MCP Terminal Server

A simple MCP server that exposes a tool for running terminal commands.

Installation

Install the MCP Python SDK:

pip install mcp

Related MCP server: MCP Tunnel

Usage

Start the server:

python server.py

Connect to the server in an MCP-compatible client, such as Claude Desktop:

mcp install server.py

Or use the MCP Inspector to test it:

mcp dev server.py

Tool Overview

This server exposes one tool:

terminal_command

Runs a terminal command and returns its output.

Parameters:

command: The command to run in the terminal

Returns:

A dictionary containing:
- stdout: The standard output from the command
- stderr: The standard error output from the command
- return_code: The command's return code (0 typically means success)

Example Usage in Claude:

Can you list the files in the current directory using the terminal tool?

Security Considerations

This tool executes commands directly on your system. Use with caution as it can run any command with the same permissions as the user running the server.

Limitations

Commands timeout after 30 seconds
For security reasons, consider implementing additional validation and restrictions on the commands that can be executed