Text your own AI assistant on WhatsApp: Hermes wired to FreeLLMAPI

The Stack

Steps

1. 1

   Author the Hermes wiring config and validate it

   Capture how Hermes will be wired: a custom model endpoint at your FreeLLMAPI backend, a model whose context meets Hermes's 64k floor, and a WhatsApp gateway on a spare number. CI checks the wiring; the hermes install, hermes model picker, and gateway linking are fenced.

   cat > hermes-wiring.json <<'JSON'
   {
     "model": {
       "provider": "custom",
       "base_url": "http://localhost:3001/v1",
       "api_key": "freellmapi-REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_KEY",
       "model": "auto",
       "context_window": 65536
     },
     "gateway": { "platform": "whatsapp", "number": "spare" }
   }
   JSON
   node -e '
   const fs = require("fs");
   const c = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync("hermes-wiring.json", "utf8"));
   function bad(m) { console.error("BAD: " + m); process.exit(1); }
   const model = c.model || {};
   if (!model.base_url || model.base_url.indexOf(":3001/v1") === -1) bad("model.base_url must point at the FreeLLMAPI endpoint :3001/v1");
   const ctx = model.context_window || 0;
   if (ctx < 64000) bad("model.context_window must be at least 64000 (Hermes floor); pick a larger-context free model");
   const gw = c.gateway || {};
   const platforms = ["whatsapp", "telegram", "signal", "discord", "slack", "email", "cli"];
   if (platforms.indexOf(gw.platform) === -1) bad("gateway.platform must be a supported Hermes platform");
   if (gw.platform === "whatsapp" && gw.number === "main") bad("use a spare WhatsApp number, never your main one");
   console.log("wiring OK: Hermes -> FreeLLMAPI (:3001/v1), context " + ctx + " >= 64000, gateway " + gw.platform + " on a " + gw.number + " number");
   '

2. 2

   Build the stack and link WhatsApp (the steps CI does not run)

   On the server: install Hermes (curl install), run hermes model and pick the Custom Endpoint with your FreeLLMAPI base URL and key, verify a plain `hermes` terminal chat works, then hermes gateway setup -> WhatsApp to link the spare number, and keep hermes gateway alive under systemd/pm2. Do not add WhatsApp on top of a broken chat. All of this is fenced.