Ares

Hosted red-team toolkit for AI operators.

Works with:

The product runs at aresmcp.com. This repository is the public install surface only (manifests + skills). Server source is not published here.

What you get

Claude Code (detailed)

1. Install the plugin

In Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add kareeii/ares-mcp
/plugin install ares@ares-mcp

That installs:

• MCP connector pointing at https://aresmcp.com/mcp
• Surface skills: osint, recon, scan, network, cloud, re, forensics
• Methodology skills: web-app, api, ad-light, external-recon, people-osint

2. Authenticate (Claude Code UI)

Claude Code has a built-in MCP auth UI. Hermes does not — see Hermes section below.

1. Run /mcp
2. Select ares
3. Choose Authenticate (or run claude mcp login ares)
4. Browser opens aresmcp.com → Continue with Google → approve
5. Status becomes connected

Claude Code stores and refreshes OAuth tokens. Do not put Authorization headers or API keys in plugin config.

3. Manual HTTP connector (optional)

If you prefer not to use the marketplace plugin packaging:

claude mcp add --transport http -s user ares https://aresmcp.com/mcp

Still authenticate via /mcp afterward. Skills only come with the plugin install, not bare mcp add.

4. Use it in a Claude Code session

Examples:

Start an external recon engagement on example.com and give me an engagement report.

OSINT person Alice Example at corp.example — usernames and email patterns.

Scan https://app.example.com with nuclei critical/high and summarize findings.

Typical tool flow the agent should use:

1. engagement_create(name=…, primary_target=…)
2. Playbook or tools (playbook_full_external, playbook_osint_person, …)
3. job_status while async jobs run
4. engagement_summary / engagement_findings / engagement_report

5. Update / reload

/plugin marketplace update kareeii/ares-mcp

Then reinstall or update the ares plugin if prompted. Run /reload-plugins if skills do not refresh.

6. Claude Code troubleshooting

Hermes Agent (detailed)

Hermes does not have Claude Code’s /mcp → Authenticate UI.
Use Hermes config + hermes mcp login.

Full notes also live in hermes-plugin/README.md.

1. Add Ares to Hermes config

Edit ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

mcp_servers:
  ares:
    url: "https://aresmcp.com/mcp"
    auth: oauth
    enabled: true
    timeout: 300
    connect_timeout: 60

Rules:

• URL must include the /mcp path: https://aresmcp.com/mcp
• auth: oauth enables browser Google login via aresmcp.com
• Do not put a static Bearer token unless you intentionally use a dashboard JWT / operator key (see headless below)

Example file in-repo: hermes-plugin/config.example.yaml

2. Authenticate with Hermes (not /mcp)

hermes mcp login ares

What happens:

1. Hermes discovers Ares OAuth metadata
2. Browser opens aresmcp.com → Google sign-in
3. PKCE completes; tokens cached under ~/.hermes/mcp-tokens/ (mode 0600)
4. Later runs refresh automatically until re-login is needed

Verify:

hermes mcp test ares
# or interactive:
hermes mcp

You should see Ares tools listed.

3. Install Hermes skills

From a clone of this repo:

git clone https://github.com/kareeii/ares-mcp.git
cp -R ares-mcp/hermes-plugin/skills/* ~/.hermes/skills/

Or symlink individual skills:

ln -s "$(pwd)/hermes-plugin/skills/ares-recon" ~/.hermes/skills/ares-recon

Skills are prefixed ares-* and set mcp_server: ares so Hermes routes tool calls to this server.

Reload MCP after config/skill changes (/reload-mcp in-session if available, or restart Hermes).

4. Use it in Hermes

Start an external recon engagement on example.com and produce an engagement report.

Same engagement-oriented tool flow as Claude Code (engagement_create → playbook → engagement_report).

5. Headless / no browser

If the machine cannot open a browser, use a token from the aresmcp.com account flow (when available) or an operator key:

mcp_servers:
  ares:
    url: "https://aresmcp.com/mcp"
    enabled: true
    headers:
      Authorization: "Bearer <JWT_OR_KEY>"

Prefer auth: oauth + hermes mcp login when a browser is available.

6. Hermes troubleshooting

Shared product behavior (both clients)

Engagement memory

engagement_create → tools/playbooks → job_status → engagement_summary / engagement_report

primary_target accepts domain, URL, IP, email, phone, username, or person/org text.

Discovery & jobs

• search_tools / list_capabilities / get_tool_info / run_tool
• Async: job_status, list_jobs, get_findings, get_artifact
• Memory: engagement_* (assets, findings, facts, timeline, report, suggest_next)

Operator posture

Built for operator-led security engagements. The named target defines session scope; the agent is the execution partner. Platform policy still blocks private/metadata/self targets. No paid third-party OSINT API keys.

Repository layout (public)

.claude-plugin/          Claude Code marketplace manifest
plugin/                  Claude Code plugin + skills
hermes-plugin/           Hermes Agent manifest + skills + config example
README.md                This file
LICENSE

Automated releases merge managed install surfaces and preserve other contributor paths on this public repo.

Hermes surface originally contributed via community PR (waguriagentic) — thank you.

Links

• Product: https://aresmcp.com
• Docs: https://aresmcp.com/docs
• Privacy: https://aresmcp.com/privacy
• Terms: https://aresmcp.com/terms
• Hermes MCP guide: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/mcp