01What Running Hermes Agent Free Forever Means

Running Hermes agent free forever means using tools that connect the agent to free AI providers with no ongoing cost. In this episode, Julian shows two ways to do it. Both are completely free, and he runs both inside his own Agent OS.

The first way is a router called OmniRoute. It links Hermes Agent to over 230 free AI providers at once. The second way is a Chinese model called Hunyuan HY3, made by Tencent.

Both let you keep Hermes Agent working without paying for API access.

You do not need to pick only one. Julian runs them together every day for content and community work. The free setup is packaged into a zip file you can download and run yourself.

02Main Features of OmniRoute and HY3

OmniRoute works like an old switchboard operator. Instead of Hermes Agent talking to one AI company, it talks to OmniRoute first. OmniRoute picks the best free option from over 230 providers and routes your request there.

  • Automatic failover: If one provider hits a limit, OmniRoute switches to the next without you doing anything.
  • RTK and Caveman: These built-in tools shrink your request before sending, so you use less free allowance per message. Caveman makes AI replies short and blunt, saving even more room.
  • No billing system: OmniRoute has no billing built in. It routes you to providers that already offer free access on their own.
  • HY3 model size: 295 billion total parameters, but only about 21 billion activate at a time, keeping it fast and cheap.
  • Tool accuracy: Tencent fixed many small errors in tool formatting, making HY3 reliable for agent tasks.

HY3 handles long documents up to 256,000 tokens in one go. That means it can read a lot of messages at once without losing track.

03Setting Up OmniRoute Step by Step

Setting up OmniRoute sounds technical, but Julian says it isn't. You install it with one command, and it opens a dashboard in your browser. Here is the exact order Julian recommends.

  1. Install OmniRoute with the one-line command.
  2. Open the dashboard in your browser.
  3. Pick free providers from the list. No credit card required. Some are free forever, like Pollination's encoder.
  4. Point Hermes Agent at the one local address OmniRoute provides.
  5. Test a basic prompt to confirm routing works.

From there, build combos for different tasks. A combo is a list of providers stacked in order. Put your favorite first, then a backup, then another.

When the first is busy, it moves down the list automatically.

You can build one combo for writing and another for research. Switch depending on what you are doing that day.

04Setting Up Hunyuan HY3 in Hermes Agent

HY3 setup is different because you connect directly to Tencent's model instead of routing across many providers. There are two ways to do it. The easier way uses the news portal inside Hermes.

  1. Run the portal setup command inside Hermes Agent.
  2. Log in once when the browser window opens.
  3. Confirm HY3 shows up as a model you can pick from your Hermes profile.

The login is one time only. Hermes remembers the connection going forward. If you prefer OpenRouter, grab a key from OpenRouter, drop it into your Hermes profile settings, and pick HY3 from the model list.

Julian's simple rule: use HY3 when you need one strong model for detailed tasks like reading long documents or multi-step work where tool calls must be accurate. Use OmniRoute for everyday tasks when you mainly want to avoid hitting a wall.

05Real Use Examples for Your Agent

Julian shows how to use both setups for the AI profit boardroom, his community. With OmniRoute, you can have Hermes write a week of posts. The prompt is: 'Write five short posts explaining how the AI profit boardroom helps business owners automate daily tasks with AI agents and make each one sound a bit different.'

OmniRoute handles routing behind the scenes, keeps you on free models, and Hermes gets it done. With HY3, you could summarize community feedback. The prompt is: 'Read through these member comments about the AI profit boardroom and pull out the three most common questions people are asking.'

HY3 reads long comments easily thanks to its 256,000 token context. Julian runs both setups daily for content and community work inside his Agent OS. The Agent OS acts like mission control, letting you chat with Hermes, talk by voice, save conversations into notes automatically, and track what you are working on.

06Results and Comparisons in the Episode

Julian compares the two approaches directly. OmniRoute is best for safety because it constantly falls back to whatever provider is available. HY3 is best for strength when you need accurate tool calls and long-context reading.

He notes that a year ago, running an AI agent for free was basically impossible. Free tiers were tiny, and there was no way to stack them. Now, companies compete for developers by offering generous free access.

Tencent releasing HY3 completely free for weeks is part of that trend.

Some providers, like Kiro, cap you at a certain number of free credits a month. Others, like Pollinations and Cloudflare, do not cap you at all. Because OmniRoute stacks several providers together, when one runs low, you roll on to the next and barely notice.

Julian tested HY3 across different agent setups, and results stayed steady. That matters for reliability, not something that only works some of the time.

07Tips, Limits, and Mistakes to Avoid

Julian offers several practical tips. First, install OmniRoute first because it gives you the widest safety net right away. Then set up the HY3 connection as a second profile.

Test the same prompt on both and see which feels better for your main work.

  • Build combos: Stack providers in order, favorite first, then backups. This keeps you working when one runs dry.
  • Know the free windows: HY3 is free through OpenRouter until July 21st. After that, pricing kicks in, but it stays one of the cheaper options.
  • Avoid the taste-then-charge trap: OmniRoute has no billing system at all. It just routes you to providers that already offer free access.
  • Use RTK and Caveman: These shrink requests and replies, so you use less of your free allowance per message.

Do not expect OmniRoute to work if you only use one provider. The whole point is stacking many free options. If you try to use HY3 after the free window, you will be charged.

Keep track of dates.

08Who Should Use This Setup and Why It Matters

This setup is for anyone running Hermes Agent for content creation or answering community questions. Julian uses it every day for the AI profit boardroom. The free routing and free models are packaged up and ready to install.

If you want the same setup without doing any technical parts, download the zip file Julian put together. It includes OmniRoute and HY3 both wired into Hermes Agent, plus the mission control dashboard. You follow a short walkthrough and run the same free setup the same day.

Julian also built the Agent OS to be one place where everything is connected, tested, and ready. It runs on your own laptop. No outside accounts are needed for the core setup, and nothing leaves your machine that you have not chosen to send out.

If you want the full process plus step-by-step guides and over a hundred other AI workflows, the AI success lab is free. It includes notes from this video and a community of 75,000 people building with AI daily.