Hermes Agent + Discord: Build a Community AI Bot

| /review | Review code (with file attachment) |

| /model | Switch AI model |

| /session | Manage sessions |

| /help | Show all commands |

Step 4: Start the Bot

Test Mode

hermes discord start

🤖 Discord bot online!
  Bot: Hermes AI#1234
  Servers: 2
  Channels: 3 (allowed)
  Slash commands: 7 registered

Ready and listening...

Production Mode with PM2

pm2 start "hermes discord start" --name hermes-discord
pm2 save

Using Docker

FROM node:18-alpine
RUN npm install -g hermes-agent
COPY config.yaml /root/.hermes/config.yaml
CMD ["hermes", "discord", "start"]

docker build -t hermes-discord .
docker run -d --name hermes-discord \
  -e HERMES_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-your-key \
  hermes-discord

Step 5: Using Hermes on Discord

Slash Commands

/ask How do I implement JWT authentication in Express?

/code python Create a web scraper for Hacker News top stories

/explain 

const memoize = (fn) => {

const cache = new Map();

return (...args) => {

const key = JSON.stringify(args);

if (cache.has(key)) return cache.get(key);

const result = fn(...args);

cache.set(key, result);

return result;

};

};

/review (attach a file)

@Mention Mode

When respond_to_mentions is enabled:

@Hermes AI What's the best way to handle file uploads in Next.js?

Hermes responds in a thread to keep the channel organized.

Thread Conversations

When threads are enabled, the first response creates a thread. All follow-ups happen in the thread:

Channel: #dev-help
├── User: @Hermes AI Help me deploy to AWS
│   └── [Thread: Deploy to AWS]
│       ├── Hermes: Sure! Let me help you with AWS deployment...
│       ├── User: I want to use ECS
│       ├── Hermes: Great choice! Here's the ECS setup...
│       └── User: How about the load balancer?

Advanced Configuration

Role-Based Model Access

Give different users access to different models:

discord:
  role_models:
    "Free-Tier": "openai/gpt-4o-mini"        # Budget model
    "Developer": "anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet"  # Full access
    "Admin": "anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet"      # Full access + settings

Custom Slash Commands

Define your own slash commands:

discord:
  custom_commands:
    - name: "translate"
      description: "Translate text to another language"
      template: "Translate the following to {language}: {text}"
      parameters:
        - name: "text"
          type: "string"
          required: true
        - name: "language"
          type: "string"
          required: true
          choices: ["English", "Chinese", "Japanese", "Spanish"]

    - name: "summarize"
      description: "Summarize a URL or text"
      template: "Summarize this concisely: {input}"

Channel-Specific Contexts

Give Hermes different personas per channel:

discord:
  channel_contexts:
    1234567890:  # #coding-help
      system_prompt: "You are a coding assistant. Always provide code examples."
      model: "anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet"
    9876543210:  # #general
      system_prompt: "You are a friendly AI assistant. Keep responses brief."
      model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini"

Security Best Practices

• [ ] Set allowed_channels to prevent bot from responding everywhere
• [ ] Configure allowed_roles for access control
• [ ] Enable rate limiting to prevent API credit abuse
• [ ] Use environment variables for the bot token
• [ ] Monitor bot usage with show_token_usage (admin only)
• [ ] Restrict file system access in Hermes config

Troubleshooting

Bot appears offline

# Check if process is running
pm2 status hermes-discord

# Verify the token
hermes discord test

# Check Discord Developer Portal for any issues

Slash commands not appearing

Slash commands can take up to 1 hour to propagate globally. For immediate testing, use guild-specific commands:

hermes discord register-commands --guild 1234567890

Permission errors

Make sure the bot has the required permissions in the channel:

• Check server settings → Roles → Bot role
• Check channel permissions → Bot role overrides

Next Steps

• Telegram integration — Add mobile access
• Multi-platform gateway — Unify all messaging platforms
• Automated daily reports — Get AI reports in Discord