Official Hermes docs: Web search · Browser
Hermes Agent by Nous Research uses Firecrawl as the default backend for web_search and web_extract
Overview#
Hermes Agent is an open source terminal and desktop agent from Nous Research. It ships with web tools:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
web_search | Search the web and return ranked results |
web_extract | Fetch and extract readable content from URLs |
Firecrawl is the default provider for both search and extract. Set FIRECRAWL_API_KEY, use a self hosted FIRECRAWL_API_URL, or use Nous Tool Gateway. If you have credentials for multiple providers, select Firecrawl in hermes tools or config.yaml. Browser automation through Firecrawl cloud mode is optional.
Quick start#
- Install Hermes Agent from hermes-agent.nousresearch.com
- Add your Firecrawl key:
Get a key at firecrawl.dev.
- Or configure interactively:
Choose Web Search & Extract → Firecrawl.
- Verify:
Capabilities#
| Capability | In Hermes |
|---|---|
| Search | Default web_search backend |
| Extract / scrape | Default web_extract backend |
| Browser | Optional Firecrawl cloud browser provider |
Use Firecrawl for one capability only#
Hermes lets you pick search and extract backends independently, so you can pair a free search backend with Firecrawl extraction (or the reverse):
When those keys are empty, both fall through to web.backend, and then Hermes auto detects from available credentials. Other provider credentials can take priority over Firecrawl during auto detection, so set search_backend, extract_backend, or web.backend explicitly when you want to guarantee that Firecrawl is used.
Browser cloud mode#
To use Firecrawl for browser automation:
Optional:
Nous Portal (managed Firecrawl)#
With a paid Nous Portal subscription, web search and extract can run through Hermes Tool Gateway with managed Firecrawl. No separate Firecrawl key is required:
Existing installs can enable web tools via hermes tools.
Self hosted Firecrawl#
When FIRECRAWL_API_URL is set, the API key is optional if Firecrawl server auth is disabled (USE_DB_AUTHENTICATION=false on the Firecrawl instance).
Resources#
- Hermes Agent
- Hermes web search docs (Firecrawl default)
- Hermes browser docs (Firecrawl cloud mode)
- Firecrawl search
- Firecrawl scrape
- Nous Research models quickstart (API tool calling with Hermes models)