Nous Research Launches Bot Mode in Hermes Agent, Enabling Multi-Bot Workflows

Nous Research has introduced Bot Mode for its open-source Hermes Agent, converting individual agent profiles into a unified roster of named bots. Each bot functions as an independent Hermes profile with its own chat history, memory, skills, and pinned language model, enabling specialized workflows where different bots handle distinct tasks. Bots communicate through a persistent Agent Inbox using @mention syntax for task handoffs, allowing teams to coordinate work without context leakage between projects. The feature initially launched as a public beta plugin but now ships as a built-in component of Hermes Desktop v0.20.3, with full MIT licensing. The implementation builds on Hermes' existing profile system, where each bot maintains isolated configuration, memory, and credentials in the local file system. Bot-to-bot messaging operates as standard CLI handoffs, preserving attribution and following a documented protocol for replies. Bot Mode targets solo developers, startups, and small-to-medium engineering teams for immediate adoption. The feature supports practical use cases including research bots paired with specialized writing bots, automated digest schedules, isolated per-project agents, and sequential work chains where bots hand off tasks by mention. Enterprises are advised to treat it as a workstation tool rather than managed infrastructure, as the system lacks centralized administration, single sign-on, audit logging, and policy controls. Recent updates introduced bot grouping for roster organization and group chats enabling up to six bots to collaborate within a shared room, with each participating bot contributing serial replies.