Tool Use - AI Conversations

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Hermes Agent has emerged as the open source AI agent that people are choosing. In this episode, we go beyond the hype to understand why. Through conversations with a co-founder of Nous Research, AI engineering veterans, and non-technical builders, we explore what Hermes can actually do today, where it falls short, and why the choice of which agent you use matters more than you think. From self-improving skills and three-layer memory to video dubbing workflows and CAD hardware sourcing. These are real people getting real value from an agent they own. But the deeper story is about what happens when your AI infrastructure is closed vs open. The decisions you make today about which tools you use are shaping the future of AI for everyone. Open source must win, and this episode explains why.

Follow the amazing guests
Karan - Co-founder & Head of Behavior, Nous Research: https://x.com/karan4d
Wolfram Ravenwolf - AI Evangelist and Creator Wolfbench: https://x.com/WolframRvnwlf
Robert Desmond — Founder & CEO, Farm Friend: https://x.com/twodogseeds
Evan Roach — Product Developer: https://x.com/evvaaannnn
Kat Winter - https://x.com/katspigeon

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00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:52 - Ambient Agents
00:05:12 - Why everyone is switching to Hermes Agent
00:17:53 - Real-World AI Agent Use Cases & Automations
00:29:59 - Why Open Source Must Win

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Tool Use is a weekly conversation with the top AI experts.

Check out www.ToolUsePodcast.com
Are AI web browsers falling short of the hype? Enter Rover, a revolutionary open-source AI agent that unlocks full autonomous workflows directly on your website with just a single script tag. In this episode, Arjun and Bhavani from rtrvr return to dive deep into how Rover uses a unique DOM-only approach to navigate, click, and type with subsecond latency. This innovative method completely bypasses slow screenshot-based models and outdated playwright or puppeteer scripts. We discuss the engineering secrets behind building smart DOM trees, why they crushed web benchmarks, and how Rover provides a powerful alternative to Google's Web MCP by keeping users engaged on your site instead of handing traffic over to external AI tools. Plus, learn how you can trigger complex agentic workflows via simple URL queries and why open-sourcing this technology is a massive win for the developer community.
Rover links:https://x.com/rtrvrairover.rtrvr.ai
Github: https://github.com/rtrvr-ai/rover
Rover Deep dive: https://www.rtrvr.ai/blog/10-billion-proof-point-every-website-needs-ai-agent
Benchmark: https://www.rtrvr.ai/blog/web-bench-results
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https://x.com/MikeBirdTech
https://x.com/rtrvrai
00:00:00 - Intro
00:03:05 - The DOM-Only Approach vs Screenshots for AI Agents
00:06:00 - Parsing HTML vs Markdown for Reliable LLM Data
00:11:47 - Handling Modals, iFrames, and Canvas Elements
00:15:32 - Implementing AI Guardrails and Extracting User Intent Data
00:28:04 - Rover vs Google Web MCP for Website Automation
00:31:25 - Triggering Autonomous AI Workflows via URL Queries
Subscribe for more insights on AI tools, productivity, and web automation.
Join the Tool Use Discord: https://discord.gg/PnEGyXpjaX
Tool Use is a weekly conversation with the top AI experts.

Join the Tool Use Discord: https://discord.gg/PnEGyXpjaX

In 2026, building an AI product is easier than ever, but getting traction and finding customers is the real challenge. In episode 82 of Tool Use, we sit down with Mano Tsiris, a serial exited founder and head of growth at Optimal AI, to break down the ultimate go-to-market strategy for technical founders and builders. Discover how to validate your startup ideas and talk to users before writing a single line of code. Mano shares his proven marketing playbook, including how to build in public on LinkedIn, repurpose content using AI tools like Gemini and Claude Code, and leverage IRL events to grow your network. Whether you are bootstrapping a side project or trying to get your first hundred users, this conversation is packed with actionable advice on distribution, audience building, and standing out in a crowded market.

Mano Tsiris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emanueltsiris
Optimal AI: https://getoptimal.ai

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00:00:00 - Intro
00:03:53 - Mindset Shift: From AI Builder to SaaS Seller
00:09:21 - Building in Public & Thought Leadership Strategies
00:11:21 - Repurposing Content & SEO with AI Tools
00:22:12 - A/B Testing & Finding Viral Hooks with Gemini
00:26:56 - Startup Ideation: How to Validate SaaS Ideas Before Building
00:37:02 - The Ultimate AI Marketing Tech Stack for Founders

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Tool Use is a weekly conversation with the top AI experts.

Join the Tool Use Discord: https://discord.gg/PnEGyXpjaX

Are you looking to optimize your AI applications with the best open source Large Language Models? This week, we explore open source AI, rapid model switching, and local self-hosting with Nathan Break, a Machine Learning Engineer at Mozilla AI and the creator of Any-LLM. Any-LLM is an open-source Python SDK that allows developers to seamlessly talk to any LLM provider through a single, unified interface.

Nathan demonstrates how developers can instantly swap between cloud-hosted AI providers and local models like Llamafile by changing just a single line of code. We dive into the growing capabilities of smaller, cost-effective models, how to reduce your API expenses, and the security benefits of running local AI on your own hardware. Nathan also introduces the Any-LLM Platform, a secure vault for managing API keys that tracks your token usage and enforces budget limits without ever accessing your prompt data. Finally, we check out Porch Songs, Nathan's open-source application that leverages LLMs to rewrite the lyrics of popular songs while maintaining their original rhyme schemes and chord charts.

Check out the projects mentioned in this episode:
Any-LLM GitHub: https://github.com/mozilla-ai/any-llm
Any-LLM Platform: https://any-llm.ai
Mozilla AI Blog Post: https://blog.mozilla.ai/introducing-any-llm-a-unified-api-to-access-any-llm-provider
Porch Songs GitHub: https://github.com/njbrake/porchsongs

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00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:25 - What is Any-LLM? Unified API for Open Source AI
00:05:32 - Benefits of Rapid Model Switching & Open Weight Models
00:11:06 - Any-LLM Python SDK Demo: Mistral Image Recognition
00:19:51 - Best Local AI Models: Llamafile, LM Studio & Local LLMs
00:24:38 - Any-LLM Platform Vault & Porch Songs App Demo
00:34:45 - AI Coding Agents, Claude Code & LLM Evaluations

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Tool Use is a weekly conversation with the top AI experts.

Join the Tool Use Discord: https://discord.gg/PnEGyXpjaX

Are you putting your business at risk by relying on big AI companies? In this episode of the Tool Use podcast, we dive deep into Sovereign AI with Max McCrea, founder of Greyhaven. We explore how businesses can maintain control of their private data while still benefiting from AI. Max breaks down the importance of self-hosting and building architectures that abstract away the model provider so you can easily swap them out. We also discuss practical AI architecture decisions, the dangers of un-sandboxed AI agents, and how to set up software-defined sandbox environments to reduce the attack surface. Whether you are curious about running open source models or replacing proprietary tools, this episode provides a guide to taking back control of your systems.

Guest Links:
https://greyhaven.co
https://maxmccrea.com
https://github.com/GreyhavenHQ

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https://x.com/MikeBirdTech

00:00:00 - Intro
00:12:17 - AI Context Management & Personal Data Indexing
00:20:40 - Open Source Replacements vs Proprietary SaaS Tools
00:29:14 - Corporate AI Data Harvesting & Vendor Lock-in
00:49:18 - LLM Orchestration & AI System Architecture
00:53:24 - Best Open Source AI Models for Self-Hosting

Subscribe for more insights on AI tools, productivity, and data sovereignty.

Tool Use is a weekly conversation with the top AI experts.