MCP Server

hone

Self-improvement MCP. Point it at anything — each tick tries to make that thing a little better. The notebook is the trajectory.

uvx --from git+https://github.com/eidos-agi/hone.git@v0.0.1 hone

View on GitHub

What it does

hone is an MCP server that runs a four-phase ceremony on any target — a repo, a runbook, a prompt, a classifier, a workflow. Each tick observes real state, diagnoses a bottleneck, makes one change, measures, and writes a turn log. Over N ticks, the notebook in the target's .hone/ directory is a diff-able trajectory of how the target is getting better.

The loop

Every tick runs the same four phases, then repeats. Rhythm, not ritual.

Observe — read real state — one structured observation
Diagnose + Change — one-paragraph diagnosis, then act proportionally
Measure — re-observe; revert if the signal got worse
Retain — write the turn to .hone/ — trajectory travels with the code

Run it manually when you want a nudge. Set /loop 15m hone for a cadence. Either way, every tick leaves a turn log in .hone/turns/ so the history of how the target is evolving is always one git log away.

Key features

Four-phase ceremony — Observe → Diagnose+Change → Measure → Retain. Ritual is the failure mode; rhythm is the point.
Notebook lives per-target — <target>/.hone/ in the repo, so the trajectory travels with the code. Abstract targets fall back to ~/.hone/targets/.
Per-target contract — each target may define .hone/hone.yaml with guardrails, measure command, and instruments.
Works with zero bindings — a tick can run with just Edit, Read, and Bash. Other MCPs (lighthouse, Docket, Governor, research-md, scribe) are optional instruments, not required teammates.
Hot-reload — every MCP call reloads ceremony/targets/notebook modules, so code changes land without restarting the server.
Recursive — hone hone targets hone itself. The tool that improves your system knows how to improve itself.

Install

git clone https://github.com/eidos-agi/hone
cd hone
uv sync
claude mcp add hone --scope user -- /path/to/hone/.venv/bin/hone

Or run directly via uvx without a local clone:

claude mcp add hone --scope user -- \
  uvx --from git+https://github.com/eidos-agi/hone.git@v0.0.1 hone

Usage

# start a 15-minute loop in any Claude Code session
/loop 15m hone

# tick a specific target
hone stepproof
hone hone       # meta-loop: hone improves hone

# run N ticks back-to-back
hone 10

Four MCP tools: hone_tick, hone_write_turn, hone_notebook, hone_status. Everything else happens in the ceremony prompt — hone dispenses instructions; the agent crosses MCP boundaries.