Tips & Best Practices
Tips & Best Practices
Start with meaning, then move to detail.
This lesson explains Tips & Best Practices as part of operating Hermes with explicit security boundaries. You will learn what it does, when it matters, and the smallest safe test that proves it works.
If you are new, do not memorize names. Focus on three questions: what problem does this solve, what access does it need, and how can you verify the result?
For practice, inspect the first example, identify its effects, run it on test data, and compare the result with the source claim.
For advanced readers, inspect Getting the Best Results, Be Specific About What You Want, Provide Context Up Front, then verify failure modes and version compatibility.
You only need to know which files and accounts the agent may access.
A clear outcome before you read.
- Understand Tips & Best Practices without assumed prior knowledge.
- Separate the source description from what still needs testing in your environment.
- Read the first command and identify its inputs and outputs before copying it.
Short definitions before the details.
- Skill
- An instruction bundle that teaches Hermes a repeatable workflow without necessarily adding an external service.
- Tool
- A structured action the agent can call to read or change something.
Practical advice to get the most out of Hermes Agent — prompt tips, CLI shortcuts, context files, memory, cost optimization, and security
What does the source say, and in what order?
- 01Getting the Best Results
Start here to understand the core idea or structure.
- 02Be Specific About What You Want
Read this after the foundation, then connect it to the previous step.
- 03Provide Context Up Front
Read this after the foundation, then connect it to the previous step.
- 04Use Context Files for Recurring Instructions
Read this after the foundation, then connect it to the previous step.
- 05Let the Agent Use Its Tools
Read this after the foundation, then connect it to the previous step.
- 06Use Skills for Complex Workflows
Read this after the foundation, then connect it to the previous step.
- 07CLI Power User Tips
Read this after the foundation, then connect it to the previous step.
- 08Multi-Line Input
Read this after the foundation, then connect it to the previous step.
- 09Paste Detection
Read this after the foundation, then connect it to the previous step.
- 10Interrupt and Redirect
Finish here to verify the result and special cases.
Copy only after you understand the effect.
### SOUL.md: Customize Personality
Want Hermes to have a stable default voice? Edit `~/.hermes/SOUL.md` (or `$HERMES_HOME/SOUL.md` if you use a custom Hermes home). Hermes now seeds a starter SOUL automatically and uses that global file as the instance-wide personality source.
For a full walkthrough, see [Use SOUL.md with Hermes](/guides/use-soul-with-hermes).Use `SOUL.md` for durable personality. Use `AGENTS.md` for project-specific instructions.
### .cursorrules Compatibility
Already have a `.cursorrules` or `.cursor/rules/*.mdc` file? Hermes reads those too. No need to duplicate your coding conventions — they're loaded automatically from the working directory.
### Discovery
Hermes loads the top-level `AGENTS.md` from the current working directory at session start. Subdirectory `AGENTS.md` files are discovered lazily during tool calls (via `subdirectory_hints.py`) and injected into tool results — they are not loaded upfront into the system pr### Avoid Windows Encoding Pitfalls
On Windows, some default encodings (such as `cp125x`) cannot represent all Unicode characters, which can cause `UnicodeEncodeError` when writing files in tests or scripts.
- Prefer opening files with an explicit UTF-8 encoding:Read the first command and identify its inputs and outputs before copying it.
Match every command to your installed Hermes version, review the files and accounts it can reach, and use non-sensitive data for the first test. If this explanation differs from the source, the official source wins.