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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/techjarves/Hermes-USB-Portable/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Hermes Portable stores all API credentials in a single data/.env file located inside your portable folder — never in your home directory or system environment. Because HERMES_HOME is overridden to point at data/ on every launch, keys are read directly from there rather than from ~/.hermes/. This means your credentials travel with the drive and are never written to the host machine.

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Two Ways to Add Your Keys

Open data/.env in any text editor and add the keys for the providers you want to use:
# Add the keys for the providers you wish to use:
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Save the file, then restart Hermes for the changes to take effect.
You only need to add keys for the providers you actually use. Leave unused lines commented out or delete them entirely.

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Supported Providers

ProviderEnvironment VariableNotes
OpenRouterOPENROUTER_API_KEYAccess hundreds of models through a single key
OpenAIOPENAI_API_KEYGPT-4o, o1, and other OpenAI models
AnthropicANTHROPIC_API_KEYClaude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, and others
Additional providers (DeepSeek, custom endpoints, etc.) can also be configured via data/.env. Use hermes setup to have the wizard generate the correct variable names automatically.

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After Changing Keys

Hermes reads data/.env at startup. Any changes you make to the file take effect the next time you launch Hermes — there is no hot-reload. To apply new keys immediately, exit the current session and relaunch. 
launch.bat hermes status
Use hermes status to confirm the active provider and model after reconfiguring.

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Security

data/.env contains your raw API keys. Anyone who gains physical or filesystem access to your portable drive can read those credentials and use them to make requests on your accounts.Recommended mitigations:
  • Encrypt your USB drive or external SSD using BitLocker (Windows), FileVault (macOS), or a cross-platform tool like VeraCrypt.
  • Avoid storing production keys or accounts with large API balances on a drive you carry daily.
  • Use keys scoped to a low spending limit wherever your provider supports it.

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