--- title: Asking Hermes id: hermes.chat description: "Ask Hermes a question about your business from the command palette, which opens on every page of the app." lastUpdated: 2026-10-16 order: 10 --- Who can do this: anyone in the organisation, on the Early Access plan. ## What it does Ask Hermes is 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 also takes a question. Under the box are four prompts to start from, reading Find a customer, Recent orders, Sales summary and Top customers. The list also has Chat history and shortcuts to the order, contact, inventory and settings pages. A gold ! on the Ask Hermes button means this screen has a quest you can start. A grey ? means a quest you paused can pick up here. Selecting ! puts up that quest's offer, and selecting ? resumes the paused quest. [Quests](/docs/hermes/quests.md) explains both. Type a question and press Enter, and the palette turns into a chat panel. Hermes replies there. On a job of three steps or more, the panel shows the plan Hermes is following. A Tools row under the reply lists the tools Hermes ran. Once Hermes has a subject for the conversation, the heading above it shows that subject. A link in a reply to a page of Lucrii opens in the same tab and closes the panel. A link to another site opens in a new tab. Lucrii keeps your conversations. Chat history reopens an earlier one where you left it. Select New chat to start a fresh conversation. The old one stays. ## Before you start The button reads Ask Hermes only while your organisation has Hermes turned on in its general settings. It only replies on a plan that includes Hermes. Without that plan, the prompts and the ask items are unavailable. Sending a message then puts up Not on your plan, which asks you to upgrade. With Hermes off and quests on, the Ask Hermes button reads Search. It opens the page shortcuts and Browse quests, which opens your Quest Chart. Prompts and ask items are gone. With both off, it disappears. Messages stop at 10,000 characters. Ask a big job as several smaller questions. Opening Hermes from the page of an order, a contact, a contact location, an item or a location points the conversation at that record. Hermes then reads your questions against it. Switching to a different organisation clears your chat and its conversation, because 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. Before you ask anything, the panel lists your five most recent conversations under the prompts. Select View all for the rest. Hermes opens a page of the app, such as your Quest Chart, when you ask to go there. The panel then closes. Hermes only opens a page your role and plan let you use. A reply can arrive while the panel is closed or the tab is in the background. A small notification then says Hermes has finished responding. After a turn that changes records, the page behind the panel reloads to show them. It does not reload while you have a form open on it. ## Related - [What Hermes can do and change](/docs/hermes/tools.md): Ask Hermes to read your records, or to create and change orders, contacts, items, stock, notes, tasks and boards for you. - [What Hermes remembers](/docs/hermes/memory.md): Give Hermes facts and nicknames to keep, and it reads them back in later conversations. - [Hermes credits and spending limits](/docs/hermes/credits-and-limits.md): Track the credits Hermes uses against your monthly allowance, and set a spending limit on what your organisation spends beyond it. - [Quests](/docs/hermes/quests.md): Follow Hermes through a job in short steps. He lights up the control a step is about and moves on when you do what it asks. ## Changes - [Opening a record or a link from Hermes](/changelog/2026-10-16#2026-10-16-opening-a-record-or-a-link-from-hermes) - 2026-10-16 - [Help pages for every feature](/changelog/2026-09-30#2026-09-30-help-pages-for-every-feature) - 2026-09-30 - [Opening a page from Hermes](/changelog/2026-09-30#2026-09-30-opening-a-page-from-hermes) - 2026-09-30