How to Use SKILL.md Skills with Hermes Agent

Hermes is gaining traction as one of the fastest open-source AI agent frameworks for local development. Built for speed and low latency, Hermes supports the SKILL.md standard, giving you access to the same skill ecosystem used by Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI, and 20+ other agents. Here's how to set up skills in Hermes.

Quick Answer: Hermes reads SKILL.md skills from a configurable skills directory (default: ~/.hermes/skills/ or skills/ in your project root). Install a skill by dropping its folder into the directory. Hermes auto-discovers skills on startup and activates them based on the description field in the YAML frontmatter. Cross-agent skills work without modification.

What is Hermes Agent?

Hermes is an open-source agent framework designed for developers who want a fast, locally-running AI coding agent. It focuses on low-latency tool execution, minimal overhead, and a plugin-based architecture where capabilities are added through extensions and SKILL.md skills.

Hermes supports multiple LLM providers and can run with local models (via Ollama, llama.cpp) or cloud APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google). The SKILL.md integration was added to give Hermes users access to the broader agent skills ecosystem without building a proprietary skill format.

Where do skills go in Hermes?

Hermes checks two locations for skills, in order of priority:

Project-level skills are in skills/ at the root of your current working directory. These are project-specific and can be committed to version control for team sharing.

Global skills are in ~/.hermes/skills/ (macOS/Linux) or %USERPROFILE%\.hermes\skills\ (Windows). These are available across every project.

~/.hermes/skills/
├── code-reviewer/
│   ├── SKILL.md
│   └── references/
│       └── checklist.md
└── test-generator/
    ├── SKILL.md
    └── examples/
        └── expected-output.md

If a skill with the same name exists in both locations, the project-level version takes priority. This lets you override global skills with project-specific versions when needed.

How do I install a skill in Hermes?

Download the skill from Agensi or any other source. Extract it into your skills directory.

For global installation:

mkdir -p ~/.hermes/skills
cd ~/.hermes/skills
unzip /path/to/code-reviewer.zip
# Verify
ls code-reviewer/SKILL.md

For project-specific installation:

mkdir -p skills
cd skills
unzip /path/to/code-reviewer.zip

Restart Hermes or run hermes reload if available. Hermes scans the skills directories and loads all valid SKILL.md files.

How does Hermes select skills?

Hermes uses the same selection mechanism as other SKILL.md-compatible agents: it reads the description field in each skill's YAML frontmatter and matches it against your request.

When you ask Hermes to do something, it compares your request with all available skill descriptions and loads the best match. If no skill matches, Hermes handles the request with its default behavior.

Good skill descriptions include multiple trigger phrases:

---
name: code-reviewer
description: >
  Use when the user asks to review code, check for bugs, 
  audit security, or evaluate code quality. Also activate 
  for PR reviews and merge request feedback.
---

The more phrasings you include in the description, the more reliably Hermes picks the right skill.

Cross-agent compatibility

Skills built for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI, or any other SKILL.md-compatible agent work in Hermes without modification. The instructions are plain English markdown, so there's nothing agent-specific about the core content.

Agent-specific YAML frontmatter fields (like Claude Code's context: fork or Cursor-specific globs) are ignored by Hermes, but the markdown body and any supporting files (references, scripts, examples) work as expected.

This means you can:

• Install skills from the Agensi marketplace that were built for any agent
• Build skills in Hermes and publish them for the broader ecosystem
• Switch between agents without rebuilding your skill collection

What types of skills work best with Hermes?

Hermes is optimized for speed, so skills that benefit from fast execution cycles work particularly well.

Iterative development skills that involve rapid cycles of generate-test-fix benefit from Hermes's low latency. Skills for TDD workflows, rapid prototyping, and code generation with immediate testing leverage this strength.

Local-first skills that don't require network access work especially well because they can run with local models. Code review, refactoring, documentation generation, and test writing are all tasks that benefit from fast local execution.

Lightweight utility skills for small, focused tasks like commit message generation, function renaming, or import organization match Hermes's philosophy of doing one thing quickly. These skills tend to have short instruction sets and produce output in seconds.

Hermes vs other agents for skills

Hermes trades the polish and integration of commercial agents (Claude Code, Cursor) for speed, transparency, and the ability to run fully locally. If you're choosing between agents, consider:

You might prefer Hermes if you want fast local execution, full control over the agent's behavior, the ability to run with local models for privacy, and an open-source codebase you can modify.

You might prefer Claude Code or Cursor if you want a more integrated editor experience, built-in safety constraints, and a larger community of existing users.

Either way, your SKILL.md skills work across all of them. You're not locked in.

For the full list of compatible agents, see Every AI Agent That Supports SKILL.md in 2026.

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Find skills for Hermes and every other agent at agensi.io/skills.