Connect Hermetiq to your AI agent

Prerequisites

You need access to a Hermetiq project receiving BEP events. Sign in to the matching Cloud or customer-managed dashboard before the first MCP authentication flow.

Cloud Managed Builds and Cloud Intelligence use Hermetiq-hosted intelligence. On-Prem Managed Builds and On-Prem Intelligence use intelligence in your environment. Choose the MCP endpoint for your intelligence deployment, even when your Buildbarn runs elsewhere.

The Hermetiq AI plugin combines the remote MCP server with a Bazel and Buildbarn skill that guides the agent toward the appropriate build, cache, profile, RBE, cost, test, or infrastructure queries.

What the agent can access and change

Hermetiq supplies the build evidence available to your project. Bazel BEP anchors the invocation; cache, completed-action, profile and infrastructure investigations require their corresponding connected data sources.

Your coding client edits repository files and runs commands using the access you grant it. Review its proposed changes and rerun the affected build or tests; an MCP connection alone does not grant repository or terminal access.

MCP results enter the connected client’s context. Model inference and any further data sharing follow that client and provider’s configuration. Hosting Hermetiq on-prem does not automatically keep an external coding client’s inference on-prem. Review the deployment data boundary before connecting sensitive build data.

Claude Code

Run these slash commands inside Claude Code to install the plugin and load its skills:

/plugin marketplace add Hermetiq/hermetiq-ai-plugin
/plugin install hermetiq@hermetiq
/reload-plugins

The plugin configures the MCP server. On first use, follow the authentication flow for your Hermetiq account. Use /mcp to re-authenticate if the connection expires or is denied.

Invoke the build-analysis skill with /hermetiq:hermetiq, or ask a build question naturally. The plugin also includes on-prem-gke-install for teams installing Hermetiq on GKE.

Claude Desktop

For an individual account, open Customize → Connectors, add a custom connector, and enter https://mcp.cloud-usc1.hermetiq.io. Team and Enterprise owners manage organization connectors under the organization’s settings.

Package the build-analysis skill, then upload hermetiq.zip under Customize → Skills:

git clone https://github.com/Hermetiq/hermetiq-ai-plugin
cd hermetiq-ai-plugin/plugins/hermetiq/skills
zip -r hermetiq.zip hermetiq/

Keep the folder structure: the archive must contain hermetiq/SKILL.md. Enable Code execution and file creation in Claude’s capabilities settings for skill use. The uploaded skill is invoked as /hermetiq.

For optional GKE installation assistance, run zip -r on-prem-gke-install.zip on-prem-gke-install/ from the same skills directory and upload that archive too.

Cursor and Windsurf

Both clients accept an HTTP MCP server entry. Use the project’s Quickstart-generated endpoint when it differs from Hermetiq Cloud.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hermetiq": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.cloud-usc1.hermetiq.io"
    }
  }
}

After saving the file, reload the client, enable the Hermetiq server, and complete the browser OAuth flow. Install the Hermetiq skill separately if the client supports reusable agent instructions.

Codex

Add the remote MCP server, authenticate, and verify the saved configuration:

codex mcp add hermetiq --url https://mcp.cloud-usc1.hermetiq.io
codex mcp login hermetiq
codex mcp get hermetiq

Then install the current Hermetiq skill at the repository scope so teammates can review and share the same instructions:

git clone https://github.com/Hermetiq/hermetiq-ai-plugin
mkdir -p .agents/skills
cp -R hermetiq-ai-plugin/plugins/hermetiq/skills/hermetiq .agents/skills/hermetiq

This installs the skill for the current repository. For optional GKE installation assistance, copy the installation skill into the same scope:

cp -R hermetiq-ai-plugin/plugins/hermetiq/skills/on-prem-gke-install .agents/skills/on-prem-gke-install

Codex detects skills in .agents/skills automatically. Start a new session after installation; restart Codex only if the skill does not appear.

Verify your first build query

Copy a build URL from your Hermetiq dashboard and replace the placeholder below. Use a build you can already open in the selected project.

Use the Hermetiq skill to inspect:
<Hermetiq build URL>

Confirm the project and build status.
Report duration and invocation ID.
Which telemetry is available?

A successful query returns the actual invocation and build result. Check that the project, status, and duration match the dashboard. A saved MCP configuration alone does not confirm access to build data.

If access is denied, re-authenticate against the matching deployment. If no build is available, follow the first-build verification steps. Additional cache, action, profile, and infrastructure answers depend on the data sources connected to that project.

Available workflows

The server exposes guided prompts as well as lower-level tools. Availability can vary with the project’s data sources and server configuration.

Natural-language requests work too: “Why did my latest build slow down?”, “Show cache-miss trends for the last seven days,” or “Which targets are most expensive to execute remotely?”

Prompts are guided workflow templates rather than tools. Lower-level tools and resources remain available for questions that do not map to one prompt.

AI-assisted Bazel setup

Hermetiq Cloud Quickstart can expose a Beta step that asks an MCP-connected agent to configure the current Bazel workspace. Download and secure the project credential helper first, then give the agent an explicit repository path.

Add the Hermetiq config group with remote cache enabled for my Bazel project in: <directory>

The agent uses setup_hermetiq_bazel and the project’s MCP Quickstart data to propose or apply the matching .bazelrc configuration. Review the diff before committing it.

Customer-managed endpoint

The plugin defaults to Hermetiq Cloud. Customer-managed deployments can point the plugin or MCP client at that deployment’s MCP endpoint.

export HERMETIQ_MCP_URL=https://mcp.hermetiq.your-domain.example

For manual clients, replace the cloud URL in the MCP configuration with the customer-managed endpoint and authenticate through that deployment’s configured identity provider. Do not sign in through the hosted dashboard unless your administrator specifically directs you there.