Hermes Swarm: How To Run Multi-Agent Teams Free

A Hermes Swarm is the free upgrade to Hermes Workspace that lets you run a team of AI agents in parallel — coordinated automatically.

If you've been running Hermes one agent at a time, this changes everything.

This post covers:

What a Hermes Swarm is.
How to run multi-agent teams.
Phone access for managing on the go.
Auto-routing without manual setup.

The Quick Pitch

Instead of running ONE Hermes agent on ONE task at a time:

Run a team of agents.
Different jobs in parallel.
All coordinated automatically.
Free.

That's a Hermes Swarm.

Why Multi-Agent Beats Single-Agent

Single-agent workflow:

You ask, AI responds.
One step at a time.
You wait.
Then ask the next thing.

Multi-agent (swarm) workflow:

You set a goal.
Multiple agents pursue it in parallel.
One plans, one builds, one reviews.
All at the same time.

For complex tasks, swarms are dramatically faster.

I cover the broader pattern in Hermes Agent Swarm — same release, different angle.

Phone Access For Mobile Ops

This is one of the killer features.

You can access your Hermes Swarm from your phone.

What that means:

Trigger missions from your phone.
Check progress remotely.
Approve agent actions on the go.
Your team of AI agents running 24/7 in your pocket.

For solo operators who aren't always at their desk, this is real leverage.

Auto-Routing: Set Goal, Walk Away

Auto-routing is the new feature that makes swarms practical.

You don't tell each agent what to do.

You give the swarm a goal.

The orchestrator (Aurora) figures out:

Which agents to deploy.
What each one should do.
How to route work between them.

You walk away.

Come back to a finished mission.

Setting Up A Hermes Swarm

Quick walkthrough.

Step 1 — Install the swarm plugin

Use the free plugin (built by community contributor Eric).

Install command goes in your terminal.

Step 2 — Run Hermes gateway

Standard Hermes startup.

Step 3 — Start workspace UI

Connect to Hermes Workspace on local host.

Step 4 — Update Workspace if existing

Latest version is needed for swarms.

Step 5 — Click Swarms in left menu

You'll see the full swarm section.

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Adding Swarm Agents

In the Swarms section:

Click "Add swarm" (top right).
Pick a role:
- Builder
- Reviewer
- Triage
- Lab
- Sage
- Scribeex
Each role has preset system prompts and skills.

Or go custom:

Define your own system prompt.
Set the mission.
Pick the skills.

Running Your First Mission

Aurora is your orchestrator.

Type your mission in plain English.

Example:

"Create a new AI automation blog for SEO. Plan keyword strategy. Create the content. Target AI agent community keywords. Send traffic to [URL]."

Click route mission.

Aurora composes a routing plan.

Sub-agents pick up their parts.

You watch the office view as agents work.

The Office View

This is one of the cooler UI features.

You can see:

Round table style or grid view.
Each agent's status (working, blocked, ready).
Per-agent terminal output.
Files being created.
Browser previews.

For visual people, this matters.

What A Hermes Swarm Can Build

In demos:

Full SEO content plans (90-day calendars, internal linking strategies, 5+ blog posts) in 5-10 minutes.
Whole websites with keyword research and templates.
Multi-step research projects with verified sources.

For complex output, swarms are the upgrade.

Pairing Hermes Swarm With Other Tools

Swarms work alongside:

OpenClaw computer use for desktop automation.
ClawX OpenClaw for OpenClaw-side multi-agent.
Claude Code SEO Agent for content automation deploy.

Each tool fills a different need.

Hermes Swarm handles the multi-agent execution side.

Common Setup Issues

1. "Blocked" status on an agent.

Click the agent.

Check API/model settings.

Usually wrong model assigned.

2. Plugin install failing.

Use Claude Code or Hermes locally to debug.

3. Swarms feature is buggy occasionally.

Known issue.

Use Claude Code to read logs and troubleshoot.

Why "Free" Matters

Hermes Workspace is free.

The swarm plugin is free.

The Hermes agent itself is free.

For multi-agent functionality this powerful, free is unusual.

Most enterprise tools charge £100s/month for less.

What Hermes Swarm Doesn't Do

Be honest.

Doesn't handle highly creative single-agent tasks better than single-agent.
Setup has a learning curve.
Buggy occasionally (early-stage feature).

For 80% of multi-step work, the wins outweigh the rough edges.

Daily Reality

What it looks like:

Morning — give Aurora a mission.
Aurora deploys swarm.
Multiple agents work in parallel.
~10-15 minutes later, output ready.
Review and act.

Used to be a half-day task.

Now it's a coffee.

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FAQ — Hermes Swarm

Is Hermes Swarm free?

Yes — fully free, open source plugin.

Do I need Hermes Workspace?

Yes — swarms run inside Workspace.

How many agents can I run?

Hardware-dependent.

Most users run 4-6 comfortably.

Can I run swarms from my phone?

Yes — Hermes Workspace supports phone access.

Will swarms work with cloud or local models?

Both.

Mix per agent.

How do I troubleshoot stuck agents?

Click the agent, check model/API settings.

Most issues are model misconfiguration.

Can I create custom roles?

Yes — fully customisable.