Spike — Setup Guide¶
Source: nousresearch/hermes-agent (135 installs) Category: Development & Testing
Throwaway experiments to validate an idea before committing to a full build. Use spike when you have a hypothesis about a growth tactic, integration pattern, or product feature — build the smallest possible test, learn from it, then either proceed or move on.
Installation¶
npx skills add nousresearch/hermes-agent@spike -y
No plugins or additional dependencies required. The skill is a prompt/instruction module — it guides the agent's behavior, it doesn't add new tools.
Prerequisites¶
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Hermes Agent | Any version — skill is prompt-only, no tool deps |
| Nothing else | No API keys, accounts, or external services |
Key Capabilities¶
Core Features¶
| Capability | How to Trigger | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hypothesis framing | "Spike: can we automate lead qualification from Reddit comments?" | Skill guides agent to define a clear pass/fail before starting |
| Minimum viable test | "Spike: test Postiz multi-platform posting with a single dummy post" | Smallest experiment that yields a yes/no answer |
| Time-boxed execution | Agent self-limits to 15-30 min per spike | Prevents rabbit holes |
| Learnings capture | After spike completes, agent summarizes: what worked, what didn't, next step | Structured output |
CorpusIQ Use Cases¶
| Use Case | How |
|---|---|
| Growth tactic validation | "Spike: can we get 10 GitHub stars by posting in r/SaaS with a help-first approach?" — run a 30-min test, measure results |
| Integration feasibility | "Spike: can we pull GA4 data via MCP connector and generate a weekly report?" — test the connector, verify data shape |
| Content channel testing | "Spike: does a daily LinkedIn post get more engagement than 3x/week?" — run 5-day A/B test |
| Tool evaluation | "Spike: is Firecrawl or browser-use faster for scraping competitor pricing?" — benchmark both on 3 sites |
| Product feature validation | "Spike: would operators use a one-click competitor report?" — build a throwaway demo, show to 3 users |
Troubleshooting¶
| Issue | Fix |
|---|---|
| Spike goes too long | Remind agent: "This is a spike — 30 min max. What's the smallest test?" |
| Agent builds production code | The skill enforces throwaway code. If agent persists, say: "Spike only — delete this after." |
| Unclear pass/fail | Define the success metric before starting: "We need 3+ qualified replies" or "Response time under 2 seconds" |
Verification¶
# Verify skill installed
hermes skills list | grep spike
# Trigger a spike (example)
# Just describe the hypothesis to your agent — the skill guides behavior automatically
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