How to connect Gitea to Hermes Agent
Connect Gitea to Hermes with ClawLink: paste your Gitea key once and 19 tools work from chat. No MCP server to run, nothing stored on your machine.
GiteaAPI KEYMCPCommunity managed lightweight code hosting solution written in Go.. Once connected, Hermes Agent can read and act on Gitea from chat — pairing, token refresh, and tool wiring handled for you.
Most guides for giving Hermes Agent Gitea 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 Gitea setup: pair once in the browser and your always-on Hermes agent can act on Gitea 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 Gitea.
1Install and pair
Install the ClawLink plugin, then pair Hermes with a one-time browser approval:
hermes plugins install ClawLink-HQ/hermes-plugin --enable- 2
Connect Gitea
Paste your API key in the dashboard.
- 3
Use it from chat
Ask Hermes Agent: "What can you do with Gitea?"
Install by command
The prompt above walks Hermes through this. By hand, it is four commands and a browser approval:
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 testThen connect Gitea in the ClawLink dashboard — paste your Gitea API key once.
Verify the connection by asking Hermes:
Use Gitea to activitypub person and walk me through the result in plain English.
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:
npx -y @useclawlink/cli loginlogin opens the same browser approval and stores a credential locally. Once Gitea is connected in the dashboard, that agent calls the same 19 Gitea tools over MCP. Full setup for MCP clients and shell agents: connect apps to any AI agent.
Gitea MCP for Hermes
Looking for a Gitea MCP server for Hermes Agent? ClawLink connects Gitea to Hermes Agent and exposes 19 Gitea tools your agent can call over MCP, with hosted auth and nothing to run or maintain yourself. Using OpenClaw instead? The OpenClaw Gitea integration works the same way.
What the Hermes Agent Gitea integration can do
19 Gitea tools are ready for Hermes Agent once the account is connected.
All 19 Gitea tools for Hermes
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
Activitypub person gitea_activitypub_person | Retrieve the ActivityPub Person actor for a Gitea user |
Get general API settings gitea_get_general_api_settings | Retrieve the Gitea instance's global API settings including pagination limits and response size |
Get general attachment settings gitea_get_general_attachment_settings | Retrieve the Gitea instance's global settings for file attachments including enabled status |
Get general repository settings gitea_get_general_repository_settings | Retrieve the Gitea instance's global settings for repositories including feature flags for |
Get general ui settings gitea_get_general_ui_settings | Retrieve the Gitea instance's global settings for UI including default theme, allowed |
Get gitignore template info gitea_get_gitignore_template_info | Retrieve information about a specific gitignore template |
Get label template info gitea_get_label_template_info | Retrieve all labels from a specific label template |
Get license template info gitea_get_license_template_info | Retrieve information about a specific license template |
Get node info gitea_get_node_info | Retrieve the nodeinfo of the Gitea application |
Get signing key gitea_get_signing_key | Retrieve the default GPG signing key used by Gitea to sign commits |
Get version gitea_get_version | Retrieve the version of the Gitea application |
List gitignore templates gitea_list_gitignore_templates | Retrieve all available gitignore templates |
List label templates gitea_list_label_templates | Retrieve all available label templates |
List license templates gitea_list_license_templates | Retrieve all available license templates |
Org get all gitea_org_get_all | Retrieve a paginated list of all organizations in the Gitea instance |
Org list actions secrets gitea_org_list_actions_secrets | List all action secrets for an organization |
Render markdown gitea_render_markdown | Render a markdown document as HTML with configurable rendering modes and context |
Render markdown raw gitea_render_markdown_raw | Render raw markdown text as HTML |
Render markup gitea_render_markup | Render a markup document as HTML with support for multiple markup formats |
Try it: find the Gitea tool you need
Browse the 19 Gitea tools
Click any tool to see exactly what Hermes can do and copy a ready-to-use prompt.
Example prompts
Use Gitea to activitypub person and walk me through the result in plain English.
Pull the relevant data from Gitea, summarize it in plain English, and point out anything that needs attention.
Pull the relevant data from Gitea, summarize it in plain English, and point out anything that needs attention.
Pull the relevant data from Gitea, 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 Gitea working from chat.
| Manual | ClawLink | |
|---|---|---|
| Credential handling | Collect, validate, store, and rotate the Gitea API key yourself, then make sure every tool call uses the right account. | Users complete the hosted ClawLink setup once and the connected Gitea 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 Gitea. | 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 Gitea actions to the runtime in a format your agent can reliably use. | 19 tools for Gitea are already exposed through ClawLink, so the agent can read and act from chat immediately. |
ClawLink vs. Composio
Composio also exposes Gitea 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 Gitea in the browser, and the 19 tools above work from chat. There is no SDK and no config file, and the Gitea key you paste at setup is stored server-side rather than kept in your environment. Choosing between them? Read the full Composio alternatives comparison.
Troubleshooting
Hermes paired but still can't use Gitea
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 Gitea 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 Gitea tools
Gitea 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 Gitea 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.
Gitea 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 Gitea has the right scopes or account access. A valid key can still be too limited for some reads or writes.
FAQ
Is there a Hermes Agent Gitea integration?
Yes. ClawLink is the fastest way to connect Hermes to Gitea: link your Gitea account once in the browser and Hermes Agent can call the Gitea API through 19 ready-made tools — no custom code or token handling.
How do I connect Gitea 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 Gitea in the dashboard and Hermes can use it from the next message — no config files, and the Gitea key you paste is stored server-side instead of in your environment.
How long does it take to connect Gitea to Hermes Agent?
About two minutes. Sign in, click Connect next to Gitea in the dashboard, authenticate, and Hermes Agent can use it from the next chat message.
Why use ClawLink instead of wiring Gitea 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 Gitea working from chat.
Hermes paired but still can't use Gitea
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
GitHub tools
Manage repositories, issues, pull requests, and workflows
Hermes PagerDuty integration
Manage incidents, on-call schedules, and services
Hermes SafetyCulture integration
SafetyCulture (formerly iAuditor) is a workplace operations platform that enables teams to conduct digital inspections, manage audits, track issues, schedule tasks, and maintain compliance through mobile and web applications.