The Hermes Beginner’s Guide to Iteration and Skills

Most people meet their Hermes Agent and freeze. They sit there trying to write the perfect instruction, mapping out every step before they dare press send. We understand the urge. But that instinct is the single biggest thing slowing you down.

The people who get the most out of Hermes work in a completely different way. They start rough, react to what comes back, and let the work take shape over a few quick rounds. That habit has a name. We call it the loop, and once it clicks, everything else about Hermes makes more sense, skills included.

Here is the whole idea, start to finish.

1. Give your agent the right tools first. The loop only works if your agent can actually do the thing, so connect the email, calendar, drive, or whatever the task needs.

2. Start from a version, not a plan. Ask for a rough first cut instead of trying to specify everything in advance.

3. React, don't rewrite. Tell it what you liked and what to change, then send it back.

4. Loop a few times. Two or three rounds usually gets you somewhere better than you would have described on your own.

5. When a workflow clicks, save it as a skill. That freezes the recipe so the same job comes out at the same quality every time.

6. Update skills whenever you want. They are living instructions, not stone tablets.

That is the rhythm. Now let's walk through each part.

First, give your agent the right tools

The loop runs on capability. An agent with no access to your calendar cannot build a schedule, no matter how carefully you phrase the request. Connect only the tools the task needs. Tinyhat uses native authorization for supported services. When another tool requires an API key or token, Hermes sends a secure entry button so the credential never needs to appear in normal chat.

If you have not set Hermes up yet, start with the Hermes setup guide.

Once the tools are in place, the loop has something real to work with.

Start from a version, not a plan

Here is the mindset shift, and it is the whole post in one move. When a task lands on your desk, your instinct is to think hard, anticipate every detail, and write one perfect prompt. Drop that. Instead, ask your agent to build you a first version. Keep the ask short and let it take a swing.

"Draft a weekly update email from these notes."

"Put together a simple tracker for my leads."

"Summarize this thread and suggest three replies."

You are not trying to nail it on the first try. You are trying to get something onto the table that you can react to. A rough version you can see beats a perfect plan you imagined, because now you have something real to push against.

React, don't rewrite

When that first version comes back, resist the urge to take over and redo it yourself. Just react. Tell your agent what worked and what to change, in plain language.

"Good start. Make it shorter and warmer, and move the numbers to the top."

"The tracker is close. Add a column for status and sort it by date."

Specific feedback on something real is the most valuable thing you can give your agent. It is far easier to say what is off about a draft in front of you than to imagine everything you want from a blank page. Lean into that. You are a better editor than you are a spec writer, and the loop is built for editors.

Loop a few times

Now repeat. Send your feedback, look at the next version, react again. Two or three passes is usually all it takes. Each round closes the gap between what you pictured and what you actually want, and more often than you would expect, the result ends up better than your original idea, because the agent surfaced options you had not thought of.

This is the loop. Start rough, react, repeat. It feels almost too simple to matter, but it is the core skill of working with an agent, and it is the reason you do not need to be a prompt expert to get great results.

When a workflow clicks, make it a skill

Here is where it pays off. Some tasks you do once and forget. But plenty of them come back week after week: the status update, the lead tracker, the particular way you like your meetings summarized. Once a loop lands on a workflow you are happy with, you do not want to re-explain it from scratch every single time.

That is exactly what a skill is for. A skill takes the workflow you just dialed in and standardizes it, so the same job gets done to the same quality again and again, without you walking the agent through it. You loop until it is right once, then you capture it. From then on you simply ask, and it comes out the way you like.

Skills are living, not frozen

A skill is not a contract you are stuck with. As your needs change, or as you spot a better way, you can update a skill at any point. Tweak a step, add a rule, change the format. The next time you use it, it runs the new way. Think of your skills as a small, growing library of how you like things done, one that sharpens every time you touch it.

Putting it together

So here is the whole arc. Give your agent the tools. Start from a rough version instead of a perfect plan. React to what comes back and loop a few times until it is right. When a workflow proves itself, save it as a skill so you never have to figure it out again. And update those skills whenever you find something better.

Start with something low-stakes to get a feel for it. Loop on a draft email, or a quick summary of a long thread. Once you have felt the loop work even once, you will reach for it on everything, and your skills will start to pile up on their own.

Open Telegram, hand your agent a rough first task, and start looping.