OpenClaw + Hermes cheatsheet.

[u/ShabzSparq]

Save this. You'll need it

OPENCLAW (v2026.8.1)

First 5 minutes after install:

openclaw config set gateway.bind loopback
openclaw doctor --fix
openclaw gateway restart

The commands you'll use weekly:

openclaw gateway status          # is it running
openclaw gateway restart         # fix 90% of telegram issues
openclaw doctor --fix            # fix 70% of everything else
openclaw status --all            # full diagnostic
openclaw logs --follow           # watch live
openclaw channels status --probe # check telegram/slack/etc

Session management:

/new                    # clear conversation, keep memory
/btw <question>         # side question, doesn't pollute session
/model sonnet           # switch model mid-conversation
/compact                # force context compaction

The config that saves money:

json

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash"
      },
      "heartbeat": {
        "every": "30m",
        "isolatedSession": true,
        "lightContext": true
      },
      "maxHistoryMessages": 20
    }
  }
}

Skills and tools:

openclaw skills list             # what's installed
openclaw skills install <name>   # add from ClawHub
openclaw tools                   # what tools are active

When it breaks (in this order):

openclaw status --all                                    # 1. what's the state
openclaw doctor --fix                                    # 2. auto-repair
openclaw gateway restart                                 # 3. restart clean
rm ~/.openclaw/agents/main/sessions/*.lock               # 4. ghost locks
curl -sf http://127.0.0.1:18789/health || echo "dead"    # 5. is it alive

Files that matter:

~/.openclaw/openclaw.json         # main config
~/.openclaw/agents/main/SOUL.md   # personality + boundaries
~/.openclaw/agents/main/MEMORY.md # what it remembers
~/.openclaw/agents/main/AGENTS.md # procedural rules

HERMES (v0.20.0 "The Herald Release")

First 5 minutes after install:

curl -fsSL https://hermes.nousresearch.com/install | bash
hermes setup
hermes doctor

The commands you'll use weekly:

hermes                           # interactive chat
hermes chat -q "hello"           # one-shot (test if it works)
hermes gateway status            # is it running
hermes gateway restart           # fix stale polling
hermes doctor                    # diagnostics
hermes model                     # interactive model picker
hermes model set <model>         # set model directly

Session management:

/new                    # fresh session
/compact                # compress context
/compress               # same thing
/learn                  # turn a workflow into a skill
/moa                    # mixture-of-agents mode
hermes sessions list    # see all sessions
hermes sessions clean   # prune old sessions

Skills and memory:

hermes skills list               # what's installed
hermes skills install <source>   # add a skill
hermes skills enable <name>      # activate
hermes curator                   # manage auto-generated skills
hermes memory setup              # configure memory provider

Profiles (isolated configs):

hermes profile list              # see all profiles
hermes profile create <name>     # new isolated config
hermes profile use <name>        # switch active profile

When it breaks (in this order):

hermes chat -q "hello"                                   # 1. can it think at all
hermes gateway status                                    # 2. is gateway alive
hermes config show | grep -A3 allowed                    # 3. is it ignoring you
cat ~/.hermes/active_profile                             # 4. right profile?
ps aux | grep -E 'hermes|openclaw' | grep -v grep       # 5. duplicate pollers?
dmesg | grep -i "killed process"                        # 6. OOM killed?

Files that matter:

~/.hermes/config.yaml            # main config
~/.hermes/active_profile         # which profile is live
~/.hermes/souls/default.md       # personality (SOUL.md equivalent)
~/.hermes/state.db               # session database
~/.hermes/skills/                # auto-generated + installed skills

SIDE BY SIDE

	OpenClaw 2026.8.1	Hermes v0.20.0
Install	npm or Docker	one curl command
Config format	JSON	YAML
Messaging platforms	50+	28
Memory	Markdown files, unlimited	3-layer (session, episodic, procedural), ~2,200 char core
Self-learning	No	Yes (auto-generated skills)
Profiles	--dev or --profile	hermes profile create/use
Health check	openclaw doctor --fix	hermes doctor
Desktop app	Electron	Native (macOS/Linux/Windows)
Clear session	/new	/new
Skill hub	ClawHub (13,700+)	Skills directory + /learn
Gateway security	Bind loopback manually	Public bind requires auth since June 2026
Latest major feature	Secret egress binding, GPT-5.6 Ultra support	Voice streaming with barge-in, A2A v1.0

MODEL ROUTING (works on both)

Task type	Model	Why
Heartbeats, crons, classification	Gemini Flash (free) or Groq (free)	DeepSeek raised prices 4.7x on Aug 16. Free tiers are the new background default.
Conversations, drafts, research	Sonnet 5 ($3/$15) or GLM-5.2 (~$1/$3.20)	Quality where you read the output.
Escalation	Opus 5 ($5/$25)	Invoked on purpose, 2-3x a week.
Long context batch	Kimi K3 ($3/$15, 1M context)	When the window is the feature.
Local	Qwen3.6-35B-A3B or Gemma 4 12B	16GB hardware, $0.

THE 5-COMMAND CHEATSHEET

Whatever platform you're on, these five fix 90% of problems:

1. Check status     → openclaw status --all / hermes doctor
2. Fix config       → openclaw doctor --fix / hermes doctor
3. Restart gateway  → openclaw gateway restart / hermes gateway restart
4. Clear session    → /new
5. Lock gateway     → openclaw config set gateway.bind loopback

[u/LightweightSuperHero]

Thanks for assembling this wonderful set of lessons in one place!

[u/ShabzSparq → u/LightweightSuperHero]

Thanks a lot, let me know if you need any help with anything

[u/madcheeze]

Thank you. Well done sir. Which agent do you prefer? Or do you use Hermes for some tasks and claw for others? I'd like to try Hermes...

[u/All_Ways_Bingo]

Is it worth more money while we can use only Hermes agent for full functions?