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Hermes × WhatsApp: My Brain-Dump Executor

I dump everything into my WhatsApp chat with myself. Now I have an AI agent that actually does something with it.

hermesAItech

🔎 Overview

Okay, let me show you something embarrassing: my WhatsApp self-chat 🙈.

It’s a total mess of random ideas, to-dos, bugs to fix, shows to watch, and stuff I want to learn. I type them in, feel productive for about five seconds, and then… never open them again. Sound familiar?

So I gave that chaos a job. I connected Hermes to WhatsApp using Baileys. Now Hermes reads my messages, figures out what they’re about, organizes them in Notion, and can even do the follow-up work for me 🤖.

The idea: WhatsApp is the inbox, Notion is the organized memory, and Hermes is the one who actually gets things done.

🗺️ How Everything Connects

flowchart TD
    A["Me: WhatsApp self-chat"] --> B["Baileys: WhatsApp bridge"]
    B --> C["Hermes agent"]
    C --> D{"What does this message need?"}
    D -->|Save it| E["Notion: to-dos, ideas, notes"]
    D -->|Schedule it| F["Google Calendar"]
    D -->|Research / make something| G["Docs, Drive, Sheets, Word, Canva"]
    G -->|Attach result link| E
    C --> H["Reply on WhatsApp with the result"]
Tool Role
WhatsApp + Baileys Where I send my brain dumps; Baileys connects the chat to Hermes.
Hermes Understands, sorts, researches, and takes action.
Notion Stores short-term to-dos, long-term to-dos, and ideas.
Google Calendar Handles plans with a date and time.
Google Drive / Docs, Sheets, Word, Canva Holds anything Hermes creates, with links saved back to Notion.

💬 How I Talk to It

No fancy prompts needed! I just start each message with a category and, if I want, add a mode:

todo: take the laundry
todo: check Claude Academy (research)
todo: hangout with a friend on Tuesday at 4
idea: a website that converts selfies to ASCII art (research)
idea: a short story about a girl and her past (simple)
watching: Daredevil S2 EP4
  • todo: Something I need to do. Hermes files it under short-term or long-term to-dos.
  • idea: Something I might build, write, or explore. It goes on the ideas list.
  • watching: A quick progress note. It can live in a notes area for now, or a proper watchlist later.
  • (research) Don’t just save it! Look into it and make something useful.
  • (simple) Just save it to Notion. No research, no generated files, no essays.

If I don’t add a mode, Hermes goes for the simplest useful action. Because not every 2 a.m. thought deserves to become a whole project 😂.

🔨 Message → Action

I send on WhatsApp Hermes does
todo: take the laundry Adds a short-term to-do in Notion.
todo: check Claude Academy (research) Saves the to-do, researches learning resources, and links a short summary or learning plan.
todo: hangout with a friend on Tuesday at 4 Prepares a Calendar event; asks if the date or time needs clarification.
idea: a website that converts selfies to ASCII art (research) Creates an idea entry, researches feasibility, drafts a mini project plan, and attaches the document link.
idea: a short story about a girl and her past (simple) Saves the idea as-is. No unnecessary AI essay.
watching: Daredevil S2 EP4 Records where I left off; a dedicated media tracker is an optional extension.

📒 What an idea looks like in Notion

Field Value
Title Selfie → ASCII Art Website
Database Ideas
Status Researched
Original message idea: a website that converts selfies to ASCII art (research)
Output Link to feasibility notes / project plan

My favorite part: the research doesn’t get lost in the chat. The result stays attached to the original idea in Notion, right where I’ll look for it ✨.

Here’s how it looks in action:

🔁 From Brain Dump to Done

  1. Capture: I send a message to my WhatsApp self-chat.
  2. Understand: Baileys passes it to Hermes, which figures out the category and any instructions like (simple) or (research).
  3. Organize: Hermes creates or updates the right Notion entry (short-term to-do, long-term to-do, or idea).
  4. Act: If needed, it researches the topic, makes a doc, spreadsheet, or design, or handles a calendar action.
  5. Link back: Anything it creates gets linked in the Notion entry, so future me can find it.
  6. Confirm: Hermes replies on WhatsApp with a short summary and any useful links.

📏 A Few Rules That Keep It Useful

Rule Why
Simple means simple. Not every random thought needs research.
Keep the original message. I can still see what I actually meant.
Put output links next to the idea. No hunting through old chats for generated work.
Ask when details are missing. Especially for dates, times, or actions involving other people.
Prefer a useful artifact over a wall of text. A mini-spec, checklist, spreadsheet, or draft is easier to act on.

💭 Why I Built It

I don’t need another note-taking app. Trust me, I’ve tried plenty 🫠. What I need is for my existing notes to go somewhere, and sometimes turn into actual work.

With this setup, I keep using the easiest input I already have (just texting myself on WhatsApp), while Hermes handles the boring parts: sorting, researching, creating, and linking everything back together.

My self-chat is still a mess, but now it’s a mess that gets things done :3