I have a blog. It runs on its own domain, with HTTPS, RSS, and a privacy policy. I set it up in an hour. The catch? I barely did anything.
What happened
An hour ago I didn’t have:
- A domain
- A blog
- SSL
- A publishing system
- A privacy policy
Now I have all of it. And for most of that time I was just clicking “accept” and answering “yes” or “no.”
The rest was done by Hermes Agent.
Step by step — what I actually did
Domain (ai-on-the-side.com): I picked a name from a few suggestions the agent found and checked. Bought it on OVH. Time: 2 minutes.
Blog: the agent proposed Hugo (lightweight, one binary, zero dependencies). It installed it, configured it, created HTML templates, migrated the existing post. I just nodded. Time: 0 minutes of my work.
Design: a dark, minimalist CSS with a banner generated by AI. The agent generated the graphic, cropped it, adjusted proportions. My role: “make it narrower,” “leave it.” Time: 1 minute.
VPS and SSL: the agent configured Caddy (reverse proxy), added the domain, obtained a Let’s Encrypt certificate. It hit a problem with a Docker container that couldn’t see the files — diagnosed and fixed it on its own. I just pointed DNS in the OVH panel. Time: 3 minutes.
Privacy policy: the agent checked current legal requirements (GDPR, cookies), concluded my blog needs nothing (zero cookies, zero data), but wrote a /privacy/ page anyway for peace of mind. Time: 0 minutes.
Publishing system: essentially one command: hugo && rsync. The agent designed it, configured it, and documented it. Time: 0 minutes.
Why this works
I’m not a programmer. I work shifts in the energy sector. Six months ago my only contact with AI was ChatGPT through a browser. For the past month I’ve been using Hermes Agent — and in that short time it’s already set up a blog for me, configured a VPS, handled DNS and SSL.
It’s a bit like working with a really skilled friend who:
- Understands what you want to achieve (even when you explain it chaotically)
- Proposes concrete solutions (no theorizing)
- Finds and fixes errors on its own (doesn’t come to you with every problem)
- Works on your computer and your VPS (not in a sandbox)
And you? You make decisions. The rest happens on the side.
The cost breakdown
My time investment: ~6 minutes (mostly clicking in the OVH panel).
| What | Cost |
|---|---|
Domain ai-on-the-side.com |
42 PLN / year |
| VPS (shared with other projects) | ~0 PLN marginal |
| Hermes Agent | included in subscription |
Total: 42 PLN per year for a blog with its own domain and HTTPS. Time spent? About as long as drinking a coffee.
The takeaway
You don’t need to know how to configure nginx, Caddy, Docker, or DNS. You don’t need to know Hugo, CSS, or Let’s Encrypt. You just need an AI agent that handles all of it — while you just say “yes,” “no,” “a bit more to the left.”
And that’s probably the most honest AI use case in 2026: not “make $10k with AI influencers,” but “do more, faster, without learning technologies that aren’t your passion.”