getting started
A skill is a document an agent can load. A profile is the agent itself: identity, skills, scheduled jobs, and tool connections, pinned to a git ref.
Skill hubs such as ClawHub, skills.sh, and the Hermes Skills Hub list SKILL.md files. This directory lists whole Hermes bots. In Hermes, a bot is a profile. Come here to install someone, not a paragraph.
Pick CLI or Hermes Desktop. They share the same profiles on disk, so an install from either shows up in both.
BEFORE YOU INSTALL
Profiles are code. A profile can schedule jobs that run unattended, spawn local processes through MCP servers, and execute shell hooks on every turn. Nothing listed here is vetted, scanned for behaviour, or sandboxed. Every listing links to its source at the exact ref it describes. Read it.
CLI
01 INSTALL HERMES
You need the Hermes CLI. Confirm you have it and check which version, since profiles can declare a minimum.
hermes --version02 INSTALL A PROFILE
Resolve a listing by slug. The CLI prints the privileged summary, asks you to confirm, then runs the pinned install.
npx profiles-for-bots install task-managerThat command runs the underlying Hermes install at an exact git ref. Pinning means what you install today is byte-for-byte what the listing described, even if the author changes the repository tomorrow.
hermes profile install github.com/owner/repo#v0.1.0Hermes prints the manifest and asks you to confirm before writing anything. Read that preview. It is your last checkpoint before someone else's code runs on your machine.
03 SUPPLY ITS ENVIRONMENT
Most profiles need credentials. Every listing shows exactly which variables under env in its trust panel. Put them in the profile's own .env, which is yours and never travels with the distribution. The installer also writes .env.EXAMPLE you can copy.
echo 'OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...' >> ~/.hermes/profiles/<name>/.env04 RUN IT
hermes profile use <name>
hermes chatInspect what you installed at any time with hermes profile info <name>, which prints the distribution manifest, its version, and where it came from.
05 CRON AND UPDATES
Cron jobs are copied but not turned on. Enable them with hermes -p <name> cron list. Updating re-pulls the distribution and replaces only the files it owns. Your config.yaml edits are preserved unless you pass --force-config.
hermes profile update <name>HERMES DESKTOP
01 OPEN THE APP
Desktop is the same agent as the CLI, with a window. If Hermes is already installed:
hermes desktopFirst time? Follow the Hermes Desktop guide. Profiles you install land in ~/.hermes/profiles/ and appear in both surfaces.
02 INSTALL A LISTING
These listings are git distributions, not export files. Do not use Import profile in the command palette. That path is for a .tar.gz someone emailed you.
Two ways that do work:
Copy the agent prompt from a listing on this site and paste it into a new desktop chat. Hermes will resolve the slug and run the install. Confirm the privileged summary before it writes.
Or press Cmd+K (Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux), open a terminal, and run the same command as the CLI:
npx profiles-for-bots install task-manager03 SWITCH TO IT
The new profile shows up on the left rail. Click it, or press Cmd+1 through Cmd+9 (Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+9 on Windows and Linux). Open a new chat on that profile.
04 SUPPLY ITS ENVIRONMENT
Set that profile's default model under Settings → Model. Other keys from the listing's env panel go in the profile's own .env, same as the CLI. Copy .env.EXAMPLE if the installer wrote one.
05 CRON AND UPDATES
Scheduled jobs are still off until you enable them. From a terminal: hermes -p <name> cron list. Updates are the same command as the CLI, then restart or switch away and back so the rail reloads.
hermes profile update <name>WHAT IS NEVER TOUCHED
Your data stays yours across install and update. Hermes never overwrites .env, auth.json, memories/, sessions/, logs/, state.db, workspace/, or anything under local/.