Guide

Using a Claude Pro/Max Subscription with Hermes Agent

Short answer: you can't, and you shouldn't try. Anthropic prohibits third-party services from routing requests through Claude Pro or Max plan credentials, and enforces it without warning. Here's the policy in full — and the supported way to run Claude models on your Hermes instance.

Running OpenClaw instead of Hermes? See the OpenClaw Claude subscription guide.

What People Are Trying to Do

Hermes Agent's Anthropic provider reads a Claude Code subscription token from the CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN environment variable. The idea is to set it and have Claude turns draw on subscription quota you're already paying for, instead of the pay-per-token Anthropic API. It's a reasonable thing to want, and the provider still reads the variable — which is why the question keeps coming up. Anthropic has closed it off from their side.

Is this allowed? No — and we do not offer this connection. Anthropic's Claude Code legal and compliance policy states that OAuth authentication is “intended exclusively” for ordinary use of Claude Code and other native Anthropic applications, and that Anthropic “does not permit third-party developers to offer Claude.ai login or to route requests through Free, Pro, or Max plan credentials on behalf of their users.” That is exactly what feeding a subscription token to a hosted Hermes instance would do. Anthropic enforces this server-side and “may do so without prior notice” — including disabling your Claude account. Use an Anthropic API key instead: same Claude models, explicitly the supported path, billed per token.

Why We Don't Offer a Subscription Connection

Wiring the environment variable would be the easy part. The reason we don't is that it wouldn't actually work, and the cost of trying lands on you rather than on us. Anthropic enforces this at the API layer: since January 2026, subscription tokens used outside Claude Code are rejected with “this credential is only authorized for use with Claude Code,” and there are credible reports of accounts being restricted over it. Risking a $20/mo Pro plan — or a $100–200/mo Max plan — for a connection that gets refused anyway is a bad trade, and not one we're willing to put in front of you.

This is a genuine difference between vendors, not a limitation of Hermes. Our ChatGPT subscription connection exists because OpenAI publishes no equivalent prohibition. Anthropic does, in writing, naming third-party developers specifically.

The Supported Path: An Anthropic API Key

An API key from the Claude Console is the authentication method Anthropic explicitly directs developers to. It runs the same Claude models on your Hermes instance, with no account risk and no policy ambiguity.

Create a key at platform.claude.com and copy the sk-ant-api03- value.
Open API Keys in your dashboard, paste it into the Anthropic API Key card, and click Save.
Set your agent's model to a Claude model — see the table below — and message your bot to confirm Claude replies.

Full walkthrough: Hermes Agent + Anthropic API key.

If you'd rather not add a key at all, every plan includes AI credits and free models out of the box — you can deploy and start chatting without connecting anything.

Available Models

Model ID	Model	Best For
`anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6`	Claude Sonnet 4.6	Fast, all-purpose
`anthropic/claude-opus-4.8`	Claude Opus 4.8	Most capable, complex reasoning

Important Notes

Prohibited by Anthropic: routing a hosted third-party agent through Pro/Max plan credentials is not permitted, is enforced server-side without notice, and can cost you the Claude account itself. An Anthropic API key carries none of that risk.
Running Claude Code yourself is fine: the policy restricts third-party services acting on your behalf, not where you run Anthropic's own CLI. Using the real claude binary on your own machine or your own server is ordinary use. The problem is handing the credential to someone else's harness.
Subscription caps wouldn't suit an always-on bot anyway: Claude plans enforce a 5-hour rolling window plus a weekly total. An agent answering messages around the clock burns those far faster than interactive use, so even setting policy aside, per-token billing is the better fit.

Other Ways to Bring Your Own Key

Anthropic API key — Pay-per-token, no subscription limits
ChatGPT subscription — Use GPT-5.6 via your ChatGPT Plus/Pro plan

Or skip API keys entirely — OpenClaw Launch includes AI credits and free models out of the box.

Common Questions

I already pasted a subscription token somewhere. What should I do?

Revoke it. Sign in at claude.ai and remove the authorization, then generate a Console API key for anything automated. A token from claude setup-token is valid for about a year, so an old one left in a third-party tool keeps carrying that risk until you revoke it.

Does this affect the ChatGPT subscription connection?

No. That one remains available — OpenAI publishes no equivalent restriction on using a Plus or Pro plan through a third-party client. See the ChatGPT subscription guide.

Will an Anthropic API key cost much more?

For a typical always-on bot, usually less than you'd expect: you pay for the tokens a conversation actually uses rather than a flat monthly fee. Claude Haiku handles routine replies cheaply, and you can reserve Sonnet or Opus for harder turns.