Tools
8. Tools — The Agent’s Core Toolkit
If chapter 11 (Integrations) is about extending outward, then chapter 8 is about what Hermes has right out of the box, needing no extra configuration (beyond a few API keys). These are the seven foundational capabilities that every skill and every workflow in chapters 10, 16, and 17 builds on.
Toolsets — toggling by group, not one tool at a time
hermes tools # interactive menu, configured per platform
# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
toolsets:
- web
- file
- terminal
Each platform (CLI, Telegram, Discord…) can have its own set of toolsets — for example, a public Telegram bot might only enable web + file, while a personal CLI enables the full terminal + browser. Within a running session, /tools gives a quick look at which tools are active. Note: changing toolsets mid-session breaks the provider’s prompt caching (the tool schemas live in the system prompt), forcing the next turn to resend the entire input token set — so change toolsets before starting a new session, not in the middle of one.