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Public Signal Labs

Setup guide

Use Public Signal in Hermes

Give your Hermes agent Public Signal's Instagram research tools.

Connection address (MCP URL)

https://publicsignallabs.com/mcp

This address is public and is not a secret. You never need to open it in a browser: your app pastes it in during setup.

Before you start

For people already running a Hermes agent who are comfortable editing its configuration. This is a technical guide, not the beginner path.

  • An existing Hermes agent installation (the Nous Research agent product). This guide does not cover installing Hermes itself.
  • A Hermes version that supports remote MCP servers with OAuth sign-in. Update first if yours only offers local commands.
  • A Public Signal account whose credits you want research to use.
  • Comfort editing a configuration file or running CLI commands. Beginners should start with Claude or the hosted agent instead.

Effort: About 10 minutes. Take it one step at a time; nothing here runs research or spends credits until you send the first request yourself.

Steps

  1. Add Public Signal to the Hermes MCP configuration

    Open ~/.hermes/config.yaml in a text editor. Add the public-signal entry below under mcp_servers. If that section already exists, add only the new entry alongside your other servers; do not replace your configuration. Keep the YAML indentation.

    Public Signal uses browser sign-in. Do not add API keys, tokens, or extra headers.

    Hermes configuration

    mcp_servers:
  public-signal:
    url: https://publicsignallabs.com/mcp
    auth: oauth

    You should now see: Your configuration contains a Public Signal remote server entry.

  2. Sign in through the Hermes login flow

    Open a fresh terminal outside the running Hermes chat and run the command below. Sign in with the Public Signal account whose credits you want to use, review the access request, and approve it. Keep the terminal open until login finishes.

    Hermes login command

    hermes mcp login public-signal

    You should now see: Hermes reports the Public Signal server as authenticated.

  3. Confirm the tools are available

    Run the connection check below in the terminal. Then start a new Hermes session, or type /reload-mcp in an existing Hermes chat, to load the authenticated tools.

    Hermes connection check

    hermes mcp test public-signal

    You should now see: Public Signal tools are listed as available to your agent.

  4. Try one small first request

    Ask your agent the bounded first request from this guide when you are ready. This performs live research and uses Public Signal credits.

    You should now see: You receive a short profile summary with a source link.

Your first request

Copy the request below and send it in your app when you are ready. It asks for exactly one profile, so you can confirm the connection without starting a large search. Running it uses Public Signal credits, and your app may have its own usage charges.

First request (copy, then send in your app)

Using Public Signal, look up the public Instagram profile @natgeo. Summarize its bio and follower count, and include its profile link. Use only one profile lookup; do not fetch follower lists or expand the research.

Keep it switched on

  • Hermes exposes MCP tools to the agent once the server is authenticated; check your agent's tool list in each session.
  • Keep the server entry enabled while you want the agent to use it.

Next, bring your own campaign brief and ask for a small evidence-backed shortlist. Build your first creator shortlist walks through that.

If something goes wrong

  • Sign-in does not stick between sessions: Update Hermes to the current release, remove the stored credentials for this server if the CLI reference describes that step, and sign in again. Some older versions did not persist OAuth logins.
  • The tools do not appear: Confirm the URL and YAML indentation match step 1, run hermes mcp login public-signal again, then use /reload-mcp inside Hermes.
  • I connected it, but nothing happens: Make sure the agent session actually has the Public Signal tools attached, then retry the bounded first request rather than a broad autonomous search.

Still stuck? Get connection help covers the common cases across every app, or write to support@publicsignallabs.com.

Remove the connection

  • Remove only the public-signal entry from ~/.hermes/config.yaml, then remove its saved token file ~/.hermes/mcp-tokens/public-signal.json. Reload MCP or restart Hermes.
  • Deleting local credentials does not by itself revoke copies already issued. Contact support if you need help revoking access. Disconnecting does not restore used credits.

Good to know

  • Signing in lets your app use Public Signal on your behalf. Your Public Signal password is not shared with the app.
  • Research uses your Public Signal credits. Your AI app may have its own plan or usage charges, and hosted-agent chats also consume credits for model inference.
  • Public Signal uses browser sign-in, not API keys or manually pasted access tokens. Use automatic registration where offered; do not invent a client ID or secret.
  • Prefer to skip setup entirely? Open the agent and research here instead.