How to send SMS through SMPP from Hermes Agent
This guide explains how to connect Hermes Agent to Ozeki SMS Gateway's built in SMS MCP server, enabling the AI assistant to send and receive SMS messages through your own on-premises SMS gateway. You will learn how to install Ozeki SMS Gateway, create an MCP user account, generate an API key, register the MCP endpoint in Hermes Agent, and verify the setup by sending a test message.
Solution: How to send SMS from Hermes Agent
Hermes Agent connects to the SMPP SMS MCP Server through the MCP protocol, where Hermes Agent acts as the MCP client and Ozeki SMS Gateway acts as the MCP server. Ozeki SMS Gateway is installed on your local machine or server and connects to the SMS service provider over the internet using an SMPP client connection. When an SMS is sent, it first travels from Hermes Agent to the Ozeki SMS Gateway as an MCP tool call, and the gateway forwards it to the SMS service provider over SMPP, which delivers it to the recipient's mobile phone.
What is Hermes Agent?
Hermes Agent is an open-source autonomous AI agent developed by Nous Research. Unlike a simple chatbot, Hermes is a fully capable agent that can execute terminal commands, manage files, run scheduled tasks, and connect to messaging platforms such as Telegram or Discord.
What is an SMPP SMS MCP Server?
An SMPP SMS MCP Server is a standardized software bridge that uses the Model Context Protocol to connect AI assistants (like Claude) to an SMS gateway system such as Ozeki SMS Gateway, which in turn delivers messages to the mobile network over an SMPP client connection. It exposes tools like "send_message" or "list_incomings" that an AI can autonomously call to perform real-world texting tasks without custom coding. This allows users to simply ask an AI to "send John a reminder text" and have the AI securely execute the action through the server. The SMS MCP Server built into Ozeki SMS Gateway also makes receiving SMS messages possible.
Download Ozeki SMS Gateway
To use this solution you need to install the SMS Gateway on your system.
Download the software: SMS Gateway
https://ozeki-sms-gateway.com/p_727-download-sms-gateway.html
Steps to follow
You will need Hermes Agent installed on your system. If you have not set it up yet, follow our Hermes Agent installation guide.
- Install Ozeki SMS Gateway
- Setup the SMPP SMS connection
- Create an MCP user account
- Hermes Agent SMS MCP Server Config
- Add the SMS MCP Server config to Hermes Agent
- Send a test SMS
- Check the SMS in the SMS Gateway logs
Install Ozeki SMS Gateway
For a full tutorial on installing Ozeki SMS Gateway, check out our How to install Ozeki SMS Gateway on Windows guide.
Before you can use the SMS MCP Server, you need to install Ozeki SMS Gateway on your Windows machine or server. Download the installer zip file from the website, extract it, and run the executable to complete the installation. Once installed, the gateway will start automatically and its web-based management interface will be accessible from your browser.
Setup the SMPP SMS connection
For a full tutorial on setting up an SMPP Client connection, check out our SMPP Client Connection guide.
Before creating the MCP user, you need to connect Ozeki SMS Gateway to the mobile network by setting up an SMPP client. In the Connections panel, select Add new connection, and install a new SMPP client connection. Enter the host, port, and credentials provided by your SMS service provider, then save and activate the connection to bring the gateway online.
Create an MCP user account
For a full tutorial on creating an MCP User, check out our Create an MCP User guide.
Click Add new user/application, and select the MCP user type from the list. Enter a username and password for the account, then open the Advanced tab to generate an API key. Copy this key and store it in a safe location, as you will need it in the next steps.
Hermes Agent MCP server configuration
# Upgrade the MCP package in Hermes Agent's virtual environment
uv pip install --upgrade mcp --python $env:LOCALAPPDATA\hermes\hermes-agent\venv
# Hermes Agent configuration file location:
C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\hermes\config.yaml
# config.yaml: Replace {address} with your Ozeki SMS Gateway host IP
# Replace your-bearer-token with your API key
mcp_servers:
ozeki:
url: "http://{address}:9529/mcp"
headers:
Authorization: "Bearer your-bearer-token"
hermes mcp test ozeki
Example prompt
Send an SMS to +36301234567, the message should be "Hello from Hermes Agent".
Add the SMS MCP Server config to Hermes Agent
The following video shows how to add the Ozeki SMPP SMS MCP Server to Hermes Agent step-by-step.
Open a PowerShell terminal by searching for Terminal in the Start menu. The following steps require PowerShell as Hermes Agent is installed as a native Windows application (Figure 1).
Run the following command to upgrade the mcp package inside Hermes
Agent's virtual environment. This step is required because the default MCP
package version shipped with Hermes Agent does not include Streamable HTTP
transport support, which is needed to connect to the Ozeki SMS Gateway (Figure 2).
uv pip install --upgrade mcp --python $env:LOCALAPPDATA\hermes\hermes-agent\venv
Navigate to the Hermes Agent data directory at
C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\hermes\ using File Explorer.
You can open this folder quickly by typing
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\hermes directly into the File Explorer
address bar and pressing Enter (Figure 3).
Open the config.yaml file in a text editor such as Notepad. This file
stores all Hermes Agent configuration, including any MCP servers that should be
available to the AI agent (Figure 4).
Add the mcp_servers section and the Ozeki SMPP SMS MCP Server entry
as shown below. Replace {address} with the IP address or hostname of
your Ozeki SMS Gateway installation, and replace your-bearer-token
with the API key you generated for your MCP user account (Figure 5).
mcp_servers:
ozeki:
url: "http://{address}:9529/mcp"
headers:
Authorization: "Bearer your-bearer-token"
Save the configuration file and close the text editor. The changes will take effect the next time Hermes Agent is started (Figure 6).
Run the following command in PowerShell to test the connection to the Ozeki SMS MCP Server. Hermes Agent will attempt to connect to the server and retrieve the list of available tools (Figure 7).
hermes mcp test ozeki
The output will display the SMS tools exposed by the MCP server, confirming that Hermes Agent has successfully connected to your SMS gateway using the configured URL and API key (Figure 8).
Send a test SMS
The following video shows how to send an SMS message from Hermes Agent using the Ozeki SMPP SMS MCP server step-by-step.
Open a PowerShell terminal and type hermes to launch Hermes Agent (Figure 9).
hermes
In the Hermes Agent prompt, type your SMS request in plain language and press Enter. The AI agent will interpret the request and invoke the appropriate MCP tool to deliver the message (Figure 10).
Send an SMS to +36301234567, the message should be "Hello from Hermes".
Once the tool has been executed, the result will appear in the terminal. A successful response confirms that the message was submitted to the gateway and handed off for delivery (Figure 11).
Check the SMS in the SMS Gateway logs
The following video shows how to check the SMS in the logs in Ozeki SMS Gateway step-by-step.
Open Ozeki SMS Gateway in your browser and navigate to the MCP user details page by clicking on the MCP user entry in the Users and applications panel (Figure 12).
In the MCP user event log, you should see an entry for the outgoing message, including the recipient number and message text, confirming that it was successfully processed by the gateway (Figure 13).
Summary
In this guide, you have learned how to connect Hermes Agent to Ozeki SMS Gateway's built-in SMS MCP Server and use it to send SMS messages directly from the terminal. By installing the gateway, setting up an SMPP connection to the mobile network, creating an MCP user account, and registering the MCP endpoint in Hermes Agent, you now have a fully functional on-premises SMS integration that your AI agent can use to communicate with any mobile phone.