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.
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.