Hermes Agent tool ecosystem and MCP integration

All of Hermes's capabilities go throughToolsExposed to Agent.

Tools organized intoToolsetsToolsets are then combined intoPlatform configuration. This three-layer structure determines what the Agent can do in different scenarios:

工具（Tool）
  └── 工具集（Toolset）         # 相关工具的逻辑分组
        └── 平台配置            # 哪个平台加载哪些工具集
              └── 自定义工具集   # 你自己定义的组合

Toolkit management commands

# 打开 curses TUI，按平台开/关工具集
hermes tools

# 命令行列出所有工具和状态
hermes tools list

# 按名称启用或禁用工具集
hermes tools enable NAME
hermes tools disable NAME

Desktop version, in the left-side skills and tools menu:

Disable a tool set, and its tools from the system promptCompletely disappear, not just disabling—this directly saves tokens and prevents the Agent from misusing tools it shouldn't use.

Overview of built-in toolkits

Hermes provides 70+ built-in tools, divided into 28 tool sets.

The following introduces the most commonly used tool sets by category.

Files and system

Network and content

Agent Capabilities

Media creation

The following toolset requires Nous Portal or a corresponding API Key:

Custom toolkits

You can combine existing tool sets into project-specific tool sets in the configuration file:

Then specify at startup:

Six terminal execution backends

The terminal tool set supports six execution backends, determining the Agent's Shell commandsWhere to run, corresponding to different isolation levels and "blast radius".

Switch backend

Docker backend complete configuration example:

Security principle: the local backend gives the Agent the same file system permissions as you—suitable for personal machines, not suitable for production services. The docker backend is the simplest and most effective isolation method.

Dangerous command approval

By default, Hermes will request confirmation before executing potentially destructive commands:

Temporarily bypass approval in a session (use with caution):

MCP: connecting the external tool ecosystem

MCP (Model Context Protocol) allows Hermes to connect to external tool servers without modifying core code—GitHub, databases, file systems, browser stacks, internal APIs, etc.

Standard installation includes MCP supportNo extra steps required.

Two types of MCP servers

Local stdio server: Runs locally as a subprocess, communicating via standard input/output:

Applicable scenarios: tools are installed locally, and low-latency access to local resources is needed.

Remote HTTP server: directly connect to a remote MCP endpoint:

Applicable scenarios: tools are hosted remotely, or there is an MCP interface within the organization.

Nous curated MCP directory

Hermes has a built-in Nous-curated MCP directory with one-click installation:

The selector will display the current status of each entry:

n8n          available              管理和检查 n8n 工作流
linear       enabled                Linear 问题/项目管理（远程 OAuth）
github       installed (disabled)   GitHub 仓库 + PR 工具

Installation automatically completes three steps:

1. Prompt to configure an API key or guide OAuth login
2. Detect the list of tools exposed by the server
3. Displays a tool selection list, letting you decide which tools to enable

Tool filtering: only expose what you need

Each MCP server supports fine-grained tool filtering, reducing the attack surface available to the Agent:

FilterRulesUsage MCP originalTool name称（containconnectCharacter/Point），is not Hermes RegisterafterBottom划Lineversion.

Each MCP server generates an independent tool set

After configuring the GitHub MCP server, Hermes will automatically create it at runtimemcp-githubToolset.

You can manage it like a built-in tool set:

Reload MCP configuration

After modifying config.yaml, there is no need to restart the entire Agent:

If OAuth authentication is required, the 30-second timeout is not enough. It is recommended to add the server configuration first, then run hermes mcp login <server> in a new terminal to complete authorization (waiting up to 5 minutes).

Editor integration (ACP)

ACP (Agent Communication Protocol) lets Hermes run natively inside the editor—chat, tool activity, file diffs, and terminal commands are all rendered directly in the editor.

Supported editors: VS Code, Zed, and the entire JetBrains series.

Standard installation already includes ACP support:

If the full dependencies were not included at installation:

Editor integration communicates with the Hermes Agent using the stdio/JSON-RPC protocol, does not rely on a network connection, and is suitable for offline use.

Voice mode

Voice mode supports complete voice interaction across CLI and messaging platforms:

• Microphone recording input (faster-whisper local speech recognition, free)
• TTS voice replies (10 provider options available)
• Real-time conversation in Discord voice channels

Install and enable

TTS providers

Tool Gateway (Nous Portal subscription)

Subscribe via Nous Portal to get cloud implementations of four types of tools in one click, without needing to apply for API Keys separately:

Tool security: MCP environment variable isolation

MCP stdio subprocess receives aFiltered environmentPreventing accidental credential leakage.

By default, only the following variables are passed to the MCP process:

PATH, HOME, USER, LANG, LC_ALL, TERM, SHELL, TMPDIR（以及所有 XDG_* 变量）

All other environment variables (API Key, Token, password) are blocked.

Only variables explicitly declared in the env: block of the MCP server configuration will be passed:

In addition, MCP tool error messages are automatically sanitized before being returned to the LLM, with sensitive information replaced by[REDACTED]。

Quick reference for common commands