MCP Quickstart

MCP Quickstart

Overview

Get MCP running with Hermes Agent in under 5 minutes. This is the fast path - for deep understanding, load mcp-master skill.

1. Verify Prerequisites

# Check Python
python --version  # Need 3.10+

# Check pip mcp package (optional, for HTTP servers only)
pip install mcp

2. Add MCP Servers to Config

Edit ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

mcp_servers:
  # Time tool - get current time in any timezone
  time:
    command: "uvx"
    args: ["mcp-server-time"]

  # Content writer - generate multi-platform content (from mcp-skill project)
  content_writer:
    command: "python"
    args: ["C:/Users/FengQ/mcp-skill/servers/mcp-content-writer/server.py"]

3. Restart Hermes

# CLI mode
hermes

# Or TUI mode
hermes --tui

4. Verify MCP Tools Are Available

Start a conversation and ask:

"What tools do you have?"

You should see mcp_time_* and mcp_content_writer_* tools in the list.

5. Try It Out

"Generate a Xiaohongshu post about OpenClaw"

The agent will call mcp_content_writer_generate_article with platform="小红书".

5-Minute Setup Script

# Quick setup for the mcp-skill project servers
python C:/Users/FengQ/mcp-skill/servers/mcp-content-writer/server.py &
python C:/Users/FengQ/mcp-skill/servers/mcp-knowledge-base/server.py &
python C:/Users/FengQ/mcp-skill/servers/mcp-research/server.py &
echo "All MCP servers started!"

Common First Issues

"pip: command not found" → Install Python from python.org, ensure "Add to PATH" is checked

"uvx: command not found" → pip install uv then try again

Tools not appearing after restart → Check ~/.hermes/logs/agent.log for MCP connection errors

Next Steps

• Load mcp-master skill for deep protocol knowledge
• Browse C:/Users/FengQ/mcp-skill/research/ for detailed docs
• Create your own MCP server using the template at C:/Users/FengQ/mcp-skill/templates/