My problem

I run more than ten Hermes agents across several servers.

That sounds powerful.

I also got a real headache.

Some agents write code. Some review project state. Some watch for problems. Some help me decide what to do next.

This is useful. It is also a lot to manage.

The hard part is not asking an agent to do work. The hard part is knowing:

• which agent owns a task,
• which server is safe to use,
• which model account still has room,
• which reminder matters,
• what I should do next.

I have ADHD. Too many open loops can turn a good agent setup into stress.

So I use Hermes Agent as my control plane.

By "control plane", I mean the place where I check state, make a choice, and pick the next safe action.

The simple idea

My control plane is mostly Markdown files.

I call them anchors.

An anchor is a small control sheet. It stores facts that should not live only in chat history.

An anchor can track:

• current projects,
• agent owners,
• server roles,
• model capacity,
• blockers,
• review dates,
• the next small action.

This sounds boring. That is the point.

Boring files are easy to read. They are easy to update. They are easy for Hermes to use in the next session.

Without anchors, each chat has to rebuild the world. With anchors, Hermes can check the files, update them, and give me a short answer.

The goal is not more notes. The goal is less load on my brain.

The loop

The loop looks like this:

me on Telegram
  ↓
Hermes Gateway
  ↓
Claw, one of my Hermes agents
  ↓
SSH checks over Tailscale + files + cron + memory + skills + session search
  ↓
Markdown anchors
  ↓
short report: best pick, blocker, next action

Hermes Agent works well here because it is not just chat.

It can use tools. It can read and write files. It can run shell commands. It can run cron jobs. It has memory. It can search old sessions. It can use skills.

That mix makes it useful for daily ops.

One boring but important piece is Tailscale.

My agents and servers are not all on one public machine. Tailscale gives them a private network with stable names and safe access paths. That makes managing many agents much easier:

• I can SSH to worker nodes without opening extra public ports,
• agents can use private host names instead of fragile public IPs,
• a new worker can join the tailnet and become usable quickly,
• access can be limited with ACLs,
• redaction is simpler because public examples can use fake node names.

For me, Hermes is the control plane and Tailscale is the private road between the machines.

Example 1: choosing where to run long AI work

I often ask:

codex status?

Hermes checks several worker nodes. It reads the live model limits. It updates the capacity anchor. Then it gives me a short routing answer.

Here is a redacted example:

Best pick: node-c
Fallback: node-d

- node-a / control-node / account-a
  GPT-5.5: 33%, reset 20:14
  Spark: 91%, reset 6/3 14:57

- node-b / worker-node / account-b
  GPT-5.5: 12%, reset 20:13
  Spark: 100%, reset 6/6 02:11

- node-c / worker-node / account-c
  GPT-5.5: 75%, reset 5/31 10:52
  Spark: 100%, reset 6/6 02:11

- node-d / worker-node / account-d
  GPT-5.5: 66%, reset 23:30
  Spark: 100%, reset 6/6 02:11

The key part is "Best pick" at the top.

I do not want a wall of data. I want the choice first, then enough proof to trust it.

Example 2: quiet checks

I also use Hermes cron jobs for checks that should stay quiet when all is well.

A security check might look at:

• service status,
• rule files,
• log size,
• lost events,
• free disk space,
• SSH access.

If all checks pass, it sends nothing.

If something is wrong, it sends a short alert:

auditd watchdog

node-c:
- audit log is too large
- next: rotate the log and check auditd again

This matters.

If a reminder says "all good" every day, I learn to ignore it. Quiet success saves attention for real problems.

Example 3: agent ownership

When many agents work at once, ownership can get messy.

So I keep a small registry:

Claw
- Role: control plane, QA, memory keeper, ops helper.
- Work: maintain anchors, route model work, read monitoring reports.

Builder Agent
- Role: main builder for project-alpha.
- Rule: Claw can inspect and report, but should not take over unless asked.

node-c / worker-node
- Role: best node for long work right now.
- Note: check ownership before touching active project folders.

This stops a common problem: two helpful agents changing the same repo because nobody wrote down who owns it.

The ADHD part

A good Claw report is small:

Answer first.
Evidence second.
Blocker only if real.
One next action.

This is not just style. It is part of the system.

For me, support means:

• do not make me choose from ten options,
• do not hide the blocker,
• do not send reminders that do not change what I do,
• do not ask me to remember what the agent can write down,
• do not turn every status check into a dashboard review.

Hermes can take on a lot of that load.

Try the smallest version

You do not need ten agents to use this idea.

Start with one file:

# agent-team-anchor.md

## Current owner
Claw

## Active agents
- Builder: owns project-alpha
- Reviewer: reviews pull requests only
- Ops: checks servers and cron

## Safe next action
Ask Claw to summarize blockers and pick one next step.

## Do not touch
- active production deploys
- repos owned by another agent

Then ask Hermes:

Read agent-team-anchor.md.

Update stale facts if needed.

Tell me:
1. best next action
2. real blocker, if any
3. which agent owns the work

Keep it under 8 lines.

That is the smallest version of my control plane.

What I learned

Agents need anchors

If an agent only uses chat history, it will miss things. Put the current state in a file.

Memory needs a place

Not every fact belongs in long term memory.

I split it like this:

• user preferences go in memory,
• live project state goes in anchors,
• repeat steps go in skills,
• old chat context stays in session search.

That keeps memory clean.

Cron should be quiet

A cron job should help me act. If it has nothing useful to say, it should stay silent.

Redaction is part of the work

I do not publish real host names, account names, IPs, tokens, or private project names.

The public examples keep the shape of the work, not the private details.

A short message can be better than a dashboard

Dashboards are good when I need to dig.

For daily work, a short message is often better:

Best pick: node-c.
Blocker: node-b is low on capacity.
Next: send long work to node-c.

What I would improve next

I want to make the anchor files easier to check.

Next steps:

• add simple schema checks,
• improve the redaction script,
• mark stale anchors,
• make a small public example page,
• export safe reports for future posts.

I would still keep Markdown as the base.

A human should be able to open the file and understand what is going on.

Disclosure and credits

I wrote this article with help from Hermes Agent itself.

The examples are redacted from a real workflow. I changed host names, account names, IPs, session IDs, and project names.

Hermes Agent is an open source project by Nous Research. Claw is my own way of using Hermes Agent as a daily control plane.

Final thought

Hermes did not give me more agents.

It gave me a way to see what my agents are doing.

The agents check, write, route, remember, and report. I still choose what matters, what is safe, and what should happen next.

My headache is getting better.

That is the difference between having many agents and having a working agent team.