# Run Hermes Agent on a Prized box

> Keep Hermes Agent and its messaging gateway running around the clock on a Prized box, so it answers on Telegram, Discord, Slack or WhatsApp with your laptop closed.

URL: https://prized.dev/docs/hermes-agent

[Hermes Agent](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent) answers you on Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp and the terminal through one gateway process, so it needs a computer that stays on. A Prized box is one, and a Nano (2 vCPU, 2 GB) is enough for it.

## 1. Start a box [#1-start-a-box]

Sign up at [prized.dev](https://prized.dev/sign-in) and follow the tour, picking **Nano** when it asks for a size: it starts the box on $30 of free credit with no card, and the command it shows installs the CLI and adds the box to your SSH config ([Quickstart](https://prized.dev/docs/quickstart)). Replace `mango` with your box's name.

## 2. Keep it awake [#2-keep-it-awake]

On the free credit, auto-pause is on, and a gateway waiting for messages looks idle, so the box would pause and stop answering ([Auto-pause](https://prized.dev/docs/boxes#auto-pause)). Switch it off for this box:

```bash
prized box auto-pause mango off
```

A Nano awake around the clock uses about $10 of credit a month ([Billing](https://prized.dev/docs/billing)).

## 3. Install Hermes [#3-install-hermes]

```bash
prized ssh mango
```

Then, on the box:

```bash title="you@mango"
curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash
```

It takes about 3 minutes on a Nano, then runs `hermes setup` to pick your model provider and offers to install the gateway as a service ([Hermes' quickstart](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/getting-started/quickstart)). Open a new shell, or run `source ~/.bashrc`, so `hermes` is on your PATH.

## 4. Run the gateway as a service [#4-run-the-gateway-as-a-service]

If you skipped the service in setup, install it:

```bash title="you@mango"
hermes gateway install
```

The gateway starts at once, starts again whenever the box boots, and keeps running after you log out. Connect Telegram, Discord, Slack or WhatsApp with `hermes gateway setup` ([Hermes' messaging guide](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/messaging)).

## 5. Talk to it [#5-talk-to-it]

* **From your phone:** message the bot you connected.
* **From a terminal:** `prized ssh mango`, then `hermes`.
* **In a browser:** run `hermes dashboard --no-open` in your `prized ssh` session and open `http://localhost:9119` on your machine, where Prized mirrors the box's ports ([Ports](https://prized.dev/docs/ports)).

If that port doesn't open, forward it yourself from a terminal on your machine:

```bash
ssh -N -L 9119:127.0.0.1:9119 mango
```

Hermes' OpenAI-compatible [API server](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/api-server), once enabled, listens on port 8642 and reaches your machine the same way.

## When the box sleeps [#when-the-box-sleeps]

A Nano keeps its memory through a pause, so the same gateway process is still running when the box wakes, about 15 seconds after `prized ssh mango` or `prized box resume mango --wait` ([Pause and resume](https://prized.dev/docs/boxes#pause-and-resume)). While the box sleeps, the bot can't answer.