All Tools Reference

Part 7: All Tools — Overview

Portable Hermes currently exposes 96 core tools, plus extension and user-created custom tools. This page covers the most important tools and categories users ask about. You don't need to remember tool names — just describe what you want and Hermes will pick the right tool.

Web and Search Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
web_search	Search the web for information	Firecrawl API key
web_extract	Read and extract content from a web page URL	Firecrawl API key
serper_search	Google-quality search with knowledge graphs and direct answers	Serper API key

Example requests:

• "Search for the best restaurants in Portland"
• "Read this article: [URL]"
• "Find recent news about artificial intelligence"

File Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
read_file	Read contents of any file	File Read permission
write_file	Create or overwrite a file	File Write permission
patch	Make targeted edits to a file	File Write permission
search_files	Find files by name or search contents	File Read permission

Example requests:

• "Read the file at C:\Users\me\notes.txt"
• "Create a new Python script called hello.py"
• "Find all PDF files in my Documents folder"
• "Replace 'old text' with 'new text' in config.json"

Terminal and System Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
terminal	Run shell commands	Execute permission
process	List, monitor, or kill processes	Execute permission
run_python	Execute Python code directly	None (uses built-in Python)
gpu_info	Show GPU status (memory, temp, usage)	NVIDIA GPU
execute_code	Run sandboxed code that can call other tools	Execute permission

Example requests:

• "Run 'dir /s *.txt' to find all text files"
• "What processes are using the most CPU?"
• "Run this Python code: print('hello')"
• "How much GPU memory is free?"

Vision and Image Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
vision_analyze	Analyze/describe an image using AI vision	Vision-capable model
image_generate	Generate images from text descriptions	FAL.ai API key

Example requests:

• "What's in this image?" (with image attached)
• "Generate an image of a golden retriever wearing sunglasses"

Browser Automation Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
browser_navigate	Open a URL in a controlled browser	Network permission
browser_snapshot	Screenshot + accessibility tree of current page	Active browser
browser_click	Click a page element	Active browser
browser_type	Type text into a form field	Active browser
browser_scroll	Scroll the page	Active browser
browser_back	Go to previous page	Active browser
browser_press	Press a keyboard key	Active browser
browser_close	Close the browser	Active browser
browser_get_images	Extract all images from a page	Active browser
browser_vision	Analyze screenshot with AI vision	Active browser + vision model

Example requests:

• "Go to google.com and search for weather in my city"
• "Navigate to that product page and read the reviews"
• "Take a screenshot of the current page"

Text-to-Speech Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
text_to_speech	Built-in TTS using Edge/ElevenLabs/OpenAI	None (Edge TTS is built-in)

Plus all the TTS Server tools (see Extension 1 section above).

LM Studio Tools

See Part 5 for complete details on all 10 LM Studio tools.

AI and Reasoning Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
mixture_of_agents	Ask multiple AI models and synthesize answers	OpenRouter key
delegate_task	Spawn a sub-agent for isolated tasks	None
switch_model	Change the active AI model	None

Example requests:

• "Use mixture of agents to analyze this complex problem from multiple angles"
• "Delegate this research task to a sub-agent"
• "Switch to the Claude Sonnet model"

Planning and Memory Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
todo	Task list for multi-step projects	None
memory	Persistent notes across sessions	None
session_search	Search past conversations	None
clarify	Ask you a clarifying question	None

Scheduling and Automation Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
cronjob	Schedule recurring tasks	None
workflow_create	Build multi-step automation pipelines	None
workflow_run	Execute a saved workflow	None
workflow_list	List all saved workflows	None
workflow_show	View workflow details	None
workflow_delete	Remove a workflow	None
workflow_schedule	Schedule a workflow on a timer	None

Tool Creation Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
create_tool	Dynamically create a new tool	None
delete_tool	Remove a custom tool	None
list_custom_tools	Show all custom tools	None

System Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
update_hermes	Update upstream Hermes from NousResearch/hermes-agent while preserving Portable Hermes tools, launchers, extensions, docs, and runtime paths	Git checkout; release ZIP installs use HTTPS ZIP overlay
check_hermes_updates	Check whether upstream Hermes updates are available	Git checkout; release ZIP installs report ZIP overlay mode
search_guide	Search this user guide	None

The upstream tools are optional and separate from UPDATE.bat, which updates the tested Portable distribution. Check first if you only want information, and restart Hermes after a successful update_hermes run. See Keeping Portable Hermes Updated for the recommended sequence and exact prompts.

Messaging Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
send_message	Send messages via Telegram, Discord, etc.	Gateway configured

Smart Home Tools

Tool	What It Does	Requirements
ha_list_entities	List Home Assistant devices	HASS_TOKEN
ha_get_state	Check device state	HASS_TOKEN
ha_list_services	List available services	HASS_TOKEN
ha_call_service	Control a device	HASS_TOKEN

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