> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# CLI usage

> Interactive terminal interface, slash commands, keybindings, and sessions

## Starting Hermes

Run `hermes` from your terminal to open the interactive TUI:

```bash theme={null}
hermes
```

If you haven't run setup yet, you'll be prompted to configure a provider. You can also run the full setup wizard at any time:

```bash theme={null}
hermes setup
```

## The TUI

Hermes uses [prompt\_toolkit](https://python-prompt-toolkit.readthedocs.io/) for a full terminal UI:

* **Multiline editing** — press `Meta+Enter` (or `Esc` then `Enter`) to insert a newline; press `Enter` to send
* **Slash command autocomplete** — type `/` and press `Tab` to cycle through completions; subcommands and model names also complete
* **Ghost-text suggestions** — as you type a slash command, the rest appears in dim text
* **Streaming tool output** — the `┊` activity feed shows each tool call as it runs
* **Interrupt and redirect** — press `Ctrl+C` to cancel the agent mid-run; your next message becomes the new instruction

## Slash commands

Type `/help` at any time to see all available commands. Every command resolves its aliases automatically, so `/reset` and `/new` both start a new session.

### Session commands

| Command       | Aliases  | Args       | Description                                      |
| ------------- | -------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| `/new`        | `/reset` | —          | Start a fresh session (new session ID + history) |
| `/clear`      | —        | —          | Clear the screen and start a new session         |
| `/retry`      | —        | —          | Resend the last user message to the agent        |
| `/undo`       | —        | —          | Remove the last user/assistant exchange          |
| `/title`      | —        | `[name]`   | Set a title for the current session              |
| `/compress`   | —        | —          | Manually compress conversation context           |
| `/rollback`   | —        | `[number]` | List or restore filesystem checkpoints           |
| `/stop`       | —        | —          | Kill all running background processes            |
| `/background` | `/bg`    | `<prompt>` | Run a prompt in the background                   |
| `/resume`     | —        | `[name]`   | Resume a previously-named session                |
| `/history`    | —        | —          | Show conversation history                        |
| `/save`       | —        | —          | Save the current conversation                    |

### Configuration commands

| Command        | Aliases | Args                     | Description                                    |
| -------------- | ------- | ------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------- |
| `/model`       | —       | `[provider:model]`       | Show or change the current model               |
| `/provider`    | —       | —                        | Show available providers and current provider  |
| `/personality` | —       | `[name]`                 | Set a predefined personality                   |
| `/skin`        | —       | `[name]`                 | Show or change the display skin/theme          |
| `/voice`       | —       | `[on\|off\|tts\|status]` | Toggle voice mode                              |
| `/reasoning`   | —       | `[level\|show\|hide]`    | Manage reasoning effort and display            |
| `/prompt`      | —       | `[text]`                 | View or set a custom system prompt             |
| `/verbose`     | —       | —                        | Cycle tool progress: off → new → all → verbose |
| `/statusbar`   | `/sb`   | —                        | Toggle the context/model status bar            |
| `/config`      | —       | —                        | Show current configuration                     |

### Tools & Skills commands

| Command       | Aliases       | Args                                 | Description                             |
| ------------- | ------------- | ------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------- |
| `/tools`      | —             | `[list\|disable\|enable] [name...]`  | Manage tools                            |
| `/toolsets`   | —             | —                                    | List available toolsets                 |
| `/skills`     | —             | `[search\|browse\|inspect\|install]` | Search, install, and manage skills      |
| `/cron`       | —             | `[subcommand]`                       | Manage scheduled tasks                  |
| `/browser`    | —             | `[connect\|disconnect\|status]`      | Connect browser tools via CDP           |
| `/reload-mcp` | `/reload_mcp` | —                                    | Reload MCP servers from config          |
| `/plugins`    | —             | —                                    | List installed plugins and their status |

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Info commands">
    | Command      | Aliases    | Args     | Description                                |
    | ------------ | ---------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------ |
    | `/help`      | —          | —        | Show available commands                    |
    | `/usage`     | —          | —        | Show token usage for the current session   |
    | `/insights`  | —          | `[days]` | Show usage insights and analytics          |
    | `/platforms` | `/gateway` | —        | Show gateway/messaging platform status     |
    | `/paste`     | —          | —        | Check clipboard for an image and attach it |
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Exit commands">
    | Command | Aliases       | Description  |
    | ------- | ------------- | ------------ |
    | `/quit` | `/exit`, `/q` | Exit the CLI |
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Keyboard shortcuts

| Key                               | Action                                   |
| --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| `Enter`                           | Send message                             |
| `Meta+Enter` / `Esc` then `Enter` | Insert a newline (multiline)             |
| `Ctrl+C`                          | Interrupt the running agent turn         |
| `Tab`                             | Autocomplete slash command or subcommand |
| `↑` / `↓`                         | Navigate input history                   |
| `Ctrl+L`                          | Clear the screen                         |

## Session management

### Starting and resetting

Each `hermes` invocation starts (or resumes) a session. To start completely fresh:

```
/new
```

Session IDs are displayed in the welcome banner. You can name a session with `/title my-project` and resume it later with `/resume my-project`.

### Retrying and undoing

* `/retry` — resends your last message. Useful when the agent took a wrong turn.
* `/undo` — removes the last user/assistant exchange from context. The agent won't see that turn happened.

### Context compression

As conversations grow, context usage approaches the model's limit. Hermes handles this in two ways:

**Auto-compression** fires automatically when prompt token usage reaches the configured threshold (default: 50% of context length). The middle turns of the conversation are summarized by a fast auxiliary model (default: `google/gemini-3-flash-preview`), keeping the first three and last four turns intact.

**Manual compression** via `/compress` triggers the same process immediately — useful before a complex task to free up space.

Configure compression in `~/.hermes/config.yaml`:

```yaml theme={null}
compression:
  enabled: true
  threshold: 0.50       # Compress at 50% of context limit
  summary_model: "google/gemini-3-flash-preview"
```

### Filesystem rollback

Hermes takes a filesystem snapshot before destructive file operations (write, patch) once per conversation turn. To list checkpoints:

```
/rollback
```

To restore a specific checkpoint:

```
/rollback 3
```

## Background tasks

Run any prompt in the background without blocking your conversation:

```
/background run the test suite and summarize failures
/bg deploy the staging branch
```

The agent spawns the task and returns immediately. Progress notifications appear in your chat as the background process runs. Control verbosity with `/verbose` or the `display.background_process_notifications` config key.

## Personalities

Personalities apply a predefined system prompt addendum to shape the agent's tone and style. Switch at any time:

```
/personality kawaii
/personality concise
/personality technical
```

Built-in personalities include `kawaii`, `concise`, `technical`, `creative`, `teacher`, `catgirl`, `pirate`, `shakespeare`, `surfer`, `noir`, `uwu`, `philosopher`, and `hype`. You can define custom personalities in `config.yaml` under the `personalities` key.

## Skins and themes

The skin system customizes banner colors, spinner faces, tool prefix, response box label, and branding text. Change at runtime:

```
/skin
/skin ares
/skin mono
```

### Built-in skins

| Skin        | Description                                            |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| `default`   | Classic Hermes — gold and kawaii                       |
| `ares`      | War-god theme — crimson and bronze, with spinner wings |
| `mono`      | Monochrome — clean grayscale                           |
| `slate`     | Cool blue — developer-focused                          |
| `poseidon`  | Ocean-god theme — deep blue and seafoam                |
| `sisyphus`  | Austere grayscale with persistence theming             |
| `charizard` | Volcanic theme — burnt orange and ember                |

To set a skin permanently, add it to `~/.hermes/config.yaml`:

```yaml theme={null}
display:
  skin: slate
```

### Custom skins

Drop a YAML file in `~/.hermes/skins/<name>.yaml`. All fields are optional — missing values inherit from the `default` skin:

```yaml theme={null}
name: cyberpunk
description: Neon-soaked terminal theme

colors:
  banner_border: "#FF00FF"
  banner_title: "#00FFFF"
  banner_accent: "#FF1493"

spinner:
  thinking_verbs: ["jacking in", "decrypting", "uploading"]
  wings:
    - ["⟨⚡", "⚡⟩"]

branding:
  agent_name: "Cyber Agent"
  response_label: " ⚡ Cyber "

tool_prefix: "▏"
```

Activate with `/skin cyberpunk`.

## Voice mode

Hermes supports speech-to-text input and text-to-speech output.

```
/voice on        # Enable voice input (press Ctrl+B to record)
/voice tts       # Enable TTS for agent responses
/voice status    # Show current voice settings
/voice off       # Disable voice
```

Voice input uses `faster-whisper` locally by default (no API key needed). TTS defaults to Microsoft Edge TTS (free). See the [Configuration](/user-guide/configuration) page for provider options.