hermes settings are preserved. What it writes:

providers:
  zerosignal:
    base_url: http://127.0.0.1:9376/v1   # your live proxy endpoint
    api_key: zerosignal-local            # placeholder — the proxy ignores it
    type: openai
    # default_model: qwen3-coder         # only when you pass --model
model:
  provider: zerosignal
  # default: qwen3-coder                 # only when you pass --model

info

connect hermes configures Hermes even if it can't auto-detect the install — naming the tool explicitly is enough. So you can run it before or after installing Hermes; just re-run it any time to reset Hermes back to the proxy.

Confirm it took, then start a session:

hermes model      # should show the active provider as "zerosignal"
hermes --tui      # start Hermes (or plain `hermes`) and send a message

During Hermes' own setup wizard

If you're installing Hermes fresh, its first-run flow makes you choose a provider before you can chat — and one of the choices is a Custom Endpoint for "vLLM, SGLang, Ollama, or any OpenAI-compatible API." That's the proxy.

Install Hermes

macOS / Linux

curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash

Windows

iex (irm https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.ps1)

(Or grab the Hermes Desktop installer from the Hermes site.)

Run the provider wizard

hermes model      # interactive provider picker
# or: hermes setup   — the full configuration wizard

Choose "Custom Endpoint" and enter the proxy

When the wizard asks for a provider, pick Custom Endpoint, then supply:

• Base URL: http://localhost:9376/v1
• API key: anything non-empty — the proxy ignores it

Pick or type a model id from the network (see Picking a model).

Start a session

hermes --tui      # or plain `hermes`

Send a message; the first reply confirms the whole path — encrypt, pay, route — is working.

info

Prefer not to click through the wizard? Skip it and run zs-proxy connect hermes instead — it writes the same Custom Endpoint provider for you.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
connect says Hermes wasn't detected	Name it explicitly: zs-proxy connect hermes configures the named tool even without detection. It writes ~/.hermes/config.yaml.
Hermes is using the wrong provider	Run hermes model and select zerosignal, or check that model.provider: zerosignal in ~/.hermes/config.yaml.
Connection refused / can't reach the endpoint	The proxy isn't running or the base URL is wrong. Confirm with curl http://localhost:9376/healthz and start it with zs-proxy proxy start.
wallet_unfunded / payment errors	Add funds with zs-proxy fund — see Wallet & funding.

What's next

• Connecting AI tools — every connect flag and the other supported tools.
• Routing preferences — pin an operator or set a price ceiling.
• Pricing — what an agent turn costs.
• How-to guides — connect another app.