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Hermes Agent Challenge Hermes Agent Challenge

Hermes Agent Challenge

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Build and write with an open source AI agent.

Challenge Status: Live Ended

If you've been watching the space, Hermes Agent probably needs no introduction. For everyone else, this is the open source agentic system that's been quietly turning heads as an option worth knowing. Built to run on your own infrastructure, Hermes Agent is capable of planning, tool use, and multi-step reasoning across complex tasks.

Running through May 31, the Hermes Agent Challenge is your chance to dig in firsthand. Whether you're already running Hermes Agent locally or you're curious what the buzz is about, this is the moment to build something real and show the community what's possible.

Whether you love to build or love to write, there's a prompt for you and $1,000 prizes up for grabs!

We'll select four winners from each prompt. Eight winners will each receive:

All qualifying participants receive a completion badge.

Key Dates

  • Contest start: May 15, 2026
  • Submissions due: May 31, 2026
  • Winners announced: June 04, 2026

Badge Rewards

Completion Badge
Completion Badge
Winner Badge
Winner Badge

Find Out More

Ask questions and share your ideas on the Hermes Agent Challenge Launch Post.

View Launch Post

Challenge Prompts

Build With Hermes Agent

Your mandate is to build something useful or creative with Hermes Agent and share it with the community.

The possibilities are endless — you can build anything from an automated research pipeline to a multi-tool productivity assistant to a creative agentic experiment. What matters is that Hermes Agent is doing real work at the heart of your project.

Submission Template

The strongest submissions will incorporate Hermes Agent into their build in a meaningful way.

Judging Criteria:

  • Effective use of Hermes Agent's agentic capabilities
  • Technical implementation and code quality
  • Creativity and originality
  • Usability and user experience

Write About Hermes Agent

Your mandate is to publish a post about Hermes Agent that educates, inspires, or sparks discussion. There's no single right format — what matters is that your post offers something genuine and useful to the community.

Not sure what to write about? Here are some ideas:

  • How-to guide: Walk through setting up and running Hermes Agent locally, connecting it to tools, or integrating it into a real project.
  • Comparison piece: Break down how Hermes Agent stacks up against other agentic frameworks and help readers decide when to reach for it.
  • Personal essay or opinion piece: Share your experience building with Hermes Agent, or make a case for something — what does an open, capable agent system mean for the future of AI development?
  • Deep technical breakdown: Explore a specific capability like tool use, planning, or multi-step reasoning.
Submission Template

Note: If you are primarily showing off a project, please submit to the Build with Hermes Agent prompt instead! Each submission is only allowed to be eligible for one of the two categories.

Judging Criteria:

  • Clarity and depth of explanation
  • Originality of perspective or insight
  • Practical value to the community
  • Quality of writing

How To Participate

Publish a DEV post using the submission template associated with each prompt.

Helpful Links & Resources

Head to the Hermes Agent site to get started. From there you can explore the documentation, learn about its agentic capabilities, and find everything you need to hit the ground running.

Frequently Asked Questions

Participation

Can I submit more than once?

Yes, you can submit multiple submissions but you'll need to publish a separate post for each submission.

  • In the event that you may win multiple times, and your submission is very close with another participant, we will favor the other participant.
  • In the event that you do win multiple times, you will only receive one winner badge.

Can I submit to both prompts?

Yes! You may submit to both the Build With Hermes Agent and Write About Hermes Agent prompts, but you'll need to publish a separate post for each submission.

Can I work on a team?

Team submissions are only allowed for the Build With Hermes Agent prompt. Teams of up to four people are welcome.

  • If you collaborate with anyone, you'll need to list their DEV handles in your submission post so we can award a badge to your entire team! Please only publish one submission per team.
  • DEV does not handle prize-splitting, so in the event that your submission wins, you will need to split the prize amongst yourselves. Thank you for understanding! The Write About Hermes Agent prompt is for individual submissions only.

How old do I have to be to participate?

Participants need to be 18+ in order to participate.

If I live in X, am I eligible to participate?

For eligibility rules, see our official challenge rules.

Submission

Can my submission include open source code?

Riffing on open source code and borrowing and improving on previous work/ideas is encouraged but it's important your changes are significant enough to ensure your submission is valid.

What happens if my submission is considered plagiarized or invalid?

Anything deemed to be plagiarism will not be eligible for prizes. Incidental plagiarism may simply result in your disqualification from the challenge (regardless of the number of other valid submissions you have published). Egregious plagiarism will result in your suspension from DEV entirely. Any non-generic, non-trivial usage of prior work, including open source code must be credited in your submission.

Do submissions have to be in English?

Non-english submissions are eligible for a completion badge but not eligible for prizes due to the current limitations of our judges. We will not be judging on mastery of the English language, so please don't let this deter you from submitting if you are not a native English speaker! We hope to evolve this in the future to be more accommodating.

Can I use AI?

Use of AI is allowed as long as all other rules are followed. We want to give you a chance to show off your skills in realistic scenarios. If you use AI tools to help you achieve your submission, all the power to you.

Judging and Prizing

Can there be ties?

In the event of a tie in scoring between judges, the judges will select the entry that received the highest number of positive reactions on their DEV post to determine the winner.

How will I know if I won?

Winners will be announced in a DEV post on the winner announcement date noted in our key dates section.

When will I receive my DEV badge?

Both participation and winner badges will be awarded, in most cases, the same day as the winner announcement.

When will I receive my prizes?

The DEV Team will contact you via the email associated with your DEV profile within, at most, 10 business days of the announcement date to share the details of claiming your prizes.

What steps do I need to take to receive my cash prize?

The winner (including each member of a team) may be required to sign and return an affidavit of eligibility and publicity/liability release, and provide any additional tax filing information (such as a W-9, social security number or Federal tax ID number) within seven (7) business days following the date of your first email notification.

Hermes Agent Challenge Rules

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open only to 18+. Contest entry period ends May 31, 2026 at 11:59 PM PDT. Contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law or regulation. All entries must be submitted during the contest period. For Official Rules, see Hermes Agent Challenge Contest Rules and General Contest Official Rules.