get_command_documentation
Retrieve Unix command documentation, including help pages and man pages, directly within Claude conversations to understand command usage without leaving the chat interface.
Instructions
Get documentation for a command in Unix-like system.
Args: command: The command to get documentation for (no arguments) prefer_economic: Whether to prefer the economic approach (--help/-h/help) [default: True] man_section: Specific manual section to look in (1-9) [optional]
Returns: The command documentation as a string
Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| command | Yes | ||
| prefer_economic | No | ||
| man_section | No |
Implementation Reference
- unix_manual_server.py:121-246 (handler)Primary handler function for the 'get_command_documentation' tool. Decorated with @mcp.tool() for MCP registration. Includes type hints and docstring defining the input/output schema. Implements logic to fetch help or man pages for Unix commands.
@mcp.tool() def get_command_documentation(command: str, prefer_economic: bool = True, man_section: int = None) -> str: """ Get documentation for a command in Unix-like system. Args: command: The command to get documentation for (no arguments) prefer_economic: Whether to prefer the economic approach (--help/-h/help) [default: True] man_section: Specific manual section to look in (1-9) [optional] Returns: The command documentation as a string """ logger.info(f"Getting documentation for command: '{command}', prefer_economic={prefer_economic}, man_section={man_section}") # Parse the command input to separate main command from subcommands/arguments parts = command.strip().split() main_command = parts[0] # Extract the base command logger.debug(f"Main command: {main_command}") # Check if there's a subcommand (at least 2 parts and not an option) has_subcommand = len(parts) > 1 and not parts[1].startswith('-') subcommand = parts[1] if has_subcommand else None cmd_with_subcommand = f"{main_command} {subcommand}" if has_subcommand else None if has_subcommand: logger.debug(f"Detected subcommand: '{subcommand}', will try '{cmd_with_subcommand}' first") # Validate command name (basic check to prevent injection) if not re.match(r'^[a-zA-Z0-9_\.-]+$', main_command): logger.warning(f"Invalid command name: '{main_command}'") return f"Invalid command name: '{main_command}'" # Get full path to command command_path = get_command_path(main_command) if not command_path: logger.warning(f"Command not found: '{main_command}'") return f"Command not found: '{main_command}'" # Try economic approach for subcommand first if available if has_subcommand and prefer_economic: logger.debug(f"Trying economic approach for subcommand: {cmd_with_subcommand}") # Try --help for subcommand help_cmd = safe_execute([command_path, subcommand, "--help"], timeout=5) if help_cmd and help_cmd.stdout and help_cmd.returncode < 2: logger.info(f"Found help docs using --help for subcommand {cmd_with_subcommand}") return f"Help output for '{cmd_with_subcommand}':\n\n{help_cmd.stdout.strip()}" # Try -h for subcommand help_cmd = safe_execute([command_path, subcommand, "-h"], timeout=5) if help_cmd and help_cmd.stdout and help_cmd.returncode < 2: logger.info(f"Found help docs using -h for subcommand {cmd_with_subcommand}") return f"Help output for '{cmd_with_subcommand}':\n\n{help_cmd.stdout.strip()}" # Try help subcommand for subcommand help_cmd = safe_execute([command_path, subcommand, "help"], timeout=5) if help_cmd and help_cmd.stdout and help_cmd.returncode < 2: logger.info(f"Found help docs using help subcommand for {cmd_with_subcommand}") return f"Help output for '{cmd_with_subcommand}':\n\n{help_cmd.stdout.strip()}" logger.debug(f"No help documentation found for subcommand {cmd_with_subcommand}, falling back to main command") # Try economic approach for the main command if prefer_economic: logger.debug(f"Trying economic approach for main command: {main_command}") help_result = search_help_documentation(main_command, command_path) if help_result: return help_result # Direct check if the previous function failed but command exists # Try direct approach for well-known patterns if command_path: # Try --help directly help_cmd = safe_execute([command_path, "--help"], timeout=5) if help_cmd and help_cmd.stdout and help_cmd.returncode < 2: logger.info(f"Found help docs by direct --help check for {main_command}") return f"Help output for '{main_command}':\n\n{help_cmd.stdout.strip()}" # Use man as fallback or if economic approach not preferred logger.debug(f"Trying man page for {main_command}") # Execute man directly without going through shell man_args = ["man"] if man_section is not None and 1 <= man_section <= 9: man_args.append(str(man_section)) logger.debug(f"Using man section {man_section}") man_args.append(main_command) try: # Use col to strip formatting from man output logger.debug(f"Executing man command: {man_args}") man_result = subprocess.run( man_args, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE, text=True, timeout=10 ) # Pipe the man output through col to remove formatting if man_result.returncode == 0: logger.debug("Man command succeeded, processing with col") col_result = subprocess.run( ["col", "-b"], input=man_result.stdout, capture_output=True, text=True ) man_text = col_result.stdout logger.info(f"Successfully retrieved man page for {main_command}") return f"Manual page for '{main_command}':\n\n{man_text}" else: logger.warning(f"Man command failed with exit code {man_result.returncode}, stderr: {man_result.stderr}") except Exception as e: logger.error(f"Error executing man command for {main_command}: {str(e)}") # If we tried man first and it failed, try economic approach as fallback if not prefer_economic: logger.debug(f"Man failed, trying economic approach as fallback for {main_command}") help_result = search_help_documentation(main_command, command_path) if help_result: return help_result # If everything failed logger.warning(f"All documentation methods failed for '{command}'") return f"No documentation available for '{command}'" - unix_manual_server.py:26-48 (helper)Helper function used by the tool to locate the full path of the command using the user's shell.
def get_command_path(command): """Get the full absolute path to a command by filtering shell output.""" logger.debug(f"Searching for command path: {command}") try: # Use the user's shell (defaulting to /bin/zsh) with login to load the full environment. user_shell = os.environ.get('SHELL', '/bin/zsh') logger.debug(f"Using shell: {user_shell}") result = subprocess.run( [user_shell, "-l", "-c", f"command -v {command} 2>/dev/null"], capture_output=True, text=True ) # Process the output line by line and return the first line that is a valid absolute path. for line in result.stdout.splitlines(): if re.match(r'^/', line): path = line.strip() logger.debug(f"Found command path: {path}") return path logger.warning(f"Command not found: {command}") return None except subprocess.SubprocessError as e: logger.error(f"Error finding command path for {command}: {str(e)}") return None - unix_manual_server.py:50-72 (helper)Helper function for safely executing subprocess calls without shell, used extensively in help fetching and man pages.
def safe_execute(cmd_args, timeout=10): """Safely execute a command directly (not through shell) and return its output.""" logger.debug(f"Executing command: {cmd_args} with timeout={timeout}") try: # Execute command directly without shell result = subprocess.run( cmd_args, capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=timeout, shell=False # Explicitly set shell=False for security ) logger.debug(f"Command exit code: {result.returncode}") # Add debug output to see first 100 chars of stdout if result.stdout: logger.debug(f"Command stdout first 100 chars: {result.stdout[:100].replace('\n', '\\n')}") return result except subprocess.TimeoutExpired: logger.warning(f"Command timed out after {timeout} seconds: {cmd_args}") return None except (subprocess.SubprocessError, FileNotFoundError, OSError) as e: logger.error(f"Error executing command {cmd_args}: {str(e)}") return None - unix_manual_server.py:74-119 (helper)Helper function to attempt fetching --help, -h, or 'help' output from the command, validating if it's actual help text.
def search_help_documentation(main_command, command_path): """Search for help documentation using --help, -h, or help options.""" logger.info(f"Searching for help documentation for command: {main_command} at {command_path}") # Try --help logger.debug(f"Trying --help for {main_command}") help_result = safe_execute([command_path, "--help"], timeout=5) if help_result and help_result.returncode < 2 and help_result.stdout.strip(): # Verify this is actual help text, not just command execution output output = help_result.stdout.strip() # Most help text contains words like "usage", "options", or "help" # Adding additional terms "USAGE" and checking for version string patterns if (re.search(r'usage|options|help|Usage|Options|Help|USAGE|OPTIONS|HELP|USAGE:|VERSION|Version', output, re.IGNORECASE) or re.search(r'\d+\.\d+\.\d+', output)): # Version number pattern logger.info(f"Found help documentation using --help for {main_command}") return f"Help output for '{main_command}':\n\n{output}" else: # Add debug output to see what we're getting logger.debug(f"--help output did not match help text pattern:\n{output[:200]}...") # Try -h logger.debug(f"Trying -h for {main_command}") help_result = safe_execute([command_path, "-h"], timeout=5) if help_result and help_result.returncode < 2 and help_result.stdout.strip(): output = help_result.stdout.strip() if (re.search(r'usage|options|help|Usage|Options|Help|USAGE|OPTIONS|HELP|USAGE:|VERSION|Version', output, re.IGNORECASE) or re.search(r'\d+\.\d+\.\d+', output)): # Version number pattern logger.info(f"Found help documentation using -h for {main_command}") return f"Help output for '{main_command}':\n\n{output}" else: logger.debug(f"-h output did not match help text pattern:\n{output[:200]}...") # Try help logger.debug(f"Trying help subcommand for {main_command}") help_result = safe_execute([command_path, "help"], timeout=5) if help_result and help_result.returncode < 2 and help_result.stdout.strip(): output = help_result.stdout.strip() if re.search(r'usage|options|help|Usage|Options|Help|USAGE|OPTIONS|HELP', output, re.IGNORECASE): logger.info(f"Found help documentation using help subcommand for {main_command}") return f"Help output for '{main_command}':\n\n{output}" else: logger.debug(f"help subcommand output did not match help text pattern:\n{output[:200]}...") # If we get here, no valid help documentation was found logger.warning(f"No help documentation found for {main_command}") return "" - unix_manual_server.py:121-121 (registration)MCP tool registration decorator applied to the get_command_documentation handler.
@mcp.tool()