Toolsets

Predefined tool groups for different use cases. Compose and configure which tools are available to the agent.

Toolsets are named groups of tools. You select toolsets at startup (via --toolsets or toolsets: in config) and the agent only has access to the tools in the active set.

How to use toolsets

Command line

Pass a comma-separated list of toolsets to the --toolsets / -t flag:

hermes -t web,terminal,file
hermes -t research
hermes -t all

config.yaml

Set the toolsets key to a list:

toolsets:
  - all

Or specify individual toolsets:

toolsets:
  - web
  - terminal
  - file
  - todo

Per-platform

Override toolsets per messaging platform:

platform_toolsets:
  cli: [hermes-cli]
  telegram: [web, terminal, file, todo]
  discord: [web, vision, skills]

In session

Use /toolsets to list active toolsets, or /tools list to see every tool:

/toolsets
/tools list
/tools disable browser
/tools enable web

The special alias all resolves to every available toolset.

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Core toolsets

These single-purpose toolsets can be composed into custom configurations.

Toolset	Tools	Description
web	web_search, web_extract	Web research and content extraction
search	web_search	Web search only — no scraping
terminal	terminal, process	Command execution and process management
file	read_file, write_file, patch, search_files	File operations: read, write, patch, and search
browser	browser_navigate, browser_snapshot, browser_click, browser_type, browser_scroll, browser_back, browser_press, browser_close, browser_get_images, browser_vision, browser_console, web_search	Full browser automation
vision	vision_analyze	Image analysis
image_gen	image_generate	Image generation with FLUX
skills	skills_list, skill_view, skill_manage	Load, inspect, and manage skill documents
moa	mixture_of_agents	Mixture-of-Agents reasoning
tts	text_to_speech	Text-to-speech (Edge TTS, ElevenLabs, OpenAI)
todo	todo	In-session task planning and tracking
memory	memory	Persistent memory across sessions
session_search	session_search	Search and recall past conversations
clarify	clarify	Ask the user clarifying questions
code_execution	execute_code	Run Python scripts that call tools via RPC
delegation	delegate_task	Spawn subagents with isolated context
cronjob	cronjob	Schedule and manage automated tasks
messaging	send_message	Cross-platform messaging (Telegram, Discord, Slack, etc.)
honcho	honcho_context, honcho_profile, honcho_search, honcho_conclude	Honcho AI-native cross-session user memory
homeassistant	ha_list_entities, ha_get_state, ha_list_services, ha_call_service	Home Assistant smart home control
rl	rl_list_environments, rl_select_environment, rl_get_current_config, rl_edit_config, rl_start_training, rl_check_status, rl_stop_training, rl_get_results, rl_list_runs, rl_test_inference	RL training (Tinker-Atropos)

---

Composite toolsets

Composite toolsets include all tools from their member toolsets.

Toolset	Includes	Description
debugging	terminal, web, file	Debugging and troubleshooting toolkit
safe	web, vision, image_gen, moa	Read-only toolkit without terminal access

---

Platform presets

Platform presets are curated bundles for each messaging platform. They include all tools from _HERMES_CORE_TOOLS (the full tool set).

Preset	Description
hermes-cli	Full interactive CLI — all core tools including cronjob management
hermes-telegram	Telegram bot — full access with dangerous command approval
hermes-discord	Discord bot — full access with dangerous command approval
hermes-whatsapp	WhatsApp bot — full access (personal messaging, trusted)
hermes-slack	Slack bot — full access for workspace use
hermes-signal	Signal bot — encrypted messaging, full access
hermes-homeassistant	Home Assistant bot — smart home event monitoring and control
hermes-email	Email bot (IMAP/SMTP) — full access
hermes-sms	SMS bot (Twilio) — full access
hermes-acp	Editor integration (VS Code, Zed, JetBrains) — coding-focused, no messaging or audio
hermes-gateway	Union of all messaging platform presets

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Custom toolset composition

You can create ad-hoc toolsets in config.yaml by listing multiple built-in toolsets. Tool names are deduplicated automatically.

# Minimal: web + terminal + planning
toolsets:
  - web
  - terminal
  - todo

# Research mode: no code execution
toolsets:
  - web
  - vision
  - skills
  - memory

# Full automation: browser + terminal + files
toolsets:
  - terminal
  - browser
  - web
  - file

You can also compose toolsets at runtime:

hermes -t web,terminal,todo

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Required API keys per toolset

Some toolsets require API keys to be functional. Tools with unsatisfied requirements are silently excluded from the agent’s tool list.

Toolset	Required keys
web	PARALLEL_API_KEY, FIRECRAWL_API_KEY, or TAVILY_API_KEY (at least one)
vision	OPENROUTER_API_KEY (or another multimodal provider)
image_gen	FAL_KEY
moa	OPENROUTER_API_KEY
browser	None for local browser; BROWSERBASE_API_KEY + BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID for cloud
tts	None for Edge TTS (free); ELEVENLABS_API_KEY or VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY for premium voices
honcho	HONCHO_API_KEY + ~/.honcho/config.json
homeassistant	HASS_TOKEN (Home Assistant long-lived access token)
rl	TINKER_API_KEY

Run hermes doctor to check which toolsets are available and what is missing.