The Hermes Agent /plan command does exactly one thing, on purpose: /plan [task] writes a markdown implementation plan into .hermes/plans/ in your active workspace — planning only, no execution. In an agent world where everything wants to act, a command guaranteed not to act is quietly one of the most valuable. Here’s the documented behaviour and how to get real leverage from it.
Short answer
/plan [task]writes a markdown implementation plan to.hermes/plans/— planning only, nothing executes (per the official slash-commands reference).- Leave the argument empty and it infers the task from your conversation context.
- Formerly a bundled skill, now built-in — partly to survive command-menu limits on Telegram and Discord.
- Works in the CLI and the messaging gateway.
What the Hermes Agent /plan command does
Per the docs: /plan produces a markdown implementation plan and saves it to .hermes/plans/ in the active workspace. That’s the entire contract — no code changes, no tool runs, no side effects. Pass a task explicitly (/plan migrate the auth flow) or pass nothing and let it infer the task from the conversation you’re already having.
It graduated from bundled skill to built-in command, and the docs give a wonderfully practical reason: command-menu limits on Telegram and Discord. Translation: enough people plan from their phones that the command had to survive messaging platforms’ constraints. Planning is a first-class, everywhere feature now.
Hermes Agent /plan in a working session
| Situation | Move | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Big task, unclear shape | /plan <task> before any execution | A reviewable roadmap before anything changes |
| Long conversation converging | /plan (no argument) | The discussion distilled into an implementation plan |
| Plans piling up | Review .hermes/plans/ | A workspace folder of markdown you can diff, share, keep |
Because plans land as files in the workspace, they’re artefacts, not chat scrollback — you can read them in your editor, commit them, hand them to a colleague, or feed them to a fresh session later. That file-not-vibes property is what makes plan-first workflows stick.
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Plan-first: the workflow argument
The deeper case for /plan is economic: reviewing a plan costs minutes; reviewing wrong execution costs hours. For anything touching real systems, my sequence is /plan → read it like a sceptic → correct it in conversation → then let execution begin, ideally framed as a /goal with the plan’s checklist as criteria. The plan becomes the acceptance criteria; the judge has something concrete to judge.
And when the work is done, /review closes the loop from the other side — an independent reviewer checking what was built against what was planned. Plan, execute, review: the commands are clearly designed as a family.
The bottom line on Hermes Agent /plan
Hermes Agent /plan is the cheapest insurance in the command set: a guaranteed-safe command that turns intent into a reviewable markdown artefact in .hermes/plans/ before anything irreversible happens. Plan first on anything that matters, argue with the plan while it’s still words, and let execution inherit a checklist instead of a vibe.
What to demand from a plan before approving it
Read the markdown in .hermes/plans/ the way a sceptical lead reads a proposal. It should name the steps in order, but the parts worth arguing with are the edges: what’s explicitly out of scope, what could go wrong and how it rolls back, which steps are irreversible, and what “done” means concretely. A plan missing those isn’t wrong — it’s unfinished; reply with the gaps and regenerate before anything executes.
Keeping plans as files has a quiet second benefit: history. A workspace of dated plan documents is a record of how your thinking evolved — you can diff this month’s migration plan against last month’s, resurrect an approach you shelved, or hand a new collaborator the folder instead of an explanation. Chat scrollback evaporates; .hermes/plans/ accumulates.
A closing habit from software teams worth stealing: date your requests. Asking /plan the September pricing-page rebuild rather than /plan the pricing page means the file in .hermes/plans/ is self-labelling — six weeks later you’ll know which plan superseded which without opening either. Plans are cheap to generate now; the discipline that keeps a folder of them useful is exactly the same one that keeps a wiki useful. Name things for the person who’ll search for them later, because that person is you.
FAQ: hermes agent /plan
What does /plan do in Hermes Agent?
It writes a markdown implementation plan to .hermes/plans/ in the active workspace — planning only, with no execution, per the official docs.
Do I have to specify the task?
No — /plan with no argument infers the task from the conversation context.
Where do the plans go?
Into .hermes/plans/ as markdown files in your active workspace — reviewable, commitable, shareable.
Does /plan ever execute anything?
No — its documented contract is planning only. Execution is a separate, deliberate step.
Why was it made a built-in command?
It was formerly a bundled skill; building it in helped it survive command-menu limits on Telegram and Discord.
Where does /plan work?
CLI and the messaging gateway — including planning from your phone.
Next step: if you want a plan-execute-review pipeline that ships safely 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 /goal: Set It And It Keeps Going
- Hermes Agent /review: Your Built-In Reviewer
- Hermes Agent Claude Code Setup Is Actually Wild
Last updated September 2026. This is the living guide to hermes agent /plan — it gets updated as the tools change.