# How to connect Alpaca to Hermes Agent (paste one key, 100 tools) > Connect Alpaca to Hermes with ClawLink: paste your Alpaca key once and 100 tools work from chat. No MCP server to run, nothing stored on your machine. Web version: https://claw-link.dev/hermes/alpaca Most guides for giving Hermes Agent Alpaca access start with registering your own OAuth app or pasting API keys into env files, then leave the token refresh and tool wiring to you. ClawLink gives Hermes a more practical Alpaca setup: pair once in the browser and your always-on Hermes agent can act on Alpaca for you, reading and doing real work on your behalf with no auth, token refresh, or tool wiring to build yourself. ## Setup It takes three steps to connect Hermes to Alpaca. 1. **Install ClawLink** — add the plugin to Hermes Agent once. 2. **Connect Alpaca** — one-click OAuth in the ClawLink dashboard. 3. **Use it from chat** — ask Hermes Agent in plain English. **Paste this into Hermes to set up ClawLink:** > Set up ClawLink for Hermes and tell me when it's ready. > 1. Install the plugin: `hermes plugins install ClawLink-HQ/hermes-plugin --enable` > 2. Start pairing with `hermes clawlink begin`. It prints an approval link, so show me the link and stop, don't wait. > 3. I'll approve it in my browser, then reply "approved". > 4. When I say approved, finish setup: `hermes clawlink finish` > 5. Then run `hermes clawlink test` and tell me whether ClawLink is ready. **Alternative for any agent (no plugin needed):** if the Hermes Agent plugin route isn't available or doesn't work, any AI agent with shell access can use the ClawLink CLI instead: ```bash npx -y @useclawlink/cli login # sign in via browser — no API key to paste npx -y @useclawlink/cli connect alpaca # connect Alpaca (browser OAuth) npx -y @useclawlink/cli actions alpaca # list available actions npx -y @useclawlink/cli run alpaca --input '' # execute (add --confirm for writes) ``` ### Install by command The prompt above walks Hermes through this. By hand, it is four commands and a browser approval: ```bash hermes plugins install ClawLink-HQ/hermes-plugin --enable hermes clawlink begin # prints an approval link — open it and approve hermes clawlink finish # after approving in the browser hermes clawlink test ``` Then connect Alpaca in the [ClawLink dashboard](https://claw-link.dev/dashboard) — paste your Alpaca API key once. Verify the connection by asking Hermes: > Pull the relevant data from Alpaca, summarize it in plain English, and point out anything that needs attention. ### Using a different agent? The Hermes plugin is one client of ClawLink's MCP server. Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or any agent that can run a shell command pairs with the same ClawLink account through the CLI: ```bash npx -y @useclawlink/cli login ``` `login` opens the same browser approval and stores a credential locally. Once Alpaca is connected in the dashboard, that agent calls the same 100 Alpaca tools over MCP. Full setup for MCP clients and shell agents: [connect apps to any AI agent](https://claw-link.dev/learn/connect-apps-to-any-ai-agent). ## Alpaca MCP for Hermes Looking for a Alpaca MCP server for Hermes Agent? ClawLink connects Alpaca to Hermes Agent and exposes 100 Alpaca tools your agent can call over [MCP](https://claw-link.dev/learn/what-is-an-mcp-server), with [hosted auth](https://claw-link.dev/learn/oauth-for-ai-agents) and nothing to run or maintain yourself. Using OpenClaw instead? The [OpenClaw Alpaca integration](https://claw-link.dev/openclaw/alpaca) works the same way. ## What the Hermes Agent Alpaca integration can do 100 Alpaca tools are ready for Hermes Agent once the account is connected. The 30 below are the ones people reach for most; your agent can call all 100. ### 30 of 100 Alpaca tools for Hermes | Tool | What it does | |---|---| | **Get account** `alpaca_get_account` | Retrieves account information for the authenticated Alpaca account | | **Get account activities** `alpaca_get_account_activities` | Retrieves account activities for the authenticated Alpaca account | | **Get account activities by activity type** `alpaca_get_account_activities_by_activity_type` | Retrieves account activities of a specific type for the authenticated Alpaca account | | **Get account activities2** `alpaca_get_account_activities2` | Retrieves account activities of one type for the authenticated Alpaca account using the v2 API | | **Get account config** `alpaca_get_account_config` | Retrieves the current trading account configuration settings for the authenticated Alpaca | | **Get account portfolio history** `alpaca_get_account_portfolio_history` | Retrieves the portfolio history statistics for an Alpaca trading account | | **Get account portfolio history1** `alpaca_get_account_portfolio_history1` | Retrieves the portfolio history statistics for a trading account | | **Get accounts positions** `alpaca_get_accounts_positions` | Bulk fetches all open positions for the authenticated account | | **Get all open positions** `alpaca_get_all_open_positions` | Retrieves all open positions for the authenticated Alpaca trading account | | **Get all orders** `alpaca_get_all_orders` | Retrieves all orders for an account based on specified filter criteria | | **Get alpaca data crypto us bars** `alpaca_get_alpaca_data_crypto_us_bars` | Retrieves historical OHLCV (Open, High, Low, Close, Volume) bars for crypto symbols in a | | **Get bars for multiple crypto symbols** `alpaca_get_bars_for_multiple_crypto_symbols` | Retrieves OHLCV (Open, High, Low, Close, Volume) bars for multiple crypto symbols | | **Get bars for multiple stock symbols** `alpaca_get_bars_for_multiple_stock_symbols` | Retrieves OHLCV (Open, High, Low, Close, Volume) bars for multiple stock symbols | | **Get bars for stock symbol** `alpaca_get_bars_for_stock_symbol` | Retrieves historical OHLCV (Open, High, Low, Close, Volume) bars for a single stock symbol | | **Get bars stocks** `alpaca_get_bars_stocks` | Retrieves historical OHLCV (Open, High, Low, Close, Volume) bars for a single stock symbol | | **Get calendar** `alpaca_get_calendar` | Retrieves market calendar information for trading days from the Alpaca Trading API | | **Get clock** `alpaca_get_clock` | Retrieves the current market clock information from the Alpaca Trading API | | **Get conditions** `alpaca_get_conditions` | Retrieves the mapping of condition codes to their names from Alpaca Markets API for the | | **Get crypto latest quotes** `alpaca_get_crypto_latest_quotes` | Retrieves the latest bid and ask prices for specified crypto symbols at a specific location | | **Get crypto perp latest bars** `alpaca_get_crypto_perp_latest_bars` | Retrieves the latest OHLCV (Open, High, Low, Close, Volume) bars for crypto perpetual futures | | **Get crypto perp latest order books** `alpaca_get_crypto_perp_latest_order_books` | Retrieves the latest bid and ask orderbook data for specified crypto perpetual futures symbols | | **Get crypto perp latest pricing** `alpaca_get_crypto_perp_latest_pricing` | Retrieves the latest pricing data for specified crypto perpetual futures symbols | | **Get crypto perp latest quotes** `alpaca_get_crypto_perp_latest_quotes` | Retrieves the latest bid and ask prices for specified crypto perpetual futures symbols for a | | **Get crypto perp latest trades** `alpaca_get_crypto_perp_latest_trades` | Retrieves the latest trade data for specified crypto perpetual futures symbols | | **Get crypto perps global latest bars** `alpaca_get_crypto_perps_global_latest_bars` | Retrieves the latest OHLCV (Open, High, Low, Close, Volume) bars for crypto perpetual futures | | **Get crypto perps global latest pricing** `alpaca_get_crypto_perps_global_latest_pricing` | Returns the latest pricing data for crypto perpetual futures symbols | | **Get crypto perps global latest quotes** `alpaca_get_crypto_perps_global_latest_quotes` | Retrieves the latest bid and ask prices for specified crypto perpetual futures symbols | | **Get crypto perps global latest trades** `alpaca_get_crypto_perps_global_latest_trades` | Retrieves the latest trade data for specified crypto perpetual futures symbols | | **Get crypto snapshots** `alpaca_get_crypto_snapshots` | Retrieves snapshots (latest trade, latest quote, minute bar, daily bar, and previous daily bar) | | **Get crypto us latest bars** `alpaca_get_crypto_us_latest_bars` | Retrieves the latest OHLCV (Open, High, Low, Close, Volume) bars for US crypto symbols | ## Example prompts **Get Account** > Pull the relevant data from Alpaca, summarize it in plain English, and point out anything that needs attention. **Get Account Activities** > Pull the relevant data from Alpaca, summarize it in plain English, and point out anything that needs attention. **Get Account Activities By Activity Type** > Pull the relevant data from Alpaca, summarize it in plain English, and point out anything that needs attention. **Get Account Activities2** > Pull the relevant data from Alpaca, summarize it in plain English, and point out anything that needs attention. ## ClawLink vs. building it yourself The alternative to ClawLink is usually manual API key setup plus your own token handling, permission troubleshooting, and tool plumbing for Hermes Agent. That is fine if you want to build and maintain the integration yourself. Most teams just want Alpaca working from chat. | | Manual | ClawLink | |---|---|---| | **Credential handling** | Collect, validate, store, and rotate the Alpaca API key yourself, then make sure every tool call uses the right account. | Users complete the hosted ClawLink setup once and the connected Alpaca account becomes available to the agent without you building credential management. | | **Ongoing maintenance** | You own refresh logic, permission debugging, environment config, and every provider-specific edge case for Alpaca. | ClawLink handles the repetitive integration plumbing so your team can focus on the workflow instead of the infrastructure. | | **Agent usability** | You still need to expose the right Alpaca actions to the runtime in a format your agent can reliably use. | 100 tools for Alpaca are already exposed through ClawLink, so the agent can read and act from chat immediately. | ## ClawLink vs. Composio Composio also exposes Alpaca to AI agents. It is developer infrastructure: Python and TypeScript SDKs, an MCP server, and a catalog past 1,000 apps, aimed at teams shipping agent products. ClawLink is built for Hermes Agent users instead. You install the plugin once, connect Alpaca in the browser, and the 100 tools above work from chat. There is no SDK and no config file, and the Alpaca key you paste at setup is stored server-side rather than kept in your environment. Choosing between them? Read the full [Composio alternatives](https://claw-link.dev/hub/composio-alternatives) comparison. ### Hermes paired but still can't use Alpaca Pairing is a two-step handshake: run `hermes clawlink begin`, approve the link in your browser, then run `hermes clawlink finish`. If you ran finish before approving, or the approval link expired, run `hermes clawlink begin` again to get a fresh link. Confirm the plugin was installed with `--enable`, then verify with `hermes clawlink test`. ### Connection succeeds but no tools appear Reconnect Alpaca from the dashboard, then start a fresh chat if the runtime still has the old tool catalog loaded. ### "Tool schema not loaded yet" error when calling Alpaca tools Alpaca tool schemas load on demand the first time a tool runs and are cached after that, so this error usually clears on its own: wait a few seconds and retry the same request. If every Alpaca call keeps failing with it in a fresh chat, reconnect from the dashboard, and contact support if it still persists — that pattern points to a configuration problem on our side, not something you can fix by reconnecting again. ### Alpaca returns 403 or "permission denied" on one action while others work Two usual causes. The connected account may not have access to the specific workspace, inbox, store, or project in the request — check that first. If access looks right, the agent may have sent a placeholder value (like "YOUR_ID" or an example id from documentation) instead of a real one: ask it to run a list or search tool first, then retry the action with a real id from those results. Most failures at this stage are one of these two, not ClawLink bugs. ### API key setup works but results look incomplete Double-check that the API key for Alpaca has the right scopes or account access. A valid key can still be too limited for some reads or writes. ### Is there a Hermes Agent Alpaca integration? Yes. ClawLink is the fastest way to connect Hermes to Alpaca: link your Alpaca account once in the browser and Hermes Agent can call the Alpaca API through 100 ready-made tools — no custom code or token handling. ### How do I connect Alpaca to Hermes with ClawLink? Install the plugin with `hermes plugins install ClawLink-HQ/hermes-plugin --enable`, then pair once: run `hermes clawlink begin`, approve the link in your browser, and run `hermes clawlink finish`. Connect Alpaca in the dashboard and Hermes can use it from the next message — no config files, and the Alpaca key you paste is stored server-side instead of in your environment. ### How long does it take to connect Alpaca to Hermes Agent? About two minutes. Sign in, click Connect next to Alpaca in the dashboard, authenticate, and Hermes Agent can use it from the next chat message. ### Why use ClawLink instead of wiring Alpaca up myself? The alternative to ClawLink is usually manual API key setup plus your own token handling, permission troubleshooting, and tool plumbing for Hermes Agent. That is fine if you want to build and maintain the integration yourself. Most teams just want Alpaca working from chat. ### Hermes paired but still can't use Alpaca Pairing is a two-step handshake: run `hermes clawlink begin`, approve the link in your browser, then run `hermes clawlink finish`. If you ran finish before approving, or the approval link expired, run `hermes clawlink begin` again to get a fresh link. Confirm the plugin was installed with `--enable`, then verify with `hermes clawlink test`. ## Related - [Hermes Stripe integration](https://claw-link.dev/hermes/stripe) — Manage payments, customers, and invoices - [Zoho Books tools](https://claw-link.dev/hermes/zoho-books) — Organize finances, invoices, bills, and accounting - [Ramp](https://claw-link.dev/hermes/ramp) — Read cards, transactions, bills, and reimbursements, and file receipts