
Hermes Agent clearly explained (and how to use it)
From The Startup Ideas Podcast by Greg Isenberg
April 20, 2026 · 37 min
About this episode
Greg Isenberg interviews Imran Muthuvappa about Hermes Agent, exploring its features, installation, and practical applications for personal and business automation.
I sit down with Imran Muthuvappa to get a hands-on walkthrough of Hermes Agent, a personal AI agent that ships with built-in memory, 40+ tools, and pre-installed skills out of the box. Imran walks me through why he migrated from OpenClaw, how to install Hermes on a Mac or even an Android phone via Termux, and how he cut his token spend by roughly 90% using OpenRouter. We get into agent design (one agent vs. multiple), connecting Hermes to Telegram and Obsidian, and the kinds of prompts that turn a personal agent into a daily operating system. By the end, I have a practical roadmap to install Hermes, pick a model, and start automating real parts of my life and business Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 01:38 – Why Imran Left OpenClaw (Memory, Gateway, Tokens) 04:26 – Hermes Setup Tour and 40+ Built-In Tools 07:06 – Installing Hermes on Mac, Linux, and WSL 12:21 – Telegram and Android Agents 17:09 – Auditing Your Life With Your Agent 20:04 – Must-Know Hermes Tips: Updates, Tailscale, Telegram 21:07 – Should You Migrate From OpenClaw? 25:58 – Hermes + Obsidian as a Daily Dashboard 27:16 – Must-Use Prompts for a Personal Agent 31:29 – Must-Install Skills: Obsidian, Honcho Memory, G-Stack…
People in this episode
Host: Greg Isenberg
Guest: Imran Muthuvappa
Topics covered
- AI agents
- personal productivity
- automation
- Hermes Agent
- OpenClaw migration
- installation guide
- agent design
Keywords
- Hermes Agent
- OpenClaw
- AI agent installation
- personal automation
- Telegram integration
- Obsidian dashboard
- productivity tools
Mentioned in this episode
Products: Hermes Agent, OpenClaw, OpenRouter, Telegram, Obsidian, Honcho Memory, G-Stack
More episodes of The Startup Ideas Podcast
- How to win with AI Agents in 2026 · April 29, 2026 · 1h 27m
- Codex clearly explained (and how to use it) · April 27, 2026 · 1h 26m
- ChatGPT Images 2.0 Is Here. I Tested Everything. · April 22, 2026 · 32 min
- Claude Design blew my mind · April 18, 2026 · 60 min
- Seedance 2.0: Make 100 AI Ads in 33 mins · April 17, 2026 · 33 min
- My Claude Code marketing stack (It just works) · April 13, 2026 · 35 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Startup Ideas Podcast podcast page.