Field reference · reference
Hermes Agent Command Cheat Sheet
A practical reference to 45 documented commands across Hermes Desktop, CLI, messaging, and shell. The edition is pinned to an official release; command spellings and surfaces were checked against its source and docs, without a local runtime test.
Purpose
What this sheet covers
A practical reference to 45 documented commands across Hermes Desktop, CLI, messaging, and shell. The edition is pinned to an official release; command spellings and surfaces were checked against its source and docs, without a local runtime test.
In this edition
NousResearch Hermes Agent v0.21.5 (v2026.9.24)
45 commands across 7 sections.
Available on
- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
- Shell
Start here
Slash commands run inside a Hermes conversation. Shell commands run in your system terminal.
/help [skills|filter]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Show commands by category, list skill commands, or filter help by a word.
Example/help model
/version- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Show the running Hermes version, build, and environment details.
/status- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Inspect the active session, model, profile, token totals, and recent activity.
/context [all]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
See how the context window is being used; all adds per-skill and per-toolset detail.
Example/context all
/usage- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Review session tokens, estimated cost, and provider limits when available.
Account-limit details depend on the active provider's usage API.
Sessions and history
Name, find, save, and reshape conversations as work changes.
/new [name]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Start a fresh session, optionally giving it a title.
Example/new release-notes
/reset is an alias. A new session starts with a new ID and empty history.
/resume [name]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Find or reopen a previously named session.
/sessions- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Browse saved or currently open sessions; the picker depends on the interface.
In the TUI, /sessions shows live sessions; use /resume for saved transcripts.
/title <name>- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Set a memorable title for the current session.
Example/title Compare search providers
/save <json|md|html> [filename] [redact]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Export the conversation in a chosen format; bare /save shows usage.
Example/save md notes.md redact
/undo [N]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Back up recent user turns and re-prompt from that point; defaults to one turn.
This changes the conversation history.
/retry- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Send the last message to Hermes again.
/compress [here [N]|focus topic|--preview]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Summarize older context to make room while keeping recent turns in view.
Example/compress here 3 --preview
Preview the proposed boundary before compressing a long conversation.
Guide work in progress
Ask side questions, queue changes, steer a run, or split off a review.
/bg <prompt>- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Start an independent background session and keep the current one available.
Example/bg Summarize the open pull request
/btw <question>- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Ask a quick side question from a read-only snapshot of the conversation.
Example/btw Which file defines the API route?
The current turn keeps running.
/agents- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
View active agents and tasks for the current session.
/tasks is an alias.
/queue <prompt|add|list|edit N|rm N|move A B|clear>- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Queue the next prompt or inspect and manage pending prompts.
Example/queue list
/steer <prompt>- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Pass a direction to Hermes after its next tool call without starting a new turn.
Example/steer Focus on the authorization path
/stop- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Interrupt the running agent and stop its background processes.
/branch [--here] [name]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Create an independent copy of the current session to explore another direction.
Platforms with threads can open a sibling thread; /branch --here switches the current chat to the branch.
/review [instructions]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Ask an independent reviewer to inspect the recent code, docs, pull request, or artifact.
The reviewer can open the referenced work and run commands; specify the review scope.
Tune the session
Change the active model, response style, or command approval behavior.
/model [model] [--session|--global]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Show the model picker or switch among providers and models already configured.
Example/model claude-sonnet-4 --session
Desktop can run /model when typed, though it is hidden from the slash popover. Use hermes model in a terminal to add providers or credentials.
/reasoning [level|show|hide|full|clamp] [--global]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Set reasoning effort or control how reasoning is displayed.
Example/reasoning high
/personality [name]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Apply a named personality or clear the personality overlay.
Example/personality none
/approvals [manual|smart|off]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Show or change the persistent mode for dangerous-command approvals.
off disables approval prompts. Keep the current mode unless you intend to change that behavior.
/busy [queue|steer|interrupt|status]- CLI
- Messaging
Choose what happens when a new message arrives while Hermes is working.
Example/busy queue
This command is marked terminal-only for Desktop in the release registry.
Plan, inspect, and manage tools
Prepare a task, inspect changes, and check the tools available to the CLI.
/plan [task]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Write a Markdown implementation plan under .hermes/plans/ without executing it.
Example/plan Add pagination to the search endpoint
/diff [staged|all|session] [--stat] [path...]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
Inspect working-tree changes, staged changes, or the changes Hermes made in this session.
Example/diff --stat
/rollback [number] [--all]- Desktop
- CLI
- Messaging
List filesystem checkpoints or restore one to undo work since that point.
Restoring changes the working tree. Inspect the checkpoint and affected files first.
/tools [list|disable|enable] [name...]- CLI
List available tools or disable and enable tools for the current CLI session.
Disabling a tool changes the session toolset and resets the session.
/skills [search|browse|inspect|install|audit]- CLI
- Messaging
Search, inspect, and manage installed skills and the optional-skill catalog.
Gateway use is conditional on skills.write_approval; user command allowlists can further limit access.
Messaging-only controls
These commands are registered for gateway chats; their visibility can depend on platform and user permissions.
/commands [page]- Messaging
Browse the gateway command and skill list a page at a time.
/topic [off|help|session-id]- Messaging
Inspect or configure topic-based sessions in a Telegram direct message.
Telegram-specific.
/sethome- Messaging
Mark the current gateway chat as the home channel for this platform.
/approve [session|always]- Messaging
Approve a pending dangerous command after reviewing its exact action.
always adds it to the persistent approval allowlist.
/deny [all] [reason]- Messaging
Reject a pending dangerous command, optionally with a reason.
Everyday terminal commands
Run these from your system shell, outside an active chat.
hermes --help- Shell
Show the installed CLI's top-level commands and options.
hermes --version- Shell
Print the installed CLI version and exit.
hermes chat- Shell
Start an interactive terminal conversation.
The bare hermes command also starts an interactive session.
hermes chat -q "<prompt>"- Shell
Start chat with an initial prompt; on an interactive terminal it continues as a session.
Examplehermes chat -q "Summarize this repository"
Add --oneshot when you want one answer and an exit instead.
hermes chat --query-file prompt.txt- Shell
Read a prompt from a file or stdin without shell-interpreting its contents.
Examplehermes chat --query-file - < prompt.txt
hermes --continue- Shell
Resume the most recent session, optionally matching a title.
Examplehermes --continue release-notes
hermes -r <session-id-or-title>- Shell
Resume a saved session by its ID or title; latest selects the most recent one.
Examplehermes -r latest
hermes profile list- Shell
List configured Hermes profiles and their status.
hermes profile use <name>- Shell
Set the sticky default profile for later invocations.
Use hermes --profile <name> <command> to select a profile for one invocation instead.
Reference trail
Sources & review
Source checked
- 01Hermes Agent v0.21.5 releasegithub.com
- 02Slash commands reference — pinned v0.21.5 releasegithub.com
- 03CLI commands reference — pinned v0.21.5 releasegithub.com
- 04Hermes command registry — pinned v0.21.5 releasegithub.com
Source review records when the references were checked. Hands-on testing and its version appear separately in the guide record above.
Guide record
Purpose & context
What you’ll achieve
Choose the right Hermes command for session control, ongoing work, configuration, review, and everyday terminal use, with its supported surface in view.
Before you start
An installed NousResearch Hermes Agent. Some commands require an active session, a configured provider, or permission to use a messaging gateway.