Intro
I started to use the Hermes Agent and OpenClaw. They burn a lot of tokens for what they do, but they do get the job done. When I’m out of home, I can just message them or email them (cuz they manage their own email address, because i’ve created it for them), but they are good only based on the underlying model they are being used on.
For example: torrent search and download, extensive research on a topic, using built-in search and integrations (since I already have skills for those), and even coding minor features with some guidance.
I usually use one-off agents for my use. For example, I wanted to download all episodes of Witch Hat Atelier (Tongari Boushi no Atelier, at the time of weekly release, ep 10⁄11 at that time), and there was not a single torrent which had all the episodes at that time. I opened VS Code (I was using DeepSeek V4 Flash) and asked it to create a readme file of all magnetic links for all released episodes of the show. I gave it an example like episode 2 and which site I preferred to download from. It then used its VS Code browser tool, along with a combination of other tools, to fetch the torrent links quickly. It even validated and reported the findings on them, so the next thing was me downloading them… but for that I have a separate skill that does this: https://github.com/aghontpi/dot-configs-ai/blob/main/skills/qbittorrent/SKILL.md that downloads the magnetic links directly to qBittorrent on my server.
The Cost
I’ve been advocating to use DeepSeek V4. Last month I used just under $10 worth of AI credits on the DeepSeek API.
This month I decided to try out OpenCode Go. They offer $5 for the first month but offer more out of the AI tokens (from their site, equivalent to $60 worth of credits). I’m only sticking to DeepSeek! So it should be fine.
Opens a Lot of Doors
Since the DeepSeek API is low cost, it opens a lot of doors for opportunities where it can be used, like project integration to make life easier. Im maintaining a project that I use for downloading offline music; one thing is that I have to manually search, select, and find the appropriate songs for each one, but with the AI integration, I can make it work autonomously, which is great. I can run it and I will know for sure, 95% - 99%, it will capture the right song, so I don’t have to worry about it. Instead of buying ChatGPT for $20 a month when it can’t interact with my server or do any of the nuanced things I want done, I just pay a small set of token price to use a personal agent that actually works for me and gets things done!
Another example is: I wanted an APK to be reversed, but ChatGPT straight up denied it. I just gave my old notes and instructions to patch an APK to Hermes. It downloaded Apktool and other tools necessary itself, set up a workspace, and proceeded to work on it. Even though it got stuck a few times, I just logged in, directed it to the right path, and got back to what I was doing. It finished the task, which was great!
What I Never Experienced Before
I never used AI agents 27⁄7 up until this point, and never ran anything like that on my server, but after DeepSeek made it possible with its affordable AI, I don’t want to use free AI models (the free AI models that you consume from APIs collect your data). Since it’s a personal AI, I don’t want it to be collecting logs on me. OpenCode Go says they don’t store the logs, but I still don’t give it permission to access my emails, used it as a bot for a month and my verdict is good. Initially I tried OpenClaw, but I switched to Hermes; it’s more stable, uses fewer tokens, and gets things done. It’s good; it’s like a friend who gets things done. Sometimes they mess up, but you can give them instructions and they will finish it.
let me share how many tokens I used on 24⁄7 agents this month! It’s around 700 million tokens!
Trust me, it didn’t cost me what you see in the dashboard image. I used my OpenCode Go subscription, which was good. Next month, I would use another account and consider using the subsidy of $5 instead of $10 on this account.
Modes of Configuration
I’ve configured email, Telegram, and Discord for this, and it’s been running on my server 24⁄7 for a long time now, creating a new session and removing any old sessions if present.
Since I started using this with Telegram, I can quickly record a voice note and dispatch a task to it; it will do it on its own. One thing I noticed is that threading mode works great and helps keep things in separate places, otherwise all the chats and things will be clubbed together and will be a mess to follow, making the context muddy.
Like I said, it knows my torrent server and media server actions, like how to download things there (media, books & comics, etc.). Additionally, whenever I do a new action, it self-learns a new skill to work with it, which is great! I never use OpenClaw now; it’s bloated and Hermes is much better for me in terms of token usage and its knowledge of me when doing tasks.
Bad Experience with OpenClaw
I had a bad experience with OpenClaw. Initially, I was hosting both OpenClaw and Hermes. OpenClaw is bloated, uses a lot of tokens, has lots of bugs, and it’s vibe-coded from scratch. when it got first released it had lots of security flaws; now it’s improving, but each update breaks a lot of things. Last time, after an update I remember I had to spend 40 mins debugging what went wrong and fix it manually. Since I run these things inside a container on my server and protect them with a custom HTTP protected area, on top of that protect them with a username and password, I could use Tailscale with it, which I already have configured on my server.
OpenClaw or Hermes?
If you ask me OpenClaw or Hermes as of now (July 2026), I’d say Hermes, because it works and compared to OpenClaw, it’s not as bloated.
OpenClaw I named it Nina, and Hermes I named Ruth. Nina I just chose..IDK why I chose, I’ve been using that name since I was young. My old.. verfy first PC or laptop was also called Nina; maybe cuz of Ed Sheeran’s “Nina” song? But nah, it was way before that, and I remember I used to name things Nina. Ruth because… long ago I used to play a game PangYa (the anime online golf MMO by Ntreev Soft). there I had a friend named Ruth; forgot her full name with time, but she was older than me, I was still in school..so its a long time ago, and we used to hang out in the game ..etc..gosh i could have done a lot of productive things instead of that;, I thought the name was cool. I remembered that name when I was creating Hermes on my server, so I named it Ruth. It even has its own email address, its like a person and delegates work on my behalf.
To put it simply, I stopped using OpenClaw even though it’s super famous for hermes, and I see thats the trend among others aswell, I will decommission it in the coming months when I get free time.
Personal
I got my first loan approved and started work, having a little bit of hope. Since this is done, I can switch jobs now, I’ve been waiting on the job change because of this for some time. I had to send emails from my office email address and my current manager helped with this. She was also processing a loan herself around this time so she knew the process, she was helpful in sending the emails and being the point of contact from the office when required.
I vacated chennai home last month remember! At the same time, I am obligated to go to the office a few times a month, sometimes every week. Initially, I thought, could stay in a PG and searched some places around my area, but that was not good or worth the price. I could have searched for more… Now that I think about it, a place near my office… that would have been nice, as I wouldn’t have to travel much too, I could reach it from the train station, then travel near the office, stay, and leave back by bus/train. My friend was switching apartments / finding a new place. When he asked, I agreed to find a good two-bedroom apartment with car and bike parking in an ambient good place. He searched for a place and found one, sent me photos, and I confirmed. He booked it by paying the advance. I know him from college, so I share the advance and rent with him. Starting from the first week of August, I’m gonna stay there; I’ll share how it goes next month. One catch is I have to travel 13 km for the first few weeks. I might have to use Uber/Ola/Rapido ( cuz i took my bike and car to gobi, have to bring them here again), which itself for one day costs soo much for up and down, so for 3 days it costs be aorund 2k. For him, it’s near the workplace—about 6–7 km from that place. Now that I think about it, maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to this and should have gotten a temporary place instead.