01What Hermes Agent Is and How It Works

Hermes agent is an AI assistant that can automate tasks, manage skills, and connect to your business tools. It works through a terminal or a web-based agent operating system, where you chat with it and set up scheduled tasks.

In this episode, Julian Goldie shows how Hermes can sync with Obsidian—a second brain for notes—to understand you, your clients, and goals. When you ask Hermes to sync to Obsidian, it saves every conversation automatically and uses those notes to give more relevant answers.

The key is that Hermes becomes more useful as it learns from your stored information. It can also run multiple profiles with different personalities and memories, and it can integrate into dashboards built with other tools like Claude.

02Main Features of Hermes Agent

Hermes agent comes with several key features that make it powerful for automation:

  • Obsidian integration: Syncs conversations and notes to your local Obsidian folder for a second brain.
  • Multiple profiles: Create different agent versions with separate API keys, personalities, memories, and skills.
  • Scheduled tasks: Set up daily checks, like following up with non-responders.
  • Skill management: Add and manage skills through the terminal or the agent operating system.
  • Mission control dashboard: A visual interface to manage agents, workflows, and see history.
  • Model switching: Change the underlying AI model (e.g., Claude or Gemini) via simple commands.

These features let you customize Hermes to fit your personal or business needs, whether you're coding, scheduling, or analyzing data.

03How to Set Up Hermes Agent

Getting started with Hermes agent is straightforward. Here are the steps Julian recommends:

  1. Install Hermes agent on your machine or VPS (look for the official setup guide).
  2. Open your terminal and run the initial setup command, like hermes setup.
  3. To sync with Obsidian, make sure Obsidian is installed locally, then tell Hermes: "Please sync to my local Obsidian folder." It will take a couple of minutes to scan your notes.
  4. To change the model, run hermes model and follow the prompts.
  5. For skills and plugins, it's easier to use the agent operating system (AgentOS) because you can see your conversation history and what you've set up.
  6. If you want multiple profiles, run hermes profile create [name] (e.g., hermes profile create coder) and then [name] setup to configure settings.

After setup, you can start chatting and assigning tasks.

04How to Use Hermes Agent: Examples from the Episode

In the episode, Julian demonstrates several practical uses:

  • Connecting to Obsidian: He explains that after syncing, every conversation with Hermes creates notes in Obsidian, making your second brain auto-update without manual work.
  • Managing skills: Use the AgentOS to view all installed skills, MCPs, and conversation history—something you can't do in the terminal.
  • Creating a coding agent: Run hermes profile create coder, then coder setup to set a specialized profile for coding tasks.
  • Automating follow-ups: Tell Hermes to "set up a scheduled task each day to check who I emailed vs. who hasn't replied, and send a follow-up reminder." It will analyze your data and automate the process.
  • Integrating into a dashboard: If you have a dashboard built with Claude, give Claude the Hermes documentation from GitHub and ask it to integrate Hermes so it can understand and act on your data.

05Results and Comparisons from the Episode

Julian shares his own results and compares Hermes with other agents:

  • He says 90% of his work is done with just two agents: Claude and Hermes. Other agents like Antigravity are good for coding but not for scheduling or day-to-day tasks.
  • He compares OpenClaude to Hermes and says Hermes does everything OpenClaude does better, smoother, and faster, so he doesn't use OpenClaude.
  • He shows examples of users like Brad and Andreas who built productivity apps and dashboards using Hermes and AgentOS, getting real results.
  • He emphasizes that Hermes v0.15 is faster, more lightweight, and more powerful for agents.

These comparisons show Hermes is a top choice for most automation needs.

06Tips, Limits, and Mistakes to Avoid

Julian offers several tips and warnings:

  • Don't overcomplicate with multiple profiles if you're a beginner; it's not necessary for 90% of people. Stick to one or two agents until you're comfortable.
  • Use the AgentOS for skills because the terminal doesn't show your conversation history, making it easy to forget what you set up.
  • Sync to Obsidian to get personalized responses; without it, Hermes lacks context about you and your business.
  • When building a dashboard, feed Hermes documentation to Claude to integrate—don't try to build everything from scratch.
  • Be patient with setup—syncing to Obsidian can take a few minutes, but it's worth it.
  • Don't ignore scheduled tasks—they handle repetitive work like follow-ups, saving you time.

Avoid these mistakes to get the most out of Hermes.

07Who Hermes Agent Is For and Why It Matters

Hermes agent is for anyone who wants to automate their business and daily tasks with AI. Whether you're a freelancer, a small business owner, or a developer, Hermes can save you hours by handling follow-ups, organizing notes, and integrating with your dashboards.

It matters because it gives you a second brain that remembers everything and acts on your behalf. By syncing with Obsidian, you get personalized suggestions that improve over time. With scheduled tasks, you never miss a client or forget a step.

Julian stresses that anyone can get started—just begin with a basic setup and grow from there. The community is there to help, and you can join the AI Profitable Boardroom for training and coaching.