Hermes Doctor

2.4. Hermes Doctor — Verify Before You Trust

The central diagnostic command

hermes doctor

It runs a comprehensive check: system dependencies (Python, Node, ffmpeg, ripgrep), model provider configuration, the important files inside ~/.hermes/, and on Windows/browser-tool environments it also auto-detects missing auxiliary components (such as Chromium for agent-browser) and prints the fix command for you.

Not a run-once-and-done tool

This is a tool you should come back to many times over the server’s lifetime:

• Right after the first install (2.1 or 2.3).
• After adding a new model provider — always rerun it to get a clean pass before connecting any chat platform, because debugging provider errors through a Telegram/Discord interface is far more annoying than debugging directly in a terminal.
• When the service does not start correctly and the systemd logs are not clear enough — run it manually under the exact operating user to see the error more clearly:

sudo -iu hermes hermes doctor

Notes

• Warnings about unconfigured API keys are normal at the fresh-install stage — not an error to fix immediately, just a reminder to finish the setup.
• After every hermes update (2.5), rerun doctor as a confirmation that the new version starts cleanly and the gateway configuration still works — do not consider an update successful just because the command finished without errors.
• When debugging through systemd, always try running it manually under the service’s exact user first — the manual logs are almost always clearer than systemctl status.