Reimage Your Server for Hermes Agent + Open WebUI Installation

Learn how to reimage your Self-Managed VPS or Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS) and install Hermes Agent + Open WebUI using the one-click installer. This guide covers how to start the process, select the application, and confirm your server update.

How to Reimage Your Server for Hermes Agent + Open WebUI Installation

1. Log in to your Bluehost Portal.
2. In the left-hand menu, click Hosting, then select My Plans.

   
    

3. Click the Manage the hosting package you want to reimage.

   
    

4. Click the Reimage button.

   
    

5. Select the Applications tab.

   
    

6. From the list, locate Hermes Agent + Open WebUI and click Select.

   
    

7. To confirm, type "reimage" and then click Proceed to start the process.

   
    

8. Wait a few minutes while the installation completes.

   
    

9. Once completed, you will see Hermes Agent + Open WebUI listed in the Server Image section.

   
    

Deployment and Configuration Guide

Here is your step-by-step walkthrough to get everything configured and running.

After installation completes:

1. Log in to your Bluehost Portal.
2. In the left-hand menu, click Hosting, then select My Plans.

   
    

3. Locate the server you want to manage, then click View Details in the bottom-left corner to expand the section and access additional server information.

   
    

4. Click the Reset Password.

   
    

5. In the pop-up window, type your new root password, then click Reset Password again to confirm and save the changes.

   
    

6. Connect to your server via SSH.
   Open your computer's terminal (or an SSH client like PuTTY) and run the following command to log into your server as the administrator, using your server's public IP address:
   Replace your_server_ip with your actual server IP address.

   ssh root@your_server_ip

   Follow the prompts and enter the new root password you created in the step above.

   Example Output:

      
     Welcome to Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS (GNU/Linux 6.8.0-124-generic x86_64)
   ================================================================================
   
     Hermes Agent + Open WebUI
   
     The UFW firewall is enabled.
     Open ports: 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS).
   
     The first thing to do is to configure an LLM model in Hermes:
       HOME=/var/lib/hermes-agent hermes model
       systemctl restart hermes-agent
   
     To manually configure a model using standard environment keys
     (GITHUB_TOKEN, OPENROUTER_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, etc):
       nano /var/lib/hermes-agent/.hermes/.env
       systemctl restart hermes-agent
   
     After that is done, you can access (in a browser):
       Open WebUI:   https://12.2.2.123/
   
     Credentials:
       cat /root/.app_passwords
   
     Service logs:
       journalctl -u hermes-agent -f
       journalctl -u open-webui   -f
   
   For more details, please see the README at /root/README.md  
      
       

Step 1: Configure Your LLM Backend

Before you do anything in the browser, Hermes Agent needs an API key to talk to an actual LLM backend.

1. Open the configuration file using the nano text editor:
   Copy

   nano /var/lib/hermes-agent/.hermes/.env

   Example Output:

   GNU nano 7.2            /var/lib/hermes-agent/.hermes/.env                  
   
   # Hermes Agent Configuration Environment Variables
   NODE_ENV=production
   PORT=8080
   
   # API and Network Settings
   HERMES_API_URL=https://api.hermes-service.internal
   HERMES_AGENT_ID=agent_usr_11x24abc
   HERMES_AUTH_TOKEN=ghp_SecReTToKeN12343210abc
   
   # Logging and Performance
   LOG_LEVEL=info
   MAX_CONCURRENT_TASKS=5
   TIMEOUT_MS=30000
   
   # Database / Cache Connection (if local)
   REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0
   
   ^G Help       ^O Write Out  ^W Where Is   ^K Cut        ^J Justify    ^C Cur Pos
   ^X Exit       ^R Read File  ^\ Replace    ^U Paste      ^T To Spell   ^_ Go To Line

2. Look for the API lines and add your provider keys.
   • If using OpenRouter:

     Example Output:

     # OpenRouter
     OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-or-...
     OPENAI_API_BASE=https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
     

   • If using Anthropic:

     Example Output:

     # Anthropic
     ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

3. Restart the service to apply your changes:
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   systemctl restart hermes-agent

Step 2: Access the Web UI and Create an Account

To ensure a smooth login, please follow the steps below:

1. Log In via Your Browser:

   Open your preferred web browser and navigate to your server's IP .

   Replace your_server_ip with your actual server IP address.

   http://your-server-ip/

   
    

2. Sign Up:
   Create your account immediately. The first user to register automatically becomes the global Admin.

   
    

3. Verify Settings:

   Go to Admin -> Settings -> Connections in Open WebUI to ensure the pre-configured hermes-agent model is active and communicating.

4. Start Chatting:

   Open a new chat, select hermes-agent from the top model dropdown menu, and test a prompt.

   
    

Step 3: Run Validation Tests

To make sure Open WebUI, Hermes Agent, and your backend connection are all talking to each other perfectly, run the built-in test suite:

Example Output:

root@server-123456:~# prove /root/app_test/main.t
/root/app_test/main.t .. ok   
All tests successful.
Files=1, Tests=5,  2.34 wallclock secs ( 0.03 usr  0.01 sys +  0.42 cusr  0.12 csys = 0.58 CPU)
Result: PASS