hermes-agent/website/docs/user-guide/features/fallback-providers.md

title	description	sidebar_label	sidebar_position
Fallback Providers	Configure automatic failover to backup LLM providers when your primary model is unavailable.	Fallback Providers	8

Fallback Providers

Hermes Agent has three layers of resilience that keep your sessions running when providers hit issues:

1. Credential pools — rotate across multiple API keys for the same provider (tried first)
2. Primary model fallback — automatically switches to a different provider:model when your main model fails
3. Auxiliary task fallback — independent provider resolution for side tasks like vision, compression, and web extraction

Credential pools handle same-provider rotation (e.g., multiple OpenRouter keys). This page covers cross-provider fallback. Both are optional and work independently.

Primary Model Fallback

When your main LLM provider encounters errors — rate limits, server overload, auth failures, connection drops — Hermes can automatically switch to a backup provider:model pair mid-session without losing your conversation.

Configuration

Add a fallback_model section to ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

fallback_model:
  provider: openrouter
  model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4

Both provider and model are required. If either is missing, the fallback is disabled.

Supported Providers

Provider	Value	Requirements
AI Gateway	ai-gateway	AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY
OpenRouter	openrouter	OPENROUTER_API_KEY
Nous Portal	nous	hermes auth (OAuth)
OpenAI Codex	openai-codex	hermes model (ChatGPT OAuth)
GitHub Copilot	copilot	COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN, GH_TOKEN, or GITHUB_TOKEN
GitHub Copilot ACP	copilot-acp	External process (editor integration)
Anthropic	anthropic	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or Claude Code credentials
z.ai / GLM	zai	GLM_API_KEY
Kimi / Moonshot	kimi-coding	KIMI_API_KEY
MiniMax	minimax	MINIMAX_API_KEY
MiniMax (China)	minimax-cn	MINIMAX_CN_API_KEY
DeepSeek	deepseek	DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
OpenCode Zen	opencode-zen	OPENCODE_ZEN_API_KEY
OpenCode Go	opencode-go	OPENCODE_GO_API_KEY
Kilo Code	kilocode	KILOCODE_API_KEY
Xiaomi MiMo	xiaomi	XIAOMI_API_KEY
Arcee AI	arcee	ARCEEAI_API_KEY
Alibaba / DashScope	alibaba	DASHSCOPE_API_KEY
Hugging Face	huggingface	HF_TOKEN
Custom endpoint	custom	base_url + api_key_env (see below)

Custom Endpoint Fallback

For a custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint, add base_url and optionally api_key_env:

fallback_model:
  provider: custom
  model: my-local-model
  base_url: http://localhost:8000/v1
  api_key_env: MY_LOCAL_KEY          # env var name containing the API key

When Fallback Triggers

The fallback activates automatically when the primary model fails with:

• Rate limits (HTTP 429) — after exhausting retry attempts
• Server errors (HTTP 500, 502, 503) — after exhausting retry attempts
• Auth failures (HTTP 401, 403) — immediately (no point retrying)
• Not found (HTTP 404) — immediately
• Invalid responses — when the API returns malformed or empty responses repeatedly

When triggered, Hermes:

1. Resolves credentials for the fallback provider
2. Builds a new API client
3. Swaps the model, provider, and client in-place
4. Resets the retry counter and continues the conversation

The switch is seamless — your conversation history, tool calls, and context are preserved. The agent continues from exactly where it left off, just using a different model.

:::info One-Shot Fallback activates at most once per session. If the fallback provider also fails, normal error handling takes over (retries, then error message). This prevents cascading failover loops. :::

Examples

OpenRouter as fallback for Anthropic native:

model:
  provider: anthropic
  default: claude-sonnet-4-6

fallback_model:
  provider: openrouter
  model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4

Nous Portal as fallback for OpenRouter:

model:
  provider: openrouter
  default: anthropic/claude-opus-4

fallback_model:
  provider: nous
  model: nous-hermes-3

Local model as fallback for cloud:

fallback_model:
  provider: custom
  model: llama-3.1-70b
  base_url: http://localhost:8000/v1
  api_key_env: LOCAL_API_KEY

Codex OAuth as fallback:

fallback_model:
  provider: openai-codex
  model: gpt-5.3-codex

Where Fallback Works

Context	Fallback Supported
CLI sessions	✔
Messaging gateway (Telegram, Discord, etc.)	✔
Subagent delegation	✘ (subagents do not inherit fallback config)
Cron jobs	✘ (run with a fixed provider)
Auxiliary tasks (vision, compression)	✘ (use their own provider chain — see below)

:::tip There are no environment variables for fallback_model — it is configured exclusively through config.yaml. This is intentional: fallback configuration is a deliberate choice, not something a stale shell export should override. :::

---

Auxiliary Task Fallback

Hermes uses separate lightweight models for side tasks. Each task has its own provider resolution chain that acts as a built-in fallback system.

Tasks with Independent Provider Resolution

Task	What It Does	Config Key
Vision	Image analysis, browser screenshots	auxiliary.vision
Web Extract	Web page summarization	auxiliary.web_extract
Compression	Context compression summaries	auxiliary.compression
Session Search	Past session summarization	auxiliary.session_search
Skills Hub	Skill search and discovery	auxiliary.skills_hub
MCP	MCP helper operations	auxiliary.mcp
Memory Flush	Memory consolidation	auxiliary.flush_memories

Auto-Detection Chain

When a task's provider is set to "auto" (the default), Hermes tries providers in order until one works:

For text tasks (compression, web extract, etc.):

OpenRouter → Nous Portal → Custom endpoint → Codex OAuth →
API-key providers (z.ai, Kimi, MiniMax, Xiaomi MiMo, Hugging Face, Anthropic) → give up

For vision tasks:

Main provider (if vision-capable) → OpenRouter → Nous Portal →
Codex OAuth → Anthropic → Custom endpoint → give up

If the resolved provider fails at call time, Hermes also has an internal retry: if the provider is not OpenRouter and no explicit base_url is set, it tries OpenRouter as a last-resort fallback.

Configuring Auxiliary Providers

Each task can be configured independently in config.yaml:

auxiliary:
  vision:
    provider: "auto"              # auto | openrouter | nous | codex | main | anthropic
    model: ""                     # e.g. "openai/gpt-4o"
    base_url: ""                  # direct endpoint (takes precedence over provider)
    api_key: ""                   # API key for base_url

  web_extract:
    provider: "auto"
    model: ""

  compression:
    provider: "auto"
    model: ""

  session_search:
    provider: "auto"
    model: ""

  skills_hub:
    provider: "auto"
    model: ""

  mcp:
    provider: "auto"
    model: ""

  flush_memories:
    provider: "auto"
    model: ""

Every task above follows the same provider / model / base_url pattern. Context compression is configured under auxiliary.compression:

auxiliary:
  compression:
    provider: main                                    # Same provider options as other auxiliary tasks
    model: google/gemini-3-flash-preview
    base_url: null                                    # Custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint

And the fallback model uses:

fallback_model:
  provider: openrouter
  model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4
  # base_url: http://localhost:8000/v1               # Optional custom endpoint

All three — auxiliary, compression, fallback — work the same way: set provider to pick who handles the request, model to pick which model, and base_url to point at a custom endpoint (overrides provider).

Provider Options for Auxiliary Tasks

These options apply to auxiliary:, compression:, and fallback_model: configs only — "main" is not a valid value for your top-level model.provider. For custom endpoints, use provider: custom in your model: section (see AI Providers).

Provider	Description	Requirements
"auto"	Try providers in order until one works (default)	At least one provider configured
"openrouter"	Force OpenRouter	OPENROUTER_API_KEY
"nous"	Force Nous Portal	hermes auth
"codex"	Force Codex OAuth	hermes model → Codex
"main"	Use whatever provider the main agent uses (auxiliary tasks only)	Active main provider configured
"anthropic"	Force Anthropic native	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or Claude Code credentials

Direct Endpoint Override

For any auxiliary task, setting base_url bypasses provider resolution entirely and sends requests directly to that endpoint:

auxiliary:
  vision:
    base_url: "http://localhost:1234/v1"
    api_key: "local-key"
    model: "qwen2.5-vl"

base_url takes precedence over provider. Hermes uses the configured api_key for authentication, falling back to OPENAI_API_KEY if not set. It does not reuse OPENROUTER_API_KEY for custom endpoints.

---

Context Compression Fallback

Context compression uses the auxiliary.compression config block to control which model and provider handles summarization:

auxiliary:
  compression:
    provider: "auto"                              # auto | openrouter | nous | main
    model: "google/gemini-3-flash-preview"

:::info Legacy migration Older configs with compression.summary_model / compression.summary_provider / compression.summary_base_url are automatically migrated to auxiliary.compression.* on first load (config version 17). :::

If no provider is available for compression, Hermes drops middle conversation turns without generating a summary rather than failing the session.

---

Delegation Provider Override

Subagents spawned by delegate_task do not use the primary fallback model. However, they can be routed to a different provider:model pair for cost optimization:

delegation:
  provider: "openrouter"                      # override provider for all subagents
  model: "google/gemini-3-flash-preview"      # override model
  # base_url: "http://localhost:1234/v1"      # or use a direct endpoint
  # api_key: "local-key"

See Subagent Delegation for full configuration details.

---

Cron Job Providers

Cron jobs run with whatever provider is configured at execution time. They do not support a fallback model. To use a different provider for cron jobs, configure provider and model overrides on the cron job itself:

cronjob(
    action="create",
    schedule="every 2h",
    prompt="Check server status",
    provider="openrouter",
    model="google/gemini-3-flash-preview"
)

See Scheduled Tasks (Cron) for full configuration details.

---

Summary

Feature	Fallback Mechanism	Config Location
Main agent model	fallback_model in config.yaml — one-shot failover on errors	fallback_model: (top-level)
Vision	Auto-detection chain + internal OpenRouter retry	auxiliary.vision
Web extraction	Auto-detection chain + internal OpenRouter retry	auxiliary.web_extract
Context compression	Auto-detection chain, degrades to no-summary if unavailable	auxiliary.compression
Session search	Auto-detection chain	auxiliary.session_search
Skills hub	Auto-detection chain	auxiliary.skills_hub
MCP helpers	Auto-detection chain	auxiliary.mcp
Memory flush	Auto-detection chain	auxiliary.flush_memories
Delegation	Provider override only (no automatic fallback)	delegation.provider / delegation.model
Cron jobs	Per-job provider override only (no automatic fallback)	Per-job provider / model