AI in the Terminal · Hermes Agent hands-on

The two demos,
step by step

Every step from the session, with the prompts ready to copy. Run them in the terminal of your hub workspace.

Demo 1

Your rules in a file, real work on the server

Two short parts in one Hermes session: first Hermes reads your rules from a file, then it uses tools to produce real files.

Part 1: Context from files

The model doesn't know your course. Hermes loads AGENTS.md from the folder it starts in.

Create a rules file

In the file browser, create a new folder exam-demo and in it a text file AGENTS.md with these lines:

~/exam-demo/AGENTS.md

# Exam rules (demo)
- Exam "Programming 1": maximum 50 points, pass from 25.
- Grades: 45+ = 1.0, 40+ = 2.0, 33+ = 3.0, 25+ = 4.0, else 5.0
- Work with invented data only, never real student names.

Start Hermes there
```
cd ~/exam-demo
hermes
```
Ask without naming the file
Your question
```
A student has 37 points. Which grade is that?
```
Hermes answers 3.0, passed. The scale came from the file.

Changed the file? Start a new session so Hermes loads it again.

Part 2: Tools on your computer

Stay in the same session.

Send the request

Your request

Create points.csv with 30 invented students (ID and points from 0 to 50).
Write and run a Python script that grades them by our exam rules.
Save report.md with the pass rate, the mean and the number of students per grade. matplotlib is installed, also save histogram.png.
Show me the report.

Watch the tool calls

Each call shows up as one line in the terminal. Typically:

write_fileCreates points.csv and a Python script.

terminalRuns the script. On an error it reads the message and repairs the script.

read_fileOpens report.md and shows it to you.

If Hermes asks you to approve a command, read the command first.
Check the result

The new files appear in the file browser. Open report.md and histogram.png, and check one student by hand against the scale.

Demo 2

From lecture to website

Bring a PDF or PowerPoint of your own lecture. Hermes reads it and builds a website for your students.

Part 1: Your material goes in

Choose material you may share.Slides or a script of your own lecture. Nothing with names, grades or exam solutions: the content is sent to the language model.

Make a folder
```
mkdir ~/my-course
```
Put your files in

In the file browser, open my-course and drag your PDF or PowerPoint files into it. The upload arrow above the file list works too.

Small is better: one lecture unit is enough.

Start Hermes there

cd ~/my-course
ls   # your files are listed
hermes

Part 2: Let Hermes build the website

Send the request

Your request

Read all PDF and PowerPoint files in this folder.
Build a website for my students from them, as one single file index.html:
- a start section that lists the topics
- one section per topic with the key points
- a glossary of the important terms
- 5 self-test questions, the answer opens on click
Use only content from my files. Clean, modern design that also works on a phone.

Give it a few minutes. Large files take longer to read.

Watch the tool calls

terminalRuns Python to pull the text out of your PDF and PowerPoint files.

write_fileWrites index.html: text, design and quiz in one file.
Open your website

In the file browser, right-click index.html → Open in New Browser Tab.

Read the page before your students get it: the model can shorten things wrongly.
Then keep talking to it
Follow-up
```
Make the page German and add a dark mode.
```
Follow-up
```
Add a section “Common mistakes” for each topic.
```
Each request changes the same file. Reload the browser tab to see it.