https://t.co/WJ7vTUq8eN

Article

Conversation



Turn Your Hermes Agent Into an OpenRouter Expert

If you use

as your coding agent, connecting it to OpenRouter gives you a setup that improves over time rather than starting fresh every session. This guide walks you through the setup and teaches Hermes to be an OpenRouter expert.

Hermes is a provider-agnostic agent framework with built-in memory, tool use, and a self-improving skills system. It learns how you work and gets better the more you use it. OpenRouter gives you access to hundreds of models across major providers through a single API with unified billing, automatic failover, and intelligent routing.

Together you have a powerful coding agent that does not depend on any one provider and gets smarter the more you use it.

The skill we'll create to teach Hermes how to build with OpenRouter also covers the OpenRouter

(`

`), the TypeScript toolkit for building agents on OpenRouter. Its `callModel` primitive handles multi-turn tool calling, stop conditions, streaming, state, and tool approval patterns, so you can focus on what your agent does instead of wiring the loop yourself.

Let's get them set up.

• An OpenRouter account and API key (

)

• Python installed on your machine

• A terminal you are comfortable working in

Follow the

to get it installed.

Then run `hermes setup` to configure your provider, API key, and model. Select OpenRouter as your provider and paste in your API key.

If you already have Hermes set up, run `hermes model` to switch to OpenRouter.

If the model you want is not in the predefined list, visit

, click the model you want, and copy the exact model slug from the model page, not the display name. Add that slug as a custom model in Hermes.

We're going to have Hermes build its own OpenRouter skill, leaning on referencing the docs. This way Hermes is always nudged toward looking at the current OpenRouter docs when building. The goal is to give it the principles it needs to build with OpenRouter directly within the new skill with references to docs links for specific implementation details.

Our docs index lives at

. It is built for LLM consumption; a structured list of every docs page with descriptions. Hermes can read this once and create a skill that routes to the right docs for any OpenRouter task.

Paste

into Hermes:


The

will have Hermes create a reusable openrouter-expert skill. Hermes will read the current OpenRouter docs index, check the supporting skill-creation guidance, and build a compact resolver skill that knows when to look up the right OpenRouter docs, when to fetch the models API, and how to choose between the OpenRouter API, SDKs, framework integrations, and the Agent SDK.

The skill is designed to keep Hermes from guessing about fast-changing details like model IDs, pricing, capabilities, SDK behavior, or docs URLs. Instead, it gives Hermes decision frameworks, routing tables, gotchas, and verification steps so future OpenRouter coding sessions start with the right current context. Hermes will read the docs index, check the supporting sources, and create the skill.

When it finishes, read the skill file at `~/.hermes/profiles/<your-profile>/skills/<category>/openrouter-expert/SKILL.md` and adjust anything that does not match your workflow. You can find the actual category with `hermes skills list` or by checking `~/.hermes/profiles/<your-profile>/skills/`. It does not need to be perfect, Hermes will refine it as you build.

Start a fresh Hermes session and try this:

I want to build a small app that compares model latency and cost across providers. What should I use?

A good result should load the OpenRouter skill, check the docs index, avoid hardcoding model IDs, recommend a sensible SDK or API path, and point to relevant docs.

If Hermes gives a generic answer without checking docs, ask it to inspect the `openrouter-expert` skill it just created and strengthen the trigger description.

After running the prompt you will have:

• Hermes connected to OpenRouter with your preferred model

• A skill that routes OpenRouter questions to the right docs

• Knowledge of the OpenRouter Agent SDK baked into the skill

Your Hermes agent is now an expert at building with OpenRouter. Time to go build!

For example, if you want to make something to help you keep up with what is happening in your state legislature, try this prompt and see what Hermes builds:

Use OpenRouter to build a small agentic app that helps me track what is happening in my state legislature. It should fetch recent bills, summarize important changes, and let me ask follow-up questions.