You have never built an agent and want a guided first win.
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AI Collective Chattanooga · July 18, 2026
Build your first
useful agent.
Spend one afternoon building an AI agent that does more than chat. Bring a task from your work or life, and leave with a real first version running on Hermes.
- When
- Saturday, July 18, 2026 · 1-5 PM EDT
- Where
- Business Development Center · 100 Cherokee Blvd., Chattanooga
- Bring
- A laptop. Food is included.
- Hands-on build
- Beginner friendly
- Run several times before
What you'll leave with
A real agent that reads, reasons, and reports - not another demo.
We start with the practical pattern behind a Daily Intelligence Agent: sources, context, relevance, report, feedback. Then you adapt that pattern to a task you actually care about.
- 01
Install Hermes
Get the open-source, CLI-first agent running on your machine.
- 02
Connect a model
Use OpenRouter, Codex, Copilot, Claude, Gemini, Grok, or another supported path.
- 03
Build the agent
Turn one recurring task into a skill Hermes can run and improve.
- 04
Deliver results
Send outputs to chat, schedule them, or keep running locally from the CLI.
Who this is for
Curious beginners, builders, business people, and agent nerds are all welcome.
You do not need to have built an agent before. You do need a laptop and a willingness to try a practical workflow with help in the room.
You know what task you want help with, but do not know where to start.
You have built agents before and want to see how Hermes changes the workflow.
Business, builders, hobbyists, and curious beginners are welcome.
What you might build
Point Hermes at a job you actually have.
Pick one of these in the custom build lab and adapt the pattern to your own data and workflow - or browse the use case library for more ideas.
Read newsletters, websites, events, releases, or updates and summarize only what matters.
Evaluate inbound issues, draft escalation, and help resolve the routine ones with a human in the loop.
Watch a topic, grant, policy, market, company, competitor, or project and report meaningful changes.
Inspect systems, dashboards, services, or recurring checks and report only what needs attention.
Track, manage, and schedule events, appointments, renewals, reminders, purchases, travel, and recurring chores.
Train your agent on specific knowledge-work tasks with browser and computer-use automation when needed.
Track competitor pricing, launches, and market signals, then get a short brief on what changed.
Turn a CRM or pipeline export into a ranked action list and draft follow-ups for you to send.
The day
Four hours, one working agent.
Optional pre-work, then five focused phases. Every phase ends with something running, and the longest block is yours to build.
- Pre-workasync
Get set up before you arrive
Install Hermes and choose a model path if you can. Optional, but it buys you build time. Open the checklist →
- Phase 145-60m
The art of the possible
See what practical agents can do today, then choose a useful idea worth building.
- Phase 230-45m
Hermes setup
Configure Hermes, connect a provider, smoke-test the CLI, and set up a delivery target.
- Phase 345-60m
Daily Intelligence Agent
Build the shared example agent together, end to end, and watch it report back.
- Phase 475-90m
Custom build lab
Adapt the pattern to your own project, data, or workflow with help on hand.
- Phase 530m
Demos, voting & prize
Show rough-but-real agents, vote on favorites, and hand out the prize.
Upcoming event
Join us July 18 in Chattanooga.
This workshop has been run several times before. This session is the polished, longer version: more examples, more build time, and more room to make the agent yours.