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Asking Hermes

Last Updated: September 30, 2026

Who can do this: anyone in the organisation, on the Early Access plan.

What it does

Ask Hermes sits at the top right of every page in the app, while Hermes or quests are turned on. Selecting it opens a palette with one box at the top. The box filters the list below it, and it takes a question. Under the box are four prompts to start from, reading Find a customer, Recent orders, Sales summary and Top customers. Under the box are also an entry for chat history and shortcuts to the order, contact, inventory and settings pages.

The button can show a gold ! for a quest to start on this screen, or a grey ? for a paused quest to resume here. Selecting ! puts up that quest’s offer, and selecting ? resumes the paused quest.

Typing a question and pressing Enter turns the palette into a chat panel. Hermes replies there. While it works, the panel shows the plan it is following on a job of three steps or more, and a Tools row for each record it read or changed. A subject appears in the heading above the conversation once Hermes has one for it.

A conversation is kept. Chat history reopens an earlier one where you left it, and New chat starts a fresh conversation without disturbing the old one.

Before you start

Ask Hermes only shows while your organisation has Hermes turned on in its general settings, and it only replies on a plan that includes Hermes. Without that plan, the prompts and the ask items are unavailable, and the panel asks you to upgrade. With Hermes off and quests on, the same button reads Search and opens the page shortcuts and Browse quests, which opens your Quest Chart, without the prompts or ask items. With quests off too, the button disappears.

One message can be up to 10,000 characters long. A big job is best asked in smaller pieces, one at a time.

Opening Hermes from an order’s page points the conversation at that order, so your questions are read against it. Switching to a different organisation clears your chat and its conversation, since an answer from one organisation does not apply in another.

How to use it

  1. Select Ask Hermes, or press the keyboard shortcut shown beside it.
  2. Type your question, or choose one of the prompts.
  3. Press Enter. The panel switches to the conversation and Hermes starts work.
  4. Keep typing in the box at the foot of the panel to carry on. The square button beside it stops Hermes mid-reply.
  5. Press Escape to go back to the palette, or select the arrow at the top left of the panel.

To reopen an earlier conversation, select Chat history and pick it from the list. Under the prompts are the five most recent conversations, and View all opens the rest.

Hermes opens a page of the app, such as your Quest Chart, when you ask to go there. The panel closes as the page opens. Hermes only opens a page your role and plan let you use.

You get a small notification when a reply arrives while the panel is closed or the tab is in the background. After a turn that changes records, the page behind the panel reloads to show them, unless you have a form open on it.

  • What Hermes can do and change: Hermes reads your records to answer, and creates or changes orders, contacts, items, stock, notes, tasks and boards when you ask it to.
  • What Hermes remembers: Hermes keeps the facts and nicknames you give it and reads them back in later conversations.
  • Hermes credits and spending limits: Hermes work is metered in credits against a monthly allowance, and a spending limit caps what your organisation spends beyond it.
  • Quests: Hermes walks you through a job one step at a time, lighting up each control and moving on when you do what the step asks.

Changes