How-To Guide
Fix Hermes Agent Not Using Tools (Acting Like Basic LLM)
Troubleshoot when Hermes acts like a basic chatbot instead of an agent — not executing tools, commands, or actions.
Quick answer
If Hermes answers like a chatbot but never runs tools, the cause is almost always the model: it doesn't support tool/function calling, or its context is too small. Switch to a tool-calling-capable model with at least 64K context. Hermes rejects sub-64K models at startup, so verify both capability and context size.
When Hermes responds like a basic chatbot — answering questions but never executing tools, running commands, or taking actions — the issue is almost always model-related. Not all models support tool/function calling, and smaller models may not have enough context to process the tool definitions.
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Before you start:
- ☑Hermes Agent installed and running
- ☑A model that supports function/tool calling
Steps
- 1
Check your model
Verify your model supports function/tool calling — not all models do
- 2
Test with a known-good model
Try 'hermes model hermes3' or 'gpt-4o' to confirm tools work with a supported model
- 3
Check context length
Ensure your model has enough context for tools — small models may not fit the tool definitions
- 4
Verify tool loading
Run 'hermes tools list' to see what tools are available to the agent
- 5
Check model configuration
Verify 'model: provider:' and 'model: name:' are correctly set in config.yaml
Pro Tips
- 💡Hermes 3 (hermes3), GPT-4o, Claude, and Gemini Pro all support tool calling — start with these if debugging
- 💡Very small models (7B and under) often struggle with tool calling, especially quantized versions
- 💡If using Ollama, try 'ollama pull hermes3' — it's specifically optimized for tool use with Hermes
Troubleshooting
❌ Model responds with 'I don't have access to tools'
✅ Your model doesn't support function calling. Switch to a model that does: hermes3, gpt-4o, claude-3, or gemini-pro.
❌ Tools work sometimes but not consistently
✅ You may be hitting context limits. Large tool sets exceed small model context windows. Try reducing active tools or using a model with larger context.
❌ Model says it has tools but refuses to use them
✅ Some models have safety refusals. Try a less restricted model, or rephrase your request to be more specific about what action you want.
FAQ
Why won't Hermes use its tools?
Almost always the model. If it doesn't support tool/function calling, the agent can only chat. Switch to a model that supports tools and has at least 64K context.
How do I know if my model supports tool calling?
Check the provider's model docs for function/tool-calling support. Most major hosted models (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Qwen, DeepSeek) support it; some smaller or older models don't.
Could context size be the problem?
Yes. Hermes needs at least 64,000 tokens for multi-step tool workflows and rejects smaller windows at startup. A too-small context can also make a capable model stop calling tools mid-task.