! Shell Mode
to run it as a shell command instead of sending it to the agent: Zero cost.
Start a line with ! to run it as a shell command instead of sending it to the agent: Zero cost. The model is never invoked - no API call, no tokens, no latency. Nothing enters the conversation. The command and its output are not added to history, so your context stays clean and the prompt cache is untouched. Runs on your machine, in the session working directory. With the default local terminal backend !pwd matches what the agent would see. A remote or sandboxed terminal.backend ( ssh , docker , …) is not used for ! commands - they always run on the host where Hermes itself runs, so !hostname names your machine while the agent's terminal tool names the backend. Ask the agent (or open a shell on the target) to run something inside the backend. Path completion in the composer, by contrast, does follow the configured backend and lists the target's filesystem. Approvals still apply. A dangerous command ( rm -rf , writes to ~/.hermes/config.yaml , etc.) goes through the same approval prompt the agent's terminal tool uses. ! is a cost/latency shortcut, not a security bypass. Non-zero exits are shown. A failing command prints ! exited <code> after its output. ! on its own prints a one-lin…
From the official Hermes Agent documentation.
> !git status
> !ls -la
> !pytest -x tests/hermes_cli