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Use Hermes Quiet Mode and Verbose Diagnostics Deliberately

Hermes CLI runs quietly by default. Routine tool chatter is suppressed, animated progress remains visible, and the final answer stays easier to scan. Quiet mode is an operator-interface choice: it does not weaken tools, shorten the model request, erase conversation history, or skip verification.

Use the default for ordinary work. Turn on verbose output when you are diagnosing a concrete failure and need the additional provider or tool detail.

Choose the right view for the job

Quiet mode is a good fit when:

  • the workflow is healthy and repeatable;
  • the important evidence is already summarized in the final response;
  • long tool logs would hide the decision or deliverable;
  • a live operator wants progress without every internal line.

Start a diagnostic session with verbose output when:

  • a tool appears to stall or return an unexpected shape;
  • provider fallback, retries, or timeouts are part of the incident;
  • setup succeeds but the expected capability is absent;
  • you need exact runtime detail before changing configuration.
hermes chat --verbose

Verbose output is evidence, not a cure. Capture the relevant lines, identify the failing layer, and make the smallest supported change rather than toggling unrelated settings.

Keep a clean diagnostic sequence

  1. Reproduce the symptom once in the normal view.
  2. Record the command, working directory, and expected result.
  3. Re-run the smallest reproduction with --verbose.
  4. Separate provider, tool, approval, and application errors.
  5. Apply one bounded fix.
  6. Return to a normal session and verify the user-facing result.

For a long-lived gateway, use its status and log surfaces instead of assuming a CLI display flag changes the service process.

Operator checklist

  • The failure is reproducible before configuration changes.
  • Verbose output is being used for a specific question.
  • Secrets, tokens, and private paths are excluded from shared excerpts.
  • The smallest affected layer has been identified.
  • Normal-mode behavior is rechecked after the fix.

Common pitfalls

  • Treating quiet output as missing work. Quiet mode hides routine display detail, not tool execution.
  • Leaving every session verbose. Constant logs make real warnings harder to notice and can overwhelm terminal history.
  • Sharing full logs. Diagnostic output can contain sensitive paths or request context even when credentials are redacted.
  • Changing several settings at once. That destroys the evidence needed to know which change helped.

Verification

Run a harmless query in the default CLI, then repeat it in a fresh verbose session. Confirm both produce the same useful result while the verbose run exposes additional diagnostics. If the underlying issue concerns a gateway or scheduled job, verify that surface directly as well.

Official reference: Hermes CLI interface.

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