meraGPT

api keys

Bring your own LLM key

meraGPT doesn’t mark up tokens, doesn’t resell access, and doesn’t see your model usage. You bring a key from any OpenAI-compatible provider, paste it into Hermes once, and your agent uses it directly. The key lives on your box only, in a file readable only by the agent process.

The KEYS page in the Hermes Agent dashboard, listing OAuth providers and LLM provider rows where you paste an API key

OpenRouter (recommended)

OpenRouter is the easiest way to get going. One account, one key, hundreds of models, pay-as-you-go billing in dollars. The default model we configure on every meraGPT box, google/gemini-2.5-flash-lite, runs through OpenRouter at roughly $0.10 per million input tokens. Enough for a busy personal agent at a few cents a month.

  1. Sign up at openrouter.ai/keys and create a key.
  2. Open Hermes (Open your agent from your dashboard), go to KEYS.
  3. Find OpenRouter in the provider list and paste the key. Save.
  4. Set a monthly spend cap on OpenRouter’s dashboard. Your $7 meraGPT fee never changes; this is the only number you control on usage.

Anthropic (Claude)

Get a key at console.anthropic.com/settings/keys. Paste it into the Anthropic row on the Hermes Keys tab. Then in MODELS select something like anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 for fast, cheap chat or anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6 for the heavy stuff.

OpenAI (GPT)

Key at platform.openai.com/api-keys. Paste into the OpenAI row in Hermes. Useful if you have credits or want the gpt-5 family.

Custom / self-hosted

Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint works: local llama.cpp servers, vLLM, TGI, Groq, Together, Fireworks, or your own gateway. Add a custom provider in Hermes with the base URL and key. Useful if you already have an inference setup and just want the agent loop and persistence on top.

Switching models

Once a provider is configured, set the default in MODELS, or switch per-conversation with /model openrouter/anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5. Hermes remembers your last choice per session.

What we can and can’t see

Keys are written to /home/agent/.hermes/.env on your box, mode 600. The meraGPT control plane has no path to read that file. The only thing our edge sees is the routing handle and the signed owner cookie when you open your box.

Next