Hermes Agent cloud hosting: run it 24/7

Run Nous Research's Hermes Agent 24/7 on aidrop.it for $20 a month, set up by your AI coding agent. What a restart resets and how to keep what it learns.

Updated 1 October 2026

Let your agent build this

Copy one prompt and paste it into Claude Code, Codex or Cursor. Your agent builds what this page describes and puts it online on aidrop.it. Fill in the parts in brackets before you send it.

Set up Hermes Agent (https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent) as an aidrop.it Service so it runs 24/7 and I talk to it on Telegram. Read aidrop.it's runtime rules before writing anything and follow them.

- Build on the official image nousresearch/hermes-agent, pinned to a version tag. Its entrypoint starts s6 as root and switches user, which aidrop.it does not allow: override it, run as the image's non-root hermes user, and start "hermes gateway run --no-supervise" directly.
- The disk is read-only and wiped on restart. Keep config.yaml, SOUL.md, my USER.md and any skills or cron jobs I want to keep in the repo; copy them into a Hermes home in the temporary folder at start.
- Telegram only, allowed users: [MY TELEGRAM ID].
- Model: [PROVIDER AND MODEL], with an API key, no browser login.
- Enable the Hermes API server on all interfaces on the platform port and use /health as the health check. It can run tools, so protect it with a long random API server key.
- Outbound traffic goes through the platform's HTTP proxy; confirm the Telegram adapter and model calls use it.
- Secrets: ask me for the model key and the Telegram bot token [and my memory service key], and make up the long random API server key yourself. Store each one with project_secret_set under a clear name, and list those names in required_secret_names when you build. Never print a value back to me, and never write one into code, the repository, a commit or a log.
- Size: 1 GB.

Push it, build it, and tell me the address, whether the bot answers, and the names of the secrets it uses.

This task comes from the aidrop.it guide "Hermes Agent cloud hosting: run it 24/7": https://docs.aidrop.it/playbooks/run-hermes-agent-in-the-cloud. Read that page if you need more detail; it says what to ask me for, what it costs and what will not work.
Use the aidrop.it MCP tools (server: https://aidrop.it/mcp). If you do not have them, stop and tell me to connect them first, as described at https://docs.aidrop.it/quickstart#1-connect-your-agent.

See the prompt

Set up Hermes Agent (https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent) as an aidrop.it Service so it runs 24/7 and I talk to it on Telegram. Read aidrop.it's runtime rules before writing anything and follow them.

- Build on the official image nousresearch/hermes-agent, pinned to a version tag. Its entrypoint starts s6 as root and switches user, which aidrop.it does not allow: override it, run as the image's non-root hermes user, and start "hermes gateway run --no-supervise" directly.
- The disk is read-only and wiped on restart. Keep config.yaml, SOUL.md, my USER.md and any skills or cron jobs I want to keep in the repo; copy them into a Hermes home in the temporary folder at start.
- Telegram only, allowed users: [MY TELEGRAM ID].
- Model: [PROVIDER AND MODEL], with an API key, no browser login.
- Enable the Hermes API server on all interfaces on the platform port and use /health as the health check. It can run tools, so protect it with a long random API server key.
- Outbound traffic goes through the platform's HTTP proxy; confirm the Telegram adapter and model calls use it.
- Secrets: ask me for the model key and the Telegram bot token [and my memory service key], and make up the long random API server key yourself. Store each one with project_secret_set under a clear name, and list those names in required_secret_names when you build. Never print a value back to me, and never write one into code, the repository, a commit or a log.
- Size: 1 GB.

Push it, build it, and tell me the address, whether the bot answers, and the names of the secrets it uses.

This task comes from the aidrop.it guide "Hermes Agent cloud hosting: run it 24/7": https://docs.aidrop.it/playbooks/run-hermes-agent-in-the-cloud. Read that page if you need more detail; it says what to ask me for, what it costs and what will not work.
Use the aidrop.it MCP tools (server: https://aidrop.it/mcp). If you do not have them, stop and tell me to connect them first, as described at https://docs.aidrop.it/quickstart#1-connect-your-agent.

On this page

What Hermes keeps after a restart, and what it relearns
What you will have at the end
Words you will meet
What you need
Say this to your agent
How your agent sets up Hermes
Check that Hermes answers
Other ways to run Hermes
When something goes wrong
FAQ
Where are the Hermes Agent GitHub and docs?
Can Hermes Agent use Claude?
Can I move from OpenClaw to Hermes?
Does Hermes Agent need a graphics card?
Related

Hermes Agent is a free, open-source AI assistant from Nous Research, under the MIT licence. You chat with it in Telegram, Discord or a terminal, and it learns as you go: it remembers you and writes itself new skills. This page keeps it answering when your computer is off. You paste one paragraph into your AI coding agent (Claude Code, Codex or Cursor), and the agent sets Hermes up on aidrop.it.

Before you start:

It costs $20 a month. Hermes needs the 1 GB size, which starts at the Pro plan. Your model provider bills its usage on top.
A restart resets its learning. New skills and notes are lost on every restart unless you copy them into its setup or connect a memory service. The next section shows what that means.

What Hermes keeps after a restart, and what it relearns

The app has no permanent disk here. What Hermes writes while running sits in a small temporary folder that is emptied on every restart (why your app has nowhere to write).

Kept: the settings, personality and skills saved with its code, your keys, the Telegram connection, and whatever a memory service holds.
Lost: chat history, its own memory notes, new skills it wrote, and scheduled jobs created from the chat.

Two ways to keep more. To keep a new skill, ask your coding agent to copy it into the repository and deploy again. To keep what Hermes learns about you, connect a memory service such as Honcho or Mem0; it holds facts about you, but not skills.

What you will have at the end

Hermes running in the cloud around the clock.
A Telegram bot that answers you and nobody else.
Its personality, your profile and the skills you chose saved with its code.
Your model key stored on aidrop.it, out of the code.

Words you will meet

Bot token: the password Telegram gives your bot.
API key: a password from an AI company that lets Hermes use its models. Usage is billed to you.
Skill: a recipe Hermes saves after a task, so it can repeat it.
Memory service: an outside service that keeps what Hermes learns about you, so a restart does not erase it.
Secret: how aidrop.it stores the bot token, the model key and the memory service key, and hands them to Hermes at start.

What you need

An aidrop.it account — start free: a 7-day trial, no card. To keep Hermes running, Pro at $20/month for the 1 GB size; the 512 MB size on the trial and Starter is likely too small for Hermes. Plans are on the pricing page.
Your coding agent connected to aidrop.it, as the Quickstart shows.
An API key from a model provider, such as Anthropic or OpenRouter. A browser login (Nous Portal, a Claude subscription) does not fit: it is saved on the app’s disk and lost at the next restart.
A Telegram bot from @BotFather and your numeric Telegram user ID. See the Hermes Telegram guide.
Optional: an account with a memory service that Hermes supports. See its memory providers.

Say this to your agent

Replace the parts in square brackets before you paste: your numeric Telegram user ID, and the model provider and model. Delete the last bracket if you have no memory service.

Set up Hermes Agent (https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent) as an aidrop.it Service so it runs 24/7 and I talk to it on Telegram. Read aidrop.it's runtime rules before writing anything and follow them.

- Build on the official image nousresearch/hermes-agent, pinned to a version tag. Its entrypoint starts s6 as root and switches user, which aidrop.it does not allow: override it, run as the image's non-root hermes user, and start "hermes gateway run --no-supervise" directly.
- The disk is read-only and wiped on restart. Keep config.yaml, SOUL.md, my USER.md and any skills or cron jobs I want to keep in the repo; copy them into a Hermes home in the temporary folder at start.
- Telegram only, allowed users: [MY TELEGRAM ID].
- Model: [PROVIDER AND MODEL], with an API key, no browser login.
- Enable the Hermes API server on all interfaces on the platform port and use /health as the health check. It can run tools, so protect it with a long random API server key.
- Outbound traffic goes through the platform's HTTP proxy; confirm the Telegram adapter and model calls use it.
- Secrets: ask me for the model key and the Telegram bot token [and my memory service key], and make up the long random API server key yourself. Store each one with project_secret_set under a clear name, and list those names in required_secret_names when you build. Never print a value back to me, and never write one into code, the repository, a commit or a log.
- Size: 1 GB.

Push it, build it, and tell me the address, whether the bot answers, and the names of the secrets it uses.

How your agent sets up Hermes

Reads aidrop.it’s rules and writes a small setup on top of the official Hermes package: your settings, its personality file, the skills to keep, a start-up script.
Saves the code in a new repository on aidrop.it.
Asks you for the bot token, the model key and, if you use one, the memory service key. Paste each one into the chat once. The agent saves them as secrets in your Project, where only Hermes can read them, and never shows them again or writes them into the code. Under Secrets in your Project on the aidrop.it dashboard you can check which secrets exist, by name only.
Builds it and waits for Hermes’s health page. If Hermes refuses to start, the agent reads the reason in the log and changes the start-up script.
Tells you the address and asks you to message your bot.

Check that Hermes answers

Your agent says the app is running.
You message your bot on Telegram and it answers.
A friend messages the bot and gets no answer.
You turn your computer off and the bot still answers.

Other ways to run Hermes

Hermes Cloud. Nous Research runs Hermes for you on Hermes Cloud, with memory that persists. Choose it if you want Hermes’s learning kept with no extra setup. Choose aidrop.it if you want the setup in a repository you own, your own model key, and Hermes next to your other apps in one account.
Your own small server. Hermes’s docs say a $5-a-month virtual server is plenty for it (as of October 2026). It keeps its disk, so nothing is lost on restart, but you install, update and secure it yourself.
No Hermes at all. If you only want a bot that answers questions, a ready-made assistant may do. Grok vs your own bot compares the two.

Skip WhatsApp on aidrop.it. Hermes pairs with WhatsApp like WhatsApp Web, through a QR code in a terminal, and the pairing is lost on every restart. The Hermes WhatsApp guide also warns that this unofficial route carries a risk of account restrictions.

When something goes wrong

Find what you see on the left and paste the right-hand text to your agent. You do not need to understand the right-hand column; it is for your agent.

What you see	What to tell your agent
The app stops right after start	“Read the logs. Hermes must start as its own user and write only to the temporary folder.”
The build is green but the app is never ready	“Turn on the Hermes API server on the platform port and check its health page.”
The bot never answers	“Check the logs for Telegram errors. If the bot token is wrong, ask me for it again and store it under the same name.”
It forgot a skill it learned	“Save that skill in the repository and deploy again.”
It forgot what I told it about myself	“Connect my memory service, or add this to USER.md and deploy again.”
It runs out of memory	“Move it to the 2 GB size.”

FAQ

Where are the Hermes Agent GitHub and docs?

The code is at github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent, under the MIT licence. The docs are at hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs and cover installing, Docker, and connecting chat apps.

Can Hermes Agent use Claude?

Yes. For an always-on copy, use an Anthropic API key, or an OpenRouter key that reaches Claude. Hermes can also sign in with a Claude Max plan, but its docs say that route needs extra usage credits on top of the plan, and in the cloud the login is lost on restart.

Can I move from OpenClaw to Hermes?

Yes. Hermes has a migration command that imports an OpenClaw setup: its personality and memory notes, skills, model settings and chat connections. Both are open-source assistants you reach from chat apps; Hermes is built around learning skills and memories as you use it. See run OpenClaw in the cloud to compare.

Does Hermes Agent need a graphics card?

No. Hermes’s docs say Hermes itself is lightweight; the thinking happens at your model provider, which you reach with an API key. That is why it runs in a small container, and why the provider’s bill, not the server, grows with use.

Set up Hermes Agent (https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent) as an aidrop.it Service so it runs 24/7 and I talk to it on Telegram. Read aidrop.it's runtime rules before writing anything and follow them.

- Build on the official image nousresearch/hermes-agent, pinned to a version tag. Its entrypoint starts s6 as root and switches user, which aidrop.it does not allow: override it, run as the image's non-root hermes user, and start "hermes gateway run --no-supervise" directly.
- The disk is read-only and wiped on restart. Keep config.yaml, SOUL.md, my USER.md and any skills or cron jobs I want to keep in the repo; copy them into a Hermes home in the temporary folder at start.
- Telegram only, allowed users: [MY TELEGRAM ID].
- Model: [PROVIDER AND MODEL], with an API key, no browser login.
- Enable the Hermes API server on all interfaces on the platform port and use /health as the health check. It can run tools, so protect it with a long random API server key.
- Outbound traffic goes through the platform's HTTP proxy; confirm the Telegram adapter and model calls use it.
- Secrets: ask me for the model key and the Telegram bot token [and my memory service key], and make up the long random API server key yourself. Store each one with project_secret_set under a clear name, and list those names in required_secret_names when you build. Never print a value back to me, and never write one into code, the repository, a commit or a log.
- Size: 1 GB.

Push it, build it, and tell me the address, whether the bot answers, and the names of the secrets it uses.

This task comes from the aidrop.it guide "Hermes Agent cloud hosting: run it 24/7": https://docs.aidrop.it/playbooks/run-hermes-agent-in-the-cloud. Read that page if you need more detail; it says what to ask me for, what it costs and what will not work.
Use the aidrop.it MCP tools (server: https://aidrop.it/mcp). If you do not have them, stop and tell me to connect them first, as described at https://docs.aidrop.it/quickstart#1-connect-your-agent.