The Hermes Agent /bg command is how you stop queueing behind your own agent: /bg <prompt> runs that prompt in a separate background session while your current conversation stays free for other work. Results come back to you when the task finishes. Here’s the documented behaviour and the patterns that make it genuinely useful.
Short answer
/bg <prompt>executes the prompt in a separate background session — your current context is untouched.- Results appear as a panel when the task finishes; on messaging, they deliver back to the originating chat (per the official slash-commands reference).
- Works in the CLI and the messaging gateway.
- Not the same as
/btw— /bg does work in parallel; /btw answers a side question about this conversation.
What the Hermes Agent /bg command does
The docs are refreshingly plain: the agent processes your /bg prompt independently, in a separate background session, and your current session stays free for other work. When the background task completes, its results surface — a panel in the CLI, or delivered back to the originating chat if you fired it from the messaging gateway.
The important mental model: it’s a separate session. The background task doesn’t share your live conversation’s ongoing context beyond the prompt you gave it, and it can’t disrupt what you’re doing. That isolation is the feature — the foreground thread of thought you’ve built stays exactly as you left it.
Hermes Agent /bg in practice
| You’re doing | Fire into the background | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Deep work in the main session | /bg research X and summarise | Research happens in parallel; your context untouched |
| A long build or analysis | /bg the slow task, keep steering the fast one | No more waiting on your own agent |
| Messaging on the move | /bg from the gateway | Results return to the same chat when done |
Because the prompt travels alone, write /bg prompts self-contained — include the context the background session needs, the way you’d brief a colleague who hasn’t been in the room. Vague /bg prompts return vague panels.
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Choosing between /bg and its neighbours
The command sits in a family. /btw answers a quick question about your current conversation without touching it — no new work, read-only. /bg does new work elsewhere. And /busy governs what happens when you message while the agent is mid-task in your own session — queue, steer or interrupt. Between the three, the awkward old choreography of waiting for your agent disappears.
One community footnote worth passing on: even experienced users mixed up /bg and /btw until the current cheat-sheet era — if that’s you, the rule of thumb is bg = do, btw = ask.
The bottom line on Hermes Agent /bg
Hermes Agent /bg makes parallelism a habit instead of a project: one prefix and the slow task stops blocking the fast one, with results landing back where you work. Brief it like a colleague, keep the foreground for thinking, and let the background earn its keep.
Briefing a background session like a colleague
A /bg prompt travels alone, so pack its bags. The briefing checklist I use: the context it can’t infer (“we sell to UK dentists, the report is for a non-technical client”), the deliverable shape (“a 10-bullet summary with links”), and the constraints (“UK spelling, no pricing claims, under 500 words”). Sixty seconds of briefing turns the eventual results panel from a first draft into a finished piece.
Then actually process the panels. Background work you never read is worse than work you never asked for — it feels productive while teaching the agent nothing. My rhythm: fire /bg tasks freely through the day, then clear the returned panels at natural breaks, feeding anything worth keeping back into the main session or memory. Parallelism only pays when the results merge back into the work.
One habit that multiplies /bg’s value: name the deliverable inside the prompt itself — “return a table”, “return three options with trade-offs”, “return a yes/no with reasons”. Background sessions can’t ask you clarifying questions mid-flight the way a foreground turn can, so the shape you request is the shape you get. Prompts that specify their output format come back ready to use; prompts that don’t come back as essays you now have to edit. It’s the single cheapest upgrade to every background task you’ll ever fire.
FAQ: hermes agent /bg
What does /bg do in Hermes Agent?
It runs your prompt in a separate background session so your current context stays uninterrupted; results surface when the task finishes, per the official docs.
Where do /bg results appear?
As a panel in the CLI when the task completes — and from messaging, delivered back to the chat that fired it.
Does /bg share my session’s context?
It’s a separate session working from the prompt you gave it — write the prompt self-contained.
What’s the difference between /bg and /btw?
/bg does new work in parallel; /btw answers a quick question about the current conversation from a read-only snapshot.
Can I keep working while a /bg task runs?
Yes — that’s the point: the current session stays free the whole time.
Where does /bg work?
CLI and the messaging gateway.
Next step: if you want an agent working in the background while you move working for you this week, join the AI Profit Boardroom for the full walkthroughs and live help — or book a free SEO strategy session and I’ll point you at the fastest path for your situation.
About Julian Goldie: SEO agency owner with 10+ years in SEO, 394K+ subscribers on YouTube, a 100% job-success score on Upwork, 75K+ members across his communities, and author of a best-selling SEO book. He runs the AI Profit Boardroom community and offers a free SEO strategy session.
Related reading
- Hermes Agent /btw: Ask Without Interrupting
- Hermes Agent /busy: Queue, Steer Or Interrupt
- Hermes Subagent Steering, Explained
Last updated September 2026. This is the living guide to hermes agent /bg — it gets updated as the tools change.