How to learn AI agents from scratch has a short answer, which is that you install Hermes Desktop, pick a free model and give one agent a small job every day for two weeks.
That's my verdict, and the rest of this page is the reference that backs it up.
I'm Julian Goldie, and I've written this for a complete beginner who has never used a terminal or an API key.
There are four easy ways to get your first agent running, and I've rated each one for a zero-knowledge start.
The ratings are my own opinion as someone who uses these tools daily, and they aren't a lab test.
The Verdict At A Glance
| Route to your first agent | Ease for a total beginner | Cost | Room to grow | My rating for a from-scratch start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hermes Desktop with a free model | It installs like a normal app. | It's free. | It's the full agent with nothing removed. | 9 out of 10 |
| The one-click Ollama route | It needs one paste into a terminal. | It's free, with token limits. | It's the full agent, and swapping models is easy. | 8 out of 10 |
| Hermes Cloud | It needs no install at all. | It's a paid hosted product. | It stays on all day. | 7 out of 10 |
| Max Hermes, hosted by MiniMax | It runs in a browser chat. | It's paid. | It's limited, with no Telegram link and no file uploads. | 5 out of 10 |
- 🥇 Hermes Desktop is my pick for learning AI agents from scratch, because nothing about it looks technical.
- 🥈 The one-click Ollama route is my second pick, because it's free and takes about 20 seconds once Ollama is running.
- 🥉 Hermes Cloud is my third pick, because it's the easiest way to have an agent that never switches off.
All four routes run Hermes Agent, which is a free, open-source AI agent from Nous Research.
What You're Actually Learning
An AI agent is software that takes a goal and works through the steps for you.
A chatbot stops after it writes an answer, and an agent keeps going until the job is finished.
It can search the web, open pages, read and write files and run other programs, depending on what you allow.
Learning agents from scratch means learning five things, in this order.
| Order | The thing you learn | The reason it comes at that point |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | You learn what an agent is. | You can't judge a tool you can't describe. |
| 2 | You learn how to give it a clear task. | A clear task is most of the skill. |
| 3 | You learn what a model, a provider and an API key are. | Those three words appear on every settings screen. |
| 4 | You learn how to schedule a job. | A scheduled job is what separates an agent from a chat window. |
| 5 | You learn how to save a skill. | A skill makes a good result repeatable. |
Nothing on that list is coding.
How I Rated The Four Routes
I scored each route on three questions a beginner cares about.
- I asked how many scary steps sit between you and a first reply.
- I asked whether you can start without paying.
- I asked whether you'll have to start again when you get more advanced.
A route that's easy but leads to a dead end scores lower than one that's slightly harder and grows with you.
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Route 1: Hermes Desktop (9 Out Of 10)
Hermes Desktop is the official app from Nous Research, and it uses the same agent core as the command-line version.
What you do: You download it from the Hermes Desktop page, open it, sign in to Nous Portal and pick a model marked free.
On a Mac: You open the DMG and copy Hermes into Applications.
On Windows: You open the download with Windows App Installer.
What's good: You sign in instead of pasting keys, and most settings have buttons.
What's not so good: The Mac package is for Apple Silicon only, so an older Intel Mac can't use it.
Best for: It's best for anyone who wants to learn properly without seeing a terminal.
I've compared it with the other front-ends in my best Hermes Agent UI ranking.
Route 2: The One-Click Ollama Route (8 Out Of 10)
This is the route in the video at the top of this page.
What you do: You install the free Ollama app from ollama.com, make sure it's running, copy the Hermes launch command from a model page and paste it into your terminal.
What's good: It's free, it takes about 20 seconds once Ollama is installed and you can switch models whenever a new one comes out.
What's not so good: Cloud models on Ollama are free with token limits, so heavy users will hit a ceiling.
The common mistake: Ollama has to be open and running before you paste the command, or the command has nothing to connect to.
Best for: It's best for beginners who can cope with one paste into a terminal.
You can also run a model on your own machine this way, but that depends on your hardware, so I'd leave it until later.
Route 3: Hermes Cloud (7 Out Of 10)
Hermes Cloud is the hosted version that Nous Research runs for you.
What you do: You sign in at portal.nousresearch.com/cloud, create an agent, open its model section, filter for free models, pick one and send a test message.
What's good: Nothing runs on your computer, and the agent keeps working when your laptop is closed.
What's not so good: It's a paid product, and when I checked in October 2026 an agent needed a $2 minimum in credits or an active Nous subscription to deploy.
Best for: It's best for people with an old computer, and for people who want scheduled jobs to run all day.
Check the current price on the page before you start, because I'm not going to quote a number that may have changed.
Route 4: Max Hermes (5 Out Of 10)
Max Hermes is Hermes Agent hosted in the cloud by MiniMax, and you reach it at agent.minimax.io.
What you do: You click Start Now, and it runs inside a browser chat about 20 seconds later.
What's good: It's completely non-technical, and MiniMax's image and video generation works straight away.
What's not so good: It isn't free, you can't link it to Telegram or other apps and you can't upload files to it.
Best for: It's best for someone who wants a quick feel for an agent before committing to an install.
My honest verdict from testing it is that it's not bad, but it's not great.
You also lose the customisation you get from running Hermes yourself, which is why it scores lowest for learning.
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The 14-Day Checklist, From Zero
Use this as a tick list, and don't skip ahead.
| Day | Task | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | You read what an agent is and choose one job to hand over. | You've written the job in one sentence. |
| 2 | You set up one agent using route 1, 2 or 3. | The agent replies to "test". |
| 3 | You run three tiny tasks. | You have a summary, a saved file and a small comparison table. |
| 4 | You learn the jargon table below. | You can say what a model, a provider and an API key are. |
| 5 | You confirm you're on a free model and add a backup. | Your model is marked free. |
| 6 | You write a five-line note about yourself for the agent. | The agent reads the note before it works. |
| 7 | You join a community and post one question. | Somebody has replied. |
| 8 | You run one real job by hand. | The result is good enough to use. |
| 9 | You schedule that job. | The job has a set time. |
| 10 | You review the first automatic run. | You've improved the instructions once. |
| 11 | You save the job as a skill. | The skill has a name. |
| 12 | You reuse the skill on new input. | It works a second time. |
| 13 | You get help with your hardest problem. | The problem is fixed or clearly explained. |
| 14 | You choose the agent's second job. | The second job is written down. |
Your First Three Tiny Tasks, Rated By Difficulty
| Task | What you type | What it teaches you | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summarise a page | "Read this link and give me the five most useful points." | It shows the agent using a web tool. | It's easy. |
| Create a file | "Write a weekly meal plan and save it as a file on my computer." | It shows the agent writing a real file on your machine. | It's easy. |
| Research and compare | "Find three free note-taking apps, compare them in a table and pick one." | It shows the agent planning several steps. | It's moderate. |
If a task fails on a free model, ask again in simpler words or split it into two requests.
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The Jargon Table: Model, Provider And API Key
| Term | Plain meaning | Do you need to deal with it in week one? |
|---|---|---|
| Model | It's the AI brain that does the thinking. | Yes, because you choose one from a list. |
| Provider | It's the company that runs the model for your agent. | Yes, because you sign in to one, which is Nous Portal in this plan. |
| API key | It's a long password that links an agent to a provider. | No, because signing in replaces it on Hermes Desktop. |
| Token | It's a small piece of text, and usage is counted in tokens. | No, although it explains why free models have limits. |
| Rate limit | It's a cap on use within a set time. | Yes, because it's the reason you keep a backup model. |
Hermes Agent doesn't come with one fixed model, so you can change the brain without reinstalling the agent.
If you ever get an API key, keep it private and never paste it into a public place.
Free Model Options For Beginners, Compared
| Option | What it costs | The catch | My verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| A model marked free on Nous Portal | It's free. | It has rate limits at busy times, and the list changes. | It's the best starting point. |
| A free Ollama cloud model | It's free. | It has token limits. | It's a good second choice. |
| A model running on your own computer | It's free. | It depends on your hardware and takes a while to download. | It's worth trying later. |
Some models are listed as both a free version and a paid version, so always pick the entry marked free.
My Solar Mini 4 Hermes guide walks through a free model setup, and my best Hermes Agent model ranking is the place to go when you're ready to compare brains.
Your First Automation And Your First Skill
These are the two features that make an agent worth learning.
An automation is a job that runs on a schedule, such as a morning brief every weekday at 7am.
You can ask for it in plain English, or you can use Automation Blueprints, which let you fill in a recipe.
An agent on your laptop only runs while the laptop is on and the app is open, so that's the limit to remember.
A skill is a saved set of instructions for one kind of job.
In Hermes, a skill is a folder with a text file called SKILL.md inside it.
After a job has gone well, type /learn in the chat and ask Hermes to turn that workflow into a skill.
My rating for both features is the same.
They're easy to start and they're where most of the value is, so don't leave them until month three.
My best Hermes Agent use cases ranking and best Hermes Agent skills ranking go deeper on each.
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What You Do NOT Need To Learn Yet: Skip Or Later
| Topic | My verdict for your first 14 days | When to come back to it |
|---|---|---|
| Coding | You can skip it. | Come back when you want custom tools. |
| Fine-tuning | You can skip it. | Most business users never need it. |
| Vector databases and RAG | You can skip them. | Come back when you have thousands of documents. |
| Agent frameworks | You can skip them. | Come back if you want to become a developer. |
| Multi-agent teams | Leave them for later. | Come back after two or three working automations. |
| Local models | Leave them for later. | Come back when privacy or cost matters. |
| Servers | Leave them for later. | Come back when the agent must run all day. |
If you later want the developer route, the Hugging Face AI Agents Course and Microsoft's AI Agents for Beginners both describe themselves as free.
I haven't taken either course, so I'm not rating them here.
How To Get Unstuck: Your Help Options, Compared
| Help option | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Asking the agent what went wrong | It's free. | It's best for small errors and confusing replies. |
| AI Money Lab | It's free. | It's best for beginner questions and free training. |
| AI Profit Boardroom | It's paid. | It's best for live help on four coaching calls a week. |
| My two-hour Hermes course on YouTube | It's free. | It's best for watching the whole tool from start to finish. |
A clear question gets a faster answer, so include what you tried, what you expected and what happened.
A Quick Glossary
- Agent: An agent is an AI that takes actions to complete a goal.
- Tool: A tool is something an agent can use, such as search or files.
- Prompt: A prompt is the instruction you type.
- Memory: Memory is what the agent remembers between chats.
- Profile: A profile is a separate copy of the agent with its own model and memory.
- Skill: A skill is a saved procedure.
- Automation: An automation is a scheduled job.
- Terminal: A terminal is a window for typed commands.
My Final Verdict
Start with Hermes Desktop and a free model, because it removes every scary step.
Use the one-click Ollama route if the desktop app doesn't suit your machine.
Choose Hermes Cloud if you want an agent that's always on and you're happy to pay for hosting.
Whichever route you choose, the 14-day checklist stays the same.
Related Reading
- How to learn AI agents is the full roadmap beyond the first two weeks.
- The best AI agent course for beginners ranks the beginner courses I'd consider.
- How to learn creating AI agents covers designing your own agent.
- The best Hermes Agent setup ranks six complete setups.
Also On Our Network
- 🌐 The day-by-day operator walkthrough for learning AI agents from scratch
- 🌐 How a business owner learns AI agents from scratch with one real job
- 🌐 Going from one agent to an Agent OS
- 🌐 How the free models beginners use score on GoldieBench
- 🌐 My earlier guide on learning AI agents free
FAQ: How To Learn AI Agents From Scratch
What is the best way to learn AI agents from scratch?
My verdict is to install Hermes Desktop, choose a model marked free and give one agent a small job every day for 14 days.
That route needs no code and no API key.
Which AI agent is easiest for a complete beginner?
I rate Hermes Desktop highest for a from-scratch start, because it installs like a normal app and you sign in instead of pasting keys.
The one-click Ollama route is my second pick.
Is Hermes Cloud free?
No, Hermes Cloud is a paid hosted product from Nous Research.
You can still choose a free model inside it, so the model itself doesn't have to cost you anything.
What's the difference between a model and an agent?
The agent is the program that plans and uses tools, and the model is the AI brain it thinks with.
You can change the model without changing the agent.
What should I skip when I'm starting from scratch?
You can skip coding, fine-tuning, vector databases and agent frameworks for the first 14 days.
Multi-agent teams, local models and servers are worth learning later.
How do I know I've learned the basics?
You've learned the basics when one agent runs one scheduled job for you and follows one skill you saved.
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About Julian
I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.
I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.
- I started Goldie Agency on my own, and it is now a 7-figure SEO and link-building agency with 70+ people.
- I've grown my YouTube channel to 400,000+ subscribers.
- I wrote "Link Building Mastery".
- My Udemy courses have taught 29,000+ students.
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Pick the highest-rated route you can run today, follow the checklist, and you'll know how to learn AI agents from scratch.
