When Hermes starts acting weird, don’t start guessing. Start removing variables. Hermes has a really useful troubleshooting mode for exactly this: `hermes chat --safe-mode` Run the same task again. Safe mode temporarily strips away the major customization layers that could be affecting the result: • your `config.yaml` • project rules and SOUL • persistent memory • preloaded Skills • plugins • shell hooks • MCP servers If the weird behavior disappears, you just learned something important. Now you can narrow it down instead of randomly changing models, prompts, settings, or integrations. Test without your normal config: `hermes chat --ignore-user-config` Test without project rules, SOUL, memory, and preloaded Skills: `hermes chat --ignore-rules` You can combine them too. So the troubleshooting flow becomes pretty simple: 1. Reproduce the problem normally. 2. Try the same thing in safe mode. 3. If it changes, isolate config and rules separately. 4. Add your custom layers back until the problem returns. One small detail: `--ignore-user-config` skips `~/.hermes/config.yaml`, but credentials from `.env` can still load. So this is troubleshooting isolation, not a security sandbox. Safe mode does not tell you exactly what broke. It does something almost as useful. It quickly tells you which side of the fence to start looking on.