Getting the Most Out of Hermes Agent

MCP: Model Context Protocol

Plug external capabilities straight into every conversation.

? What is MCP and why it matters

MCP is an open standard that lets AI agents connect to external tools and data sources through a universal protocol — like USB-C for AI capabilities. Instead of writing custom integrations for every service, you install a server once and its tools appear natively in the agent.

• Universal plug-in system — one protocol, hundreds of community servers: filesystems, GitHub, databases, browsers, Slack, maps…
• Auto-discovery — Hermes connects at startup, discovers each server's tools, and registers them as first-class tools alongside built-ins. No bridging, no glue code.
• Available everywhere — MCP tools are injected into every platform's toolset automatically: CLI, desktop, Telegram, Discord, all of them.
• Security built in — stdio servers get a filtered environment (no accidental credential leaks), and credentials in error messages are auto-redacted before reaching the LLM.
• Resilient connections — persistent sessions with automatic reconnection (exponential backoff, up to 5 retries).

1 Install the prerequisites

pip install mcp          # MCP SDK (optional dep — without it MCP is disabled)
# Node.js needed for `npx` servers · uv needed for `uvx` (Python) servers

2 Find MCP servers

• Built-in curated catalog: hermes mcp catalog then hermes mcp install NAME — the easiest path.
• Official registry: browse github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers.
• Community hubs: search "MCP server" + your tool name on GitHub, npm (npx-based) or PyPI (uvx-based).
• Your own: any script speaking MCP over stdio, or any HTTP endpoint exposing /mcp.

3 Connect a server

Via the CLI (recommended):

hermes mcp add time --command uvx mcp-server-time
hermes mcp add github --command npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-github
hermes mcp add myapi --url https://mcp.example.com/mcp
hermes mcp list                # see what's configured
hermes mcp test github         # verify connectivity

Or edit ~/.hermes/config.yaml directly under the mcp_servers key:

mcp_servers:
  time:
    command: "uvx"
    args: ["mcp-server-time"]

  github:
    command: "npx"
    args: ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"]
    env:
      GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN: "ghp_..."   # only passed to THIS server

  remote_api:
    url: "https://mcp.example.com/mcp"
    headers:
      Authorization: "Bearer sk-..."
    timeout: 180

Restart Hermes — it connects, discovers tools, and registers them as mcp_{server}_{tool} (e.g. mcp_time_get_current_time). Then just ask naturally: "what time is it in Tokyo?"

Skills Available

Skills are Hermes' procedural memory — reusable playbooks loaded on demand. Search or filter the library below.

Create & Add New Skills

Three ways to grow your skill library — install from the hub, learn from experience, or author by hand.

01 Install from the hub

hermes skills browse           # interactive catalog
hermes skills search "pdf"     # find by keyword
hermes skills install ID       # by hub ID...
hermes skills install https://example.com/SKILL.md   # ...or direct URL
hermes skills tap add REPO     # add a GitHub repo as a skill source

02 Let Hermes learn it itself

The most natural way — just ask in conversation:

• "Remember how you did that as a skill." — after completing a tricky task, Hermes distills the workflow into a reusable SKILL.md.
• /learn <source> — learn a procedure directly from directories, URLs, or the current chat.
• Skills auto-load when relevant in future sessions — no manual invocation needed.

03 Author one by hand

Skills live in ~/.hermes/skills/<name>/SKILL.md (or a category subdirectory). Structure:

---
name: my-skill
description: "Use when X happens. Does Y."   # ← trigger lives here; first ~57 chars show in the index
version: 1.0.0
---

# My Skill

## When to Use
Clear trigger conditions.

## Steps
1. Numbered steps with exact commands.

## Pitfalls
Known gotchas and how to avoid them.

Then share it: hermes skills publish PATH publishes to the hub. Keep supporting files under references/, templates/, or scripts/ within the skill directory.

04 Managing skills over time

• hermes skills list | browse | search — explore installed + hub skills
• hermes skills install ID — from hub ID or a direct SKILL.md URL
• hermes skills tap add REPO — add a GitHub repo as a skill source
• hermes curator status — background lifecycle manager tracks usage, marks stale skills, archives (never deletes) unused ones
• hermes bundles — bundle several skills behind one /name alias

Token Efficiency

Context window is money and attention. Ranked tactics by impact.

★ Highest impact habits

$ Check your burn rate

/usage shows token usage and rate limits for the session. /insights 7 gives usage analytics over days. /status shows current context fill level — compress before you hit the ceiling.