The Agent Files
Field-tested guides to practical AI agents.
The Agent Files is a publication about practical AI agents — the kind you can actually run, hand work to, and trust with the boring parts of your week. Articles come as Field Reports, Mission Briefings, Dossiers, Debriefs, and Tradecraft. We name what each piece is, what it isn't, and what it costs to run, so you can decide quickly whether to read on, bookmark it, or skip it.
- Field ReportPicking and standing up a Hetzner CX23Why Hetzner CX23 for a personal agent VPS, and how to bring one up in two `hcloud` commands.
- Field ReportLocking down a personal-agent box: Tailscale, sshd, and ufw in the right orderThe three-step lockdown for a personal-agent VPS, why the order matters, and what ufw actually does when you turn it on.
- Field ReportWiring a Telegram bot to your box: BotFather, tokens, and the Hermes .env schemaHow to get a Telegram bot token from @BotFather, find your numeric Telegram user ID, drop both into Hermes's per-profile `.env`, and start the gateway.
- Field ReportInstalling Hermes, defining a persona, and choosing a model that fits the workloadThe install, the gateway start, writing a SOUL.md that means something, and the model decision for a personal agent.
- Field ReportThree things I'd do differently if I started this build todayWhat I know now that I didn't know when I stood up this build — three specific lessons from running a personal Hermes agent for real.