v2026.4.16 — Tool Gateway Release
Released: April 16, 2026 Theme: Tool Gateway — subscription unlocks the toolbox, no extra keys needed Breaking Changes: None
Core Highlights
1. Nous Tool Gateway
Until now, getting Vi to search the web, generate images, synthesize speech, or drive a browser meant signing up separately with Firecrawl, FAL, OpenAI, and Browser Use — four accounts, four billing relationships, four sets of keys to manage.
Starting with this release, if you’re already a paid Nous Portal subscriber, all four tools come bundled in that subscription:
| Tool | Provider | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Web search | Firecrawl | Real-time lookups |
| Image generation | FAL / FLUX 2 Pro | Text-to-image |
| Text-to-speech | OpenAI TTS | Voice output |
| Browser automation | Browser Use | Vi opens a browser and clicks buttons itself |
2. How to Enable
Run hermes model, pick Nous Portal, and the wizard lets you toggle which tools to enable. Each tool can be turned on or off individually (via the use_gateway config flag).
If you already have direct API keys for any of these services and a Nous Portal subscription, Vi will prefer the gateway so you don’t get charged twice.
3. Replaces the Old Hidden Flag
The pre-release behavior used a hidden env var HERMES_ENABLE_NOUS_MANAGED_TOOLS — undocumented and easy to miss. That’s gone. Detection is now subscription-based and automatic.
Other Improvements
This release rolls in 180+ commits — mostly bug fixes and reliability tweaks across the agent core, gateway, CLI, and tool system. Full breakdown will land in the v0.11.0 changelog.
Upgrade Recommendations
- If you already subscribe to Nous Portal, run
hermes modeland turn on web search + image generation to see what Vi gains - If you’re not subscribed, this release is light on user-visible changes — you can wait for the next one
- If you previously set
HERMES_ENABLE_NOUS_MANAGED_TOOLS, remove it from your config and use the wizard instead