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Quickstart

Go from a new account to your own agent, answering in chat and on Telegram, with its first scheduled task set up.

This tutorial takes you from a new account to an agent of your own that answers you in the web chat and on Telegram, with its first scheduled task set up. Steps 1 and 2 work for anyone; from step 3 on you're choosing and using a paid plan.

What you'll need

  • An email address for your account. Use a regular one: accounts made with a disposable (throwaway) email domain are removed right after sign-up.
  • A paid plan, Mini or Pro, for step 3 onward. You pay on a secure checkout page. Plans and credits compares the two.
  • The Telegram app with an account, for steps 7 to 10.

Steps

  1. Create your account

    Open the sign-up page and create your account.

    Every new account gets a one-time $0.50 of AI credit, and its free chat is set to MyHermes AI's free model (myhermes:free), which costs nothing to use.

    Once you're signed in, open your dashboard chat. The dashboard always opens on the chat.

  2. Skip the first questions

    The first time you open the chat, Hermes introduces itself and asks what to call you, instead of showing the usual welcome screen. Press "Skip for now".

    Answering is optional, and it sets up a free daily task. If you'd rather answer:

    1. Type your name in "Your name" and press "Continue".
    2. Hermes asks "What should I do for you every day?" Pick one of "Morning briefing", "Evening wind-down", "Daily nudge" or "News check".
    3. Hermes asks "When should I do this each day?" Pick 6:00 AM, 7:00 AM (already selected), 8:00 AM, 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 6:00 PM or 9:00 PM. "Also email it to me" is ticked, so each result is emailed to you as well; untick it if you'd rather read results only in the dashboard. Then press "Set it up".
    4. The last screen says Hermes will have it ready every day at that time in For You (and in your inbox, if you left the email box ticked), and offers "Pick a plan" and "Continue free".

    "Skip for now" is on every question, and skipping saves nothing, so the questions come back the next time you open the chat, until you finish them or pick a plan.

  3. Pick a plan

    Open the plans page. SettingsBilling has a "Pick a plan" button that goes there too, and so does the last screen of the questions if you answered them.

    Press "claim mini →" for Mini or "claim pro →" for Pro.

    • If you skipped the questions, the plans page also shows a Free card with "continue with free →". Once you've finished the questions, it shows only Mini and Pro.
    • Prices are shown in your currency: rupees in India, euros in the eurozone (plus Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City), and US dollars everywhere else. Checkout charges the same currency.

  4. Pay at checkout

    The next page says "Your Hermes is one tap away.", sets up a secure checkout and counts down before taking you there. Complete the payment on that page.

    • If you cancel or the payment fails, you're sent back to the pricing page. Pick the plan again when you're ready.
    • If you already have an active plan, you're taken straight to your dashboard instead.

  5. Wait for your agent to start

    After you pay, a setup screen works through "Confirming payment", "Allocating your machine", "Booting your agent", "First heartbeat" and "Your Hermes is alive", then opens your dashboard.

    Until the agent is up, the chat box is disabled and the welcome says Hermes is waking up. Settings shows "Setting up your agent…" on every section except Theme, Billing and Help while it's being set up.

  6. Say hello

    Type a message in the "Message Hermes…" box and press Enter. (Shift+Enter starts a new line instead.)

    The reply appears in the chat. After that first reply, the conversation also shows up under "Recents" in the sidebar, so you can come back to it.

    Your agent starts on MyHermes AI, so it works without a key from anyone. What it uses comes out of your AI credits, and your plan adds $1 (Mini) or $5 (Pro) when it starts and again at each renewal.

    If Hermes uses a tool to answer, a row with a 🔧 and the number of tool calls appears above the reply; open it to see each call.

    For your first 14 days, the chat's welcome screen also shows a "Getting started" card with "Schedule a task", "Connect Telegram" and "Pick a look". Each row gets a tick once it's done, sometimes only after a page reload. If you answered the first questions in step 2, "Schedule a task" is ticked already, but that answer set up your free daily task, not a task on your agent; step 12 sets up the real one. If "Schedule a task" isn't ticked, leave it for now: step 11 sets your time zone and step 12 sets up your first task. The ✕ hides the card in this browser. Chat explains each row.

  7. Create a Telegram bot

    In Telegram, open @BotFather and send /newbot. Give your bot a name, then a username that ends in bot.

    BotFather replies with a token (it looks like 1234567890:ABCdef…). Keep it for step 9.

  8. Get your Telegram user id

    In Telegram, send any message to @userinfobot. It replies with your numeric Telegram user id. Keep that for step 9 too.

  9. Save the bot in Channels

    In MyHermes, click "Connect Telegram" in the sidebar. On a phone or a narrow window, that button sits in the "Chats" drawer, which the menu button at the top left opens. (The "Getting started" card on the chat welcome has a "Connect Telegram" row too; it goes to the same place.) They all open SettingsChannels, which you can also open directly.

    1. Paste the token into "Bot token".
    2. Type your numeric id under "Allowed Telegram users". Ids are digits only. "+ Add another user" adds a row for someone else you want to let in.
    3. Press "Save credentials".

    A card confirms that your credentials are saved and your agent is starting, and the agent restarts to pick up the bot. After you reload the page, Channels shows "connected as @" followed by your bot's username, and the sidebar gets a button with the bot's @username that opens it in Telegram.

  10. Send /start to your bot yourself

    Open your bot in Telegram (the sidebar button does this) and send /start in a private chat with it. Do it straight away.

    The bot answers with a welcome that starts "Welcome to Hermes 👋" and asks what you do, what you're working on and how you'd like it to help day to day. Answer it, or send any message you like. If your agent was asleep, a short holding line such as "Let me think on that…" arrives first, then the reply.

  11. Set your time zone

    Open SettingsBackground tasks (open it; the link works in simple mode too). Under "Timezone", the list already shows your browser's time zone. Press "Apply". (If your browser is set to UTC, pick your time zone from the list first. Applying the time zone your agent already runs in changes nothing.)

    Your agent restarts. The card says "Applying, your agent is restarting", then "Timezone applied.", and "Your agent runs in" now names your time zone. If the card says "Your agent needs an update before its timezone can change.", skip this step: your agent stays on UTC for now, and the next steps show you how to check the time.

  12. Ask for your first scheduled task

    Back in the web chat, ask Hermes in plain words for something to happen on a schedule. For example, the morning brief the Scheduled page suggests:

    Every weekday at 8am, send me a short morning brief: what's on my plate today and one headline worth knowing. Keep it under 150 words.

    There's no form to fill in; Hermes sets the task up from your message.

    Because Telegram is connected, the results of a task you create in the web chat are sent to your Telegram chat with the bot. You can also ask your bot on Telegram instead, and a task created there reports back to that Telegram chat.

  13. Check it on the Scheduled page

    Open the Scheduled page. In builder mode it's "Scheduled" in the sidebar. A new account starts in simple mode, where the sidebar shows For You instead, a list of what Hermes is doing for you on a schedule and when it runs next. The Scheduled page link works in either mode.

    Find your task's row. It shows the task's name (or your request), a plain-English schedule (in your own time zone, for a repeating task like this one), and "next …" with how long until it runs. If a schedule has no exact match in your time zone, the line is shown in your agent's time zone and ends with that zone's name in brackets, such as "(UTC)". Tasks are grouped under "Today", "This week", "Later" and "Paused", and a task due in the next 6 hours is highlighted.

    While your agent is asleep, the page shows a saved copy of your schedule, and opening the page doesn't wake the agent. If your task isn't listed yet, press "↻ refresh".

    If the time isn't what you meant, ask Hermes in the chat to change it, then check the row again. The page has no edit buttons; every change goes through the chat.

What you should see

At the scheduled time, the result arrives in your Telegram chat with the bot. On the Scheduled page, the task's row gains a "See latest result" link with how long ago it ran, and the run is listed under "Recent runs". Each run is also a chat of its own under "Recents", hidden until you click "Show scheduled runs".

If something goes wrong

Signing up or paying

  • Use a regular email address. Accounts made with a disposable (throwaway) email domain are removed right after sign-up.
  • You're back on the pricing page after checkout. The payment was cancelled or failed. Pick the plan again.

The chat doesn't answer

  • It's slow to reply. A sleeping agent has to wake first. The chat waits up to 3 minutes, then says "Hermes is taking longer than usual to respond (180s). Try sending again in a moment." or "Network hiccup. Try again." Either way, send your message again.
  • It says Hermes didn't respond in time. The message means the model provider may be slow, not responding, or out of credits. It mostly happens on a message with an image attached. Try again in a moment, and check your balance under SettingsCredits (open it).
  • "Too many messages this minute. Wait 60 seconds and retry." The web chat takes up to 10 messages a minute. Wait a minute and send again.
  • It says Hermes is catching its breath. Your plan's running-time limit has been reached, and the message tells you when Hermes will be back at full speed. A web chat message sent then isn't saved, so send it again after that time. Telegram messages are kept and answered automatically. Plans and credits explains the limit.

Telegram doesn't answer

  • Channels never shows "connected as". MyHermes couldn't look up the bot with that token. Get a fresh token from @BotFather, paste it into "Bot token" and press "Save credentials".
  • The bot says it doesn't recognise you and asks you to tap /start. The id saved under "Allowed Telegram users" doesn't match your Telegram id. Check your id with @userinfobot and fix it under "Allowed Telegram users" in SettingsChannels, then save; a correct id there lets you in. If you'd already sent /start in a private chat and still got this reply, someone else sent /start to your bot before you did. They're its owner and can also message your agent. Tell us through "Get help" in the account menu (open it).

The task is at the wrong time or never arrives

  • The time is wrong. Check that your agent runs in your time zone (step 11); a task you asked for before that keeps its UTC time. Then ask Hermes in the chat to change the task's time, and check the row on the Scheduled page.
  • The row says "Not sent to any chat." The result had nowhere to go. Connect Telegram (steps 7 to 10) so your agent has a home channel. This note only appears while your agent is awake, so a row without it isn't proof the result was sent.
  • The row says the task exceeds your plan's daily limit. Each scheduled task can run up to 24 times a day on Mini (about once an hour) and 96 times a day on Pro (about every 15 minutes). A task set to run more often isn't woken on schedule, so ask Hermes to run it less often.

What's next