hermes-agent/website/docs/user-guide/features/tool-gateway.md

title	description	sidebar_label	sidebar_position
Nous Tool Gateway	One subscription, every tool. Web search, image generation, TTS, and cloud browsers — all routed through Nous Portal with no extra API keys.	Tool Gateway	2

Nous Tool Gateway

One subscription. Every tool built in.

The Tool Gateway is included with every paid Nous Portal subscription. It routes Hermes' tool calls — web search, image generation, text-to-speech, and cloud browser automation — through infrastructure Nous already runs, so you don't have to sign up with Firecrawl, FAL, OpenAI, Browser Use, or anyone else just to make your agent useful.

Start or manage subscription →

What's included

	Tool	What you get
🔍	Web search & extract	Agent-grade web search and full-page extraction via Firecrawl. No rate limits to worry about — the gateway handles scaling.
🎨	Image generation	Nine models under one endpoint: FLUX 2 Klein 9B, FLUX 2 Pro, Z-Image Turbo, Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image), GPT Image 1.5, GPT Image 2, Ideogram V3, Recraft V4 Pro, Qwen Image. Pick per-generation with a flag, or let Hermes default to FLUX 2 Klein.
🔊	Text-to-speech	OpenAI TTS voices wired into the text_to_speech tool. Drop voice notes into Telegram, generate audio for pipelines, narrate anything.
🌐	Cloud browser automation	Headless Chromium sessions via Browser Use. browser_navigate, browser_click, browser_type, browser_vision — all the agent-driving primitives, no Browserbase account required.

All four are pay-as-you-use billed against your Nous subscription. Use any combination — run the gateway for web and images while keeping your own ElevenLabs key for TTS, or route everything through Nous.

Why it's here

Building an agent that can actually do things means stitching together 5+ API subscriptions — each with their own signup, rate limits, billing, and quirks. The gateway collapses that into one account:

• One bill. Pay Nous; we handle the rest.
• One signup. No Firecrawl, FAL, Browser Use, or OpenAI audio accounts to manage.
• One key. Your Nous Portal OAuth covers every tool.
• Same quality. Same backends the direct-key route uses — just fronted by us.

Bring your own keys anytime — per-tool, whenever you want to. The gateway isn't a lock-in, it's a shortcut.

Get started

The fastest path for a fresh install:

hermes setup --portal     # Nous OAuth, set Nous as provider, and turn on the Tool Gateway in one go

Already have Hermes configured? Just switch your provider:

hermes model              # Pick Nous Portal — Hermes will offer to turn on the Tool Gateway

When you select Nous Portal, Hermes offers to turn on the Tool Gateway. Accept, and you're done — every supported tool is live on the next run.

Check what's active at any time:

hermes portal status      # Portal auth + Tool Gateway routing summary
hermes portal tools       # Gateway catalog with current routing per tool
hermes status             # Full system status (Tool Gateway is one section)

hermes portal status shows a section like:

◆ Nous Tool Gateway
  Nous Portal     ✓ managed tools available
  Web tools       ✓ active via Nous subscription
  Image gen       ✓ active via Nous subscription
  TTS             ✓ active via Nous subscription
  Browser         ○ active via Browser Use key

Tools marked "active via Nous subscription" are going through the gateway. Anything else is using your own keys.

Eligibility

The Tool Gateway is a paid-subscription feature. Free-tier Nous accounts can use Portal for inference but don't include managed tools — upgrade your plan to unlock the gateway.

Mix and match

The gateway is per-tool. Turn it on for just what you want:

• All tools through Nous — easiest; one subscription, done.
• Gateway for web + images, bring your own TTS — keep your ElevenLabs voice, let Nous handle the rest.
• Gateway only for things you don't have keys for — "I already pay for Browserbase, but I don't want a Firecrawl account" works fine.

Switch any tool at any time via:

hermes tools          # Interactive picker for each tool category

Select the tool, pick Nous Subscription as the provider (or any direct provider you prefer). No config editing required.

Using individual image models

Image generation defaults to FLUX 2 Klein 9B for speed. Override per-call by passing the model ID to the image_generate tool:

Model	ID	Best for
FLUX 2 Klein 9B	fal-ai/flux-2/klein/9b	Fast, good default
FLUX 2 Pro	fal-ai/flux-2/pro	Higher fidelity FLUX
Z-Image Turbo	fal-ai/z-image/turbo	Stylized, fast
Nano Banana Pro	fal-ai/gemini-3-pro-image	Google Gemini 3 Pro Image
GPT Image 1.5	fal-ai/gpt-image-1/5	OpenAI image gen, text+image
GPT Image 2	fal-ai/gpt-image-2	OpenAI latest
Ideogram V3	fal-ai/ideogram/v3	Strong prompt adherence + typography
Recraft V4 Pro	fal-ai/recraft/v4/pro	Vector-style, graphic design
Qwen Image	fal-ai/qwen-image	Alibaba multimodal

The set evolves — hermes tools → Image Generation shows the current live list.

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Configuration reference

Most users never need to touch this — hermes model and hermes tools cover every workflow interactively. This section is for writing config.yaml directly or scripting setups.

Per-tool use_gateway flag

Each tool's config block takes a use_gateway boolean:

web:
  backend: firecrawl
  use_gateway: true

image_gen:
  use_gateway: true

tts:
  provider: openai
  use_gateway: true

browser:
  cloud_provider: browser-use
  use_gateway: true

Precedence: use_gateway: true routes through Nous regardless of any direct keys in .env. use_gateway: false (or absent) uses direct keys if available and only falls back to the gateway when none exist.

Disabling the gateway

web:
  use_gateway: false   # Hermes now uses FIRECRAWL_API_KEY from .env

hermes tools automatically clears the flag when you pick a non-gateway provider, so this usually happens for you.

Self-hosted gateway (advanced)

Running your own Nous-compatible gateway? Override endpoints in ~/.hermes/.env:

TOOL_GATEWAY_DOMAIN=your-domain.example.com
TOOL_GATEWAY_SCHEME=https
TOOL_GATEWAY_USER_TOKEN=your-token        # normally auto-populated from Portal login
FIRECRAWL_GATEWAY_URL=https://...         # override one endpoint specifically

These knobs exist for custom infrastructure setups (enterprise deployments, dev environments). Regular subscribers never set them.

FAQ

Does it work with Telegram / Discord / the other messaging gateways?

Yes. Tool Gateway operates at the tool-execution layer, not the CLI. Every interface that can call a tool — CLI, Telegram, Discord, Slack, IRC, Teams, the API server, anything — benefits from it transparently.

What happens if my subscription expires?

Tools routed through the gateway stop working until you renew or swap in direct API keys via hermes tools. Hermes shows a clear error pointing at the portal.

Can I see usage or costs per tool?

Yes — the Nous Portal dashboard breaks usage down by tool so you can see what's driving your bill.

Is Modal (serverless terminal) included?

Modal is available as an optional add-on through the Nous subscription, not part of the default Tool Gateway bundle. Configure it via hermes setup terminal or directly in config.yaml when you want a remote sandbox for shell execution.

Do I need to delete my existing API keys when I enable the gateway?

No — keep them in .env. When use_gateway: true, Hermes skips direct keys and uses the gateway. Flip the flag back to false and your keys become the source again. The gateway isn't a lock-in.