Hermes Agent REA plugin: MCP + skill without editing config.yaml

On 2026-10-15T14:16:55Z, Teknium (@Teknium — cofounder / lead engineer, Hermes Agent @NousResearch) announced an official Hermes Agent plugin that ships the REA MCP plus a Skill for using it more effectively. Docs: hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/plugins/rea. This rea.run page is the operator guide: install steps, pins, tool counts, wait budgets, and the disclosure list — not a remix of viral “most dangerous repo” framing. Chinese: /zh/blog/hermes-agent-rea-plugin/.

Why this page exists

Hermes users previously had to wire REA by hand (npx rea-agents setup --client hermes or a manual mcp_servers block). The official plugin is a portable Agent Plugins v1 package (mcp.json + skills/) from the Nous catalog. One install registers a pinned [email protected] stdio server and loads an adapted reverse-engineer-anything skill. Primary SEO phrases this page targets: Hermes REA, Hermes Agent REA plugin, REA MCP Hermes.

Sourced snapshots

X metrics and GitHub stars move. Values below are labeled snapshots from 2026-10-16 (UTC+8 lab) unless a row names another timestamp.

Arithmetic on the X snapshot only: bookmarks minus likes = 1712 − 1671 = 41 (saved slightly more often than liked in this snapshot). Do not invent engagement rates beyond that.

What one install ships

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rea": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "[email protected]", "mcp"],
      "env": { "REA_GHIDRA_STARTUP_TIMEOUT_MS": "900000" }
    }
  }
}

The JSON above is the public mcp.json shape (schema agent-plugins.org 1.0.0). Prefer installing from the catalog rather than hand-copying forever — catalog re-pins are reviewed.

Install checklist

1. Confirm Hermes ≥0.22.0 (prefer ≥0.22.1 if you need the published per-server deadline story from PR #138225).
2. Put Node.js 22.19+ / 24.11+ / 26+ on PATH with npx. Docs: Node 23 and 25 are unsupported for REA.
3. Install and enable:
4. ```bash
5. hermes plugins install rea
6. hermes plugins enable rea
7. ```
8. Start a new Hermes session after enable (old sessions will not see the MCP server).
9. Ask with an absolute path you are allowed to inspect, e.g. inspect an app you own and explain one feature.
10. For native decompilation, BYO Ghidra+JDK, Hopper, or IDA. JADX/Java for Android code; Binwalk/Unblob for firmware; TShark / sigrok / WABT for their formats. REA does not install engines; the skill tells the agent not to either.
11. Do not also run npx rea-agents setup --client hermes — that writes mcp_servers.rea into config.yaml and replaces this plugin’s pinned server.

Capability vs wait-budget table

Native timing examples (upstream observations — one Linux host)

Plugin README (WinSCP 6.7, static, never launched):

Treat these as cited observations, not SLAs. Pseudocode is decompiler output, not original source — cross-check consequential claims with assembly and references.

Tool naming and discovery

About 170 tools from REA 6.4.0 appear as mcp__rea__<tool> (mcp__rea__open_binary, mcp__rea__analyze_function, mcp__rea__analyze_javascript_application, mcp__rea__inspect_android_package, …). Hermes keeps them behind on-demand tool search so the visible tool list stays small. Six MCP prompts remain available through the server’s prompt tools. Community list timing for 6.4.0 (139→170 tools) lives on /blog/rea-linux-startup-benchmarks/ — that discussion does not measure Hermes plugin latency.

Disclosure: tools that run or change something

Most REA tools only read paths you name. Hermes does not prompt before the following; the bundled skill tells the agent to ask first and to skip them in unattended runs:

Analyse untrusted programs in an environment you chose. Docs: REA sends no telemetry; network use is for the target you point at (debug endpoint, device, or source maps a browser capture fetches).

Version pinning policy

When rea.run teaching pages mention 6.5.0, that is a site pin for other clients (/blog/rea-agents-6-5-0/). This Hermes plugin’s public mcp.json still pins 6.4.0 until Nous re-pins. Do not “helpfully” edit the plugin to @latest.

Tone note on the quoted viral post

Teknium’s announcement quotes a separate viral article post that uses “most dangerous” marketing language. Operators should keep Evidence, authorization, and BYO engines as the primary story. Stars and impressions are discovery only (/blog/evaluating-rea-claims/). This page does not repeat crack-style promises.

Operator FAQ

Compliance

• Authorized / own / open / clean-room targets only (/compliance/, /faq/legal-boundary/).
• Official install sources: Hermes catalog + npm [email protected] + vendor engines. No repacks or cracks.
• Mutating capture/ADB/export tools need a human in the loop — especially unattended jobs.
• rea.run is a community guide (low-key footer disclaimer). Not affiliated with Nous Research, Teknium, or morluto.
• Images under /media/blog/hermes-rea/ are public announcement / docs / repo banner assets.

Sources

• Docs: Hermes REA plugin
• Package: hermes-official-plugins/rea (mcp.json, plugin.json, README)
• Catalog PR: hermes-agent#138225 (merged 2026-10-15T02:45:02Z, author teknium1)
• X: @Teknium/status/2110736682207355062
• REA upstream: morluto/rea · /docs/install/ · /docs/clients/ · /blog/rea-agents-6-4-0/
• Chinese twin: /zh/blog/hermes-agent-rea-plugin/

Related on rea.run