hermes mcp Command — Complete Reference & Examples

Overview

hermes mcp manages MCP (Model Context Protocol) server connections and exposes Hermes as an MCP server. MCP servers add extra tools that Hermes can invoke; running hermes mcp serve makes Hermes conversations available to other MCP clients.

hermes mcp <serve|add|remove|rm|list|ls|test|configure|config|login|reauth|picker|catalog|install>

Subcommands

serve — Run Hermes as an MCP server

hermes mcp serve
hermes mcp serve -v

Exposes Hermes conversations over MCP so other agents or IDEs can connect. Use -v for verbose stderr logging.

add — Add an MCP server

hermes mcp add filesystem --command npx --args @anthropic/mcp-server-filesystem /allowed/path
hermes mcp add api-server --url http://localhost:3000/sse
hermes mcp add pg --command npx --args @modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres postgresql://localhost/db --env PGUSER=hermes

Flags: --url, --command, --args, --auth, --preset, --connect-timeout, --env.

remove / rm — Remove an MCP server

hermes mcp remove filesystem
hermes mcp rm filesystem

list / ls — List configured servers

hermes mcp list
hermes mcp ls

test — Test a server connection

hermes mcp test filesystem

configure / config — Toggle tool selection

hermes mcp configure filesystem

login — Re-authenticate an OAuth-based server

hermes mcp login google

reauth — Re-authenticate one or all OAuth servers

hermes mcp reauth google
hermes mcp reauth --all

picker — Interactive catalog picker

hermes mcp picker

This is also the default when you run hermes mcp with no subcommand.

catalog — List Nous-approved MCPs

hermes mcp catalog

install — Install a catalog MCP by name

hermes mcp install n8n
hermes mcp install official/n8n

Common Scenarios

Add a filesystem server

hermes mcp add fs --command npx --args @anthropic/mcp-server-filesystem ~/projects
hermes mcp test fs

Run Hermes in an IDE

hermes mcp serve
# Then point your IDE's MCP client at the running Hermes server.

Manage OAuth credentials

hermes mcp login github
hermes mcp reauth --all

Browse and install from the catalog

hermes mcp catalog
hermes mcp install n8n

Tips

• add and remove (or rm) modify the active profile’s MCP configuration.
• Use --args as the last flag because it consumes everything after it.
• serve exposes Hermes as an MCP server, while add consumes external MCP servers.
• Test new servers with hermes mcp test <name> before relying on them in chat.
• OAuth servers can be refreshed with reauth; login forces a fresh flow for one server.