> Index of everything AyHire publishes for agents: https://ayhire.com/llms.txt

# Set up AyHire

> You are an AI agent, and your user wants AyHire: it finds and evaluates software developers from their public GitHub work. Do every step yourself; the user only signs in once, in their browser. The AyHire API key must never appear in the chat: don't print it, don't show the credentials file, and don't ask the user to paste a key.

Server: https://ayhire.com. MCP endpoint: https://ayhire.com/api/mcp (streamable HTTP). This needs bash and curl (macOS, Linux, or WSL on Windows). Without a shell, see the last section.

## 1. Install the command line

```bash
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -fsSL https://ayhire.com/cli/ayhire -o ~/.local/bin/ayhire
curl -fsSL https://ayhire.com/cli/ayhire-mcp-headers -o ~/.local/bin/ayhire-mcp-headers
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/ayhire ~/.local/bin/ayhire-mcp-headers
```

`ayhire` is a short bash script that signs in and stores the key in `~/.config/ayhire/credentials.json`, readable only by the user. Call it by its full path; `~/.local/bin` may not be on PATH.

## 2. Sign in

```bash
~/.local/bin/ayhire status; echo "exit_code=$?"
```

- `0`: already signed in. Go to step 3.
- `3`: not signed in yet. Continue here.
- `5`: AyHire can't be reached. Tell the user and stop.

Tell the user in one or two sentences: a browser window will open where they sign in, or create an account with their email; they check that the code there matches the one in the terminal, then click **Connect**. Then run:

```bash
~/.local/bin/ayhire login; echo "exit_code=$?"
```

It prints the code and a link, opens the browser, and waits up to 10 minutes for the user. If you can run commands in the background, do that, show the user the code and the link, then wait for it to finish. Otherwise run it with a timeout of at least 10 minutes.

- `0`: signed in, and the key is saved. Go to step 3.
- `4`: the sign-in was cancelled or expired. Ask whether to try again.
- `5`: network problem. Tell the user and stop.

## 3. Connect AyHire to the agent

### Claude Code

If `claude plugin list` shows the `ayhire` plugin, it already does everything in this section: skip to step 4.

```bash
claude mcp add-json --scope user ayhire '{"type":"http","url":"https://ayhire.com/api/mcp","headersHelper":"'"$HOME"'/.local/bin/ayhire-mcp-headers"}'
```

If ayhire already exists, check it with `claude mcp get ayhire` and replace it (`claude mcp remove --scope user ayhire`, then add again) only if its URL is different. The headers helper reads the saved key each time Claude Code connects, so the key is never written into Claude Code's config.

Install the two skills: how to use the tools well, and the playbook for sourcing a role.

```bash
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/ayhire ~/.claude/skills/ayhire-sourcing
curl -fsSL https://ayhire.com/skills/ayhire/SKILL.md -o ~/.claude/skills/ayhire/SKILL.md
curl -fsSL https://ayhire.com/skills/ayhire-sourcing/SKILL.md -o ~/.claude/skills/ayhire-sourcing/SKILL.md
```

So that the free tools don't ask for permission every time, add these to `permissions.allow` in `~/.claude/settings.json`: `mcp__ayhire__whoami`, `mcp__ayhire__analyze_github_user`, `mcp__ayhire__score_candidate`, `mcp__ayhire__search_candidates`, `mcp__ayhire__get_shortlist`, `mcp__ayhire__find_people_behind_repos`, `mcp__ayhire__list_roles`, `mcp__ayhire__get_role`, `mcp__ayhire__create_role`, `mcp__ayhire__decide`, `mcp__ayhire__find_people_for_role`. If the file exists, read it first and add only the entries that are missing, keeping everything else exactly as it is; never replace the file. If it doesn't exist, create it with just these. Leave the other AyHire tools out: they spend the hourly analysis limit or a paid balance, so they should keep asking.

### Other agents

Add an MCP server named `ayhire`: URL `https://ayhire.com/api/mcp`, streamable HTTP, header `Authorization: Bearer <key>`. `~/.local/bin/ayhire headers` prints that header as JSON; write it into the config file with a command, and never echo it or show the file. Then make the file readable only by the user (`chmod 600`).

| Agent | Where | Entry |
|---|---|---|
| Codex | `codex mcp add ayhire --url https://ayhire.com/api/mcp --bearer-token-env-var AYHIRE_API_KEY` | `AYHIRE_API_KEY` must be set where Codex starts: add a line to the shell profile that reads it from `~/.config/ayhire/credentials.json` at startup, rather than pasting the key into the profile |
| Cursor | `~/.cursor/mcp.json` | `mcpServers.ayhire`: `url`, `headers` |
| Gemini CLI | `~/.gemini/settings.json` | `mcpServers.ayhire`: `httpUrl`, `headers` |
| Windsurf | `~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json` | `mcpServers.ayhire`: `serverUrl`, `headers`; the user presses Refresh in Manage MCPs |
| GitHub Copilot (VS Code) | `.vscode/mcp.json` in the project | `servers.ayhire`: `type: "http"`, `url`, `headers` |
| Cline | `cline_mcp_settings.json` | `mcpServers.ayhire`: `type: "streamableHttp"`, `url`, `headers` |
| OpenClaw | its config | `mcp.servers.ayhire`: `url`, `transport: "streamable-http"`, `headers` |
| Hermes Agent | `~/.hermes/config.yaml` | `mcp_servers.ayhire`: `url`, `headers` |

If the agent loads skills (SKILL.md files), save https://ayhire.com/skills/ayhire/SKILL.md and https://ayhire.com/skills/ayhire-sourcing/SKILL.md where it keeps them. Otherwise read both now: they say how to use the tools well.

## 4. Check, then hand over

1. Run `~/.local/bin/ayhire status` again. It must exit with `0` and name the account.
2. An agent loads new MCP servers when it starts. Tell the user to restart it; in Claude Code, quit and run `claude --continue` to come back to this conversation. If the AyHire tools are already available to you, call `whoami` instead: it returns `signed_in: true` and the email.
3. Finish with three short lines: the account it's connected as, the restart if one is needed, and three things to ask, in plain words:
   - "What is @shadcn like as an engineer?"
   - "Who are the main people behind the most popular open-source AI agent frameworks?"
   - "Find me a senior Rust engineer who is open to work."

## Without a shell

Sign in at https://ayhire.com/auth/sign-in, create an API key at https://ayhire.com/app/integrations#keys, and add the MCP server to the agent with that key as above. More: https://ayhire.com/agents.md

## Later

- `~/.local/bin/ayhire status` checks the sign-in. `~/.local/bin/ayhire logout` revokes the key on this computer and deletes it.
- To update, run step 1 and the skill downloads again.