You've got your agent running. Now — how do you actually talk to it? This guide covers the ways to reach your agent, how to connect it to Telegram so it's always with you, and what to do when something isn't working right.
Once Hermes is installed, you have several ways to talk to it. The good news: they're all talking to the same agent, with the same memory and tools. The interface is just the "window" you look through. Here are the four main ones, from simplest to most powerful.
The Windows application you installed with the Hermes Desktop installer. Double-click the Hermes icon on your desktop to launch it, or type hermes desktop in a terminal any time. It's the most familiar, "app-like" way to use your agent — a window you talk to, like any modern program.
This is the plain terminal window. You type hermes and press Enter, and you're talking to your agent with text. It's the most direct and lowest-overhead way. It looks intimidating at first — a black window with text — but it's just a conversation you type. Every serious user ends up comfortable here, because it's fast and always works.
This is a friendlier version of the terminal — instead of a plain text prompt, you get a screen with a panel showing what your agent is doing, a place to type, and more visual feedback. It's still in the terminal, but it feels more like an app. You can start it with the same hermes command in many setups; the TUI shows your work happening as a visible, animated process rather than a blinking cursor.
A visual dashboard you open in your web browser. It gives you a full on-screen view of your agent, your sessions, and your configuration — a great way to look around, review settings, and see what's been happening. Many people use it as their "look and learn" window into the system.
So far, all the ways to reach your agent require you to be at your computer, in front of a terminal or browser. That's powerful, but it ties you to your desk. The desktop app, the terminal, and the browser all live on one machine.
Telegram is different — and it's the way we'd encourage you to use your agent most of the time. Telegram is a free messaging app that runs on your phone, tablet, computer, and just about every device you own. And because Hermes connects to it as a bot, once it's set up, your agent lives wherever you are — not on one specific machine.
The advantages add up quickly:
In other words, Telegram turns your agent from a tool that lives on your desk into a companion that's always in your pocket. That's why we encourage you to make it your primary way to talk to your agent — the desktop, terminal, and browser are still there when you need them, but Telegram is the way you'll reach your agent most days.
Here's how to set it up. It takes about five minutes.
Open Telegram and search for @BotFather (it's Telegram's official bot manager). Message it:
It will ask you for a display name (anything, like "My Agent") and then a username (this must be unique and end in bot, like my_agent_bot). When you're done, BotFather replies with an API token — a long string of numbers and letters. That token is the "key" to your bot. Save it; you'll need it in a moment.
Hermes uses your numeric Telegram user ID to control who can talk to your bot. Message @userinfobot in Telegram — it will instantly reply with your user ID (a number, like 123456789). Save that number too.
Back in your terminal, run:
Choose Telegram when it asks. It will ask for your bot token (from step 1) and your user ID (from step 2), and write the configuration for you. This step connects your bot to your agent.
Start the messaging service:
Within a few seconds, your bot should come online in Telegram. Open the chat with your bot and send it a simple message. If it replies — congratulations, your agent now lives in your pocket. You can reach it from any device, anywhere.
Here's a lesson from real experience, and it's a good one to learn early: when one way of reaching your agent stops working, another way can usually fix it. This is why getting comfortable with more than one interface pays off.
The classic example is Telegram. Sometimes the bot goes quiet — it stops responding to your messages. You might be tempted to think the problem is with Telegram, or with your phone, or with the bot itself. But very often, the problem is with the service that connects Telegram to your agent — and you can't see or fix that from inside Telegram.
That's when you switch to another interface. Open the terminal (CLI or TUI) on your computer and look at what's happening. You might see an error in the logs, or you might find that the gateway process stopped. From the terminal, you can restart it, check its status, or investigate the logs — and often that single step brings your Telegram bot right back to life.
In other words: your terminal and your browser are your "toolbox," and Telegram is the convenient front door. When the front door stops working, you don't fix it from the front door — you go around to the toolbox and fix it there. Every experienced user ends up doing this, and now you know the trick before you need it.
Q: I typed hermes but it says "command not found."
The command isn't on your path. Open a fresh terminal window (or restart your computer) and try again. If it still doesn't work, the installer may not have finished properly — re-run the install command from earlier.
Q: My Telegram bot isn't responding.
First, check that the gateway is running by starting it in the terminal (hermes gateway). If it's already running, restart it. Most "bot went silent" problems are fixed by restarting the gateway from the terminal. This is exactly the cross-interface troubleshooting we just described.
Q: Which interface should I use for everyday work?
Whatever feels comfortable. Many people start with the desktop app or the TUI, graduate to Telegram for the "anywhere" convenience, and keep the terminal and browser handy as their diagnostic toolbox.
Q: I entered my API key, but Hermes says it's wrong.
Make sure you copied the whole key with no extra spaces. If you just created it, the provider sometimes takes a moment to activate it. Double-check you're using the right key for the right provider, and that you've added credit if the provider requires it.
Step back for a moment. You've just installed an agent, connected it to a brain, and — if you set up Telegram — put it within reach of your pocket. On the surface, that might feel like "I set up a program." But pause and consider what you actually have now.
You have turned your smartphone into a universal remote. And not the kind that just switches between channels you already have — a remote that can create the things you want, not merely operate them.
And here's the part that's genuinely remarkable: you did all of that without writing a line of code. You didn't learn a programming language. You didn't configure servers. You had a conversation — and that conversation is now the interface to a system that can think, remember, and create alongside you.
Open Pandora's box and you'll find all of this inside: a capable partner that lives in your pocket, ready to build whatever you ask of it, reachable from virtually any device, and yours to shape through simple conversation. That is real power — and it's now in your hands.
This is where the journey really begins. Everything so far was getting you to this moment. Now go build something — and watch what you and your agent can create together.
