Google Chat — AI in Google Workspace | Easy Understand Hermes Agent

Imagine your AI assistant finally has a seat at the office table—right inside Google Chat, where your team already talks all day.

That’s exactly what Hermes Agent delivers. Instead of setting up a public web server, a tunnel, or wrestling with TLS certificates, you connect your bot to Google Chat the same way you’d plug in a pair of headphones: it just works. Hermes listens on a private subscription, and when someone messages the bot, it responds through the Chat REST API. No exposed ports, no firewall rules, no midnight “why is my URL down?” panics.

What You’ll Need

A Google Cloud project (free tier is fine)
A Google Workspace account (personal or work, with admin rights)
About 15 minutes

Step 1: Create a Google Cloud Project

Go to console.cloud.google.com and create a project. Note the project ID—you’ll use it everywhere. Think of it as your bot’s home address.

Step 2: Enable Two APIs

In APIs & Services → Library, enable:

Google Chat API
Cloud Pub/Sub API

Both are free for personal bot traffic. Click, enable, done.

Step 3: Create a Service Account (the Bot’s ID Badge)

Go to IAM & Admin → Service Accounts → Create Service Account. Name it hermes-chat-bot. Skip the project-level permissions—you don’t need them.

Then create a JSON key and download it. Store it somewhere safe:

mkdir -p ~/.hermes
mv ~/Downloads/hermes-chat-bot-key.json ~/.hermes/google-chat-sa.json
chmod 600 ~/.hermes/google-chat-sa.json

A common mistake: searching for a “Chat Bot Caller” IAM role. It doesn’t exist. Your bot’s authority comes from being added to a space, not from IAM roles. Don’t overthink it.

Step 4: Create the Pub/Sub Topic and Subscription

In Pub/Sub → Topics → Create topic, use hermes-chat-events as the topic ID. Then create a pull subscription:

Subscription ID: hermes-chat-events-sub
Delivery type: Pull
Message retention: 7 days

This subscription is where Google Chat drops incoming messages. Hermes pulls from it, like checking a mailbox.

Step 5: Connect Hermes Agent

Now the magic. Run:

hermes gateway setup

Pick Google Chat, and the wizard walks you through the rest. It asks for your project ID, subscription name, and the path to your service account JSON. That’s it.

The Result

You now have an AI bot inside Google Chat. Your team can @mention it, ask questions, trigger automations, or delegate tasks—all without leaving the chat window. No tunnels, no public IP, no certificate renewals.

Summary & Practical Tip

Hermes Agent turns Google Chat into a command center for your AI workflows. The setup is deliberately simple: a service account for identity, a subscription for listening, and the REST API for replying.

Practical tip: After you finish setup, test with a single direct message to your bot before adding it to a group space. If it replies, you’re golden. If not, check that your service account has the roles/pubsub.subscriber role on the subscription—that’s the #1 cause of silence.

Now go give your team an AI coworker that actually shows up to the meeting.