Hermes is great to use from your computer but did you know it can go with you wherever you go? The best part is it can use a number of “connectors” that you already have, like WhatsApp. WhatsApp is a simply chat / messaging app used by millions around the globe. Very similar to Telegram, you just pop it open and start talking to your Hermes bot like you would your best friend.
If you haven’t turned Hermes on yet, do the first 10 minutes first. You need it answering in the dashboard before WhatsApp will do anything useful.
What you’ll need
- Hermes already running on a NameHero VPS
- WhatsApp on your phone
- Your own phone number
Open Channels
Open the Hermes dashboard. On the left, click Channels.
Scroll to WhatsApp. Leave Telegram, Slack, and the rest alone for now but if you would prefer to do one of those instead, now is the time and the setup is very similar.
Click Self-chat. When you open this, Bot is already highlighted. Self-chat is the one where you text yourself. Bot is for a second phone number. Skip that for now.
In Allowed WhatsApp numbers, put your number with the country code and no plus sign. For a US phone that’s 1 plus the ten digits, like 18165551212. Delete the sample numbers sitting in that box. If you leave those in, Hermes will ignore you.
Pair with the QR
Click PAIR WITH QR. A code shows up on the right of that same WhatsApp row. It lasts about a minute.
On your phone open WhatsApp. Go to Settings, then Linked devices, then Link a device. Scan the code from there. Do not use the regular camera app. The screen says that because the regular camera will not finish the pairing.
When it takes, flip the WhatsApp switch on. Then click Restart gateway at the top of the page. That restart is required. Give it a few seconds. The left side should still say the gateway is running.
Text it
Open WhatsApp. Open the chat with yourself. Type something you’d actually ask of the Hermes bot to start. It can be anything or it can be part of the predefined responses we setup in the other guide.
If it doesn’t answer
The number you typed has to match the phone you scanned with, country code included. If the QR expired, click PAIR WITH QR again and scan the new one.
If you’re stuck, live-chat a SuperHero.
This is not a customer WhatsApp line if you are looking to set it up for your business. If you want shoppers texting a store number, that’s a different setup. This post is just so you can use Hermes from your pocket.
If you haven’t got a box yet, grab a Hermes Agent VPS from NameHero. Hermes is already on it.
John is the COO of NameHero and is an entrepreneurial, data-driven digital marketer and business operator with +16 years of experience across many different marketing channels, industries and strategies (B2C & B2B).
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