hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix MCP server tools missing from the api_server platform agent (work fine on Slack/CLI)

Summary

MCP server tools are available to the agent on Slack and CLI, but the same agent reached through the api_server platform (POST /v1/chat/completions) does not have those MCP tools at all.

Environment

• Hermes Agent: v0.15.1 (build 2026.5.29)
• OS: Windows 11
• Provider: OpenAI (provider: custom, base_url: https://api.openai.com/v1)
• MCP servers (stdio): matzip, vault

Steps to reproduce

1. Configure two stdio MCP servers (matzip, vault) — confirmed working: Slack messages correctly call mcp_matzip_find_nearby, etc.
2. Enable the api_server platform (API_SERVER_KEY in .env).
3. POST /v1/chat/completions with a query that should use an MCP tool, e.g. "recommend 2 restaurants near 종로구".

Expected

The api_server agent has the same MCP tools as the Slack/CLI agent and calls geocode_area / find_nearby.

Actual

The agent never calls mcp_matzip_*. Behavior by config:

• Tried models gpt-4o-mini, gpt-4.1-mini, gpt-4o → identical (not a model issue).
• Even when I explicitly instruct gpt-4o "you MUST call geocode_area then find_nearby", it says those tools aren't available and calls browser_navigate instead.

The toolsets reference says each MCP server creates a mcp-<server> toolset referenceable in platform configs, so I expected [mcp-matzip, mcp-vault] to scope api_server to exactly those tools.

Config (sanitized)

model:
  default: gpt-4o-mini
  provider: custom
  base_url: https://api.openai.com/v1

mcp_servers:
  matzip:
    command: python
    args: ["<path>/mcp/matzip_mcp.py"]
  vault:
    command: python
    args: ["<path>/mcp/vault_mcp.py"]

platform_toolsets:
  slack: [hermes-slack]                  # MCP tools work here
  # api_server: [mcp-matzip, mcp-vault]  # tried — loads 0 tools

# API_SERVER_KEY set in .env to enable the api_server platform

Question

How do I make MCP server tools available to the api_server platform agent the way they are on Slack? Is platform_toolsets: api_server: [mcp-matzip, mcp-vault] the intended approach — and if so, why does it resolve to 0 tools? Is there an MCP-registration timing/caching gotcha specific to api_server?

Thanks! 🙏