Paperclip Guide: guide and resource for Hermes Agent

Paperclip Guide

theNetworkChuck/paperclip-guide

Step-by-step guide to building an AI IT department in Paperclip, including remote Hermes agents

In short

Paperclip Guide is the companion guide to a NetworkChuck video, walking through installing Paperclip and building a team of AI agents that includes remote Hermes agents. The README says every step was tested on Paperclip 2026.916.1.

What Paperclip Guide does

The README describes Paperclip as an open-source app for running a team of AI agents like a company, with managers, job descriptions and tasks, and with you as the board who approves hires. It is a meta-harness: it does not replace Claude Code, Codex, Hermes or Pi but hires them. The guide builds one department: a Claude Code CEO, three remote Hermes agents you already run on other machines, and a crew the CEO hires on Codex and on a free local model.

Eleven chapters cover picking a machine, installing Paperclip with Node 24, the first company and CEO, hiring remote Hermes agents, building the team, giving work, approvals and watchdogs, routines and daily standups, plugging in Flare, exporting the company, and troubleshooting. Each chapter ends with a fix-it table. Take-home files hold copy-paste text for the prompts used in the video, plus a Flare skill.

Key features

Eleven ordered chapters from choosing a machine to exporting the company
A chapter on hiring remote Hermes agents into a Paperclip company
Approvals and watchdogs to keep a human in charge
Routines and daily standups where agents ask each other questions
A fix-it table at the end of each chapter
Take-home prompt files and a Flare skill

When to use it

Add Hermes agents you already run on other machines to a managed agent team
Set up a Claude Code CEO that hires Codex and local-model agents with your approval
Package a configured department and import it elsewhere

Who it is for: Homelab and IT users who run Hermes agents and want to coordinate them with other agents in Paperclip.

How it fits with Hermes Agent

Hermes is one of the agent harnesses Paperclip can hire, and chapter 4 covers hiring remote Hermes agents.

Note: The guide was tested on Paperclip 2026.916.1.

FAQ

What is Paperclip Guide?

Paperclip Guide is a written companion to the NetworkChuck Paperclip video. It shows how to install Paperclip and build an AI IT department with Claude Code, Codex, Hermes and local-model agents.

Does Paperclip Guide cover Hermes Agent?

Yes. Chapter 4 explains how to hire remote Hermes agents, and the example department includes three of them, Ron, Fred and George.

Is Paperclip Guide free and open source?

Yes. The repository is published under the MIT license.