Give Your AI Assistant Real Terminal Access

Stop copying and pasting commands between your AI chat and terminal. This MCP server gives Claude, Groq, and other LLMs direct access to execute shell commands on your system—with full stdin/stdout control.

The Problem: AI That Can't Actually Do

Your AI assistant knows exactly what commands to run, but you're stuck playing messenger between the chat interface and your terminal. You ask for help debugging a server issue, get a perfect systemctl command, then manually copy-paste it to see the output. Then paste the output back to get the next command. It's 2024—this workflow is ridiculous.

What This Changes

With mcp-server-commands, your AI can:

• Execute commands directly: ls -la, grep -r "TODO" ., docker ps, git status—whatever you need
• See real output: Gets actual STDOUT and STDERR, not guessed responses
• Chain operations: Can analyze command output and decide what to run next
• Handle interactive workflows: Pass code through stdin to interpreters, create files with cat, pipe data between commands

Real Workflow Examples

System Debugging: "Check why my Docker container keeps crashing"

• AI runs docker ps -a, sees the container status
• Executes docker logs <container_id>, analyzes the errors
• Checks docker inspect <container_id> for configuration issues
• Suggests and tests the fix—all in one conversation

Development Tasks: "Set up a new React project with TypeScript"

• Creates project: npx create-react-app my-app --template typescript
• Installs additional deps: npm install @types/node
• Modifies package.json and tsconfig.json via cat with stdin
• Starts dev server: npm start

Log Analysis: "Find all 404 errors in the last hour"

• Runs find /var/log -name "*.log" -mmin -60
• Greps each file: grep "404" /path/to/access.log
• Analyzes patterns and suggests fixes

Setup Takes 30 Seconds

Install via npm:

npx mcp-server-commands

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-server-commands": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-commands"]
    }
  }
}

That's it. Your AI now has terminal access.

Safety First

The server includes sensible safety controls:

• Use "Approve Once" in Claude Desktop to review each command
• Runs with your user permissions (never requires sudo)
• You control what gets executed—deny anything suspicious

Beyond Basic Commands

The stdin parameter unlocks advanced workflows:

# AI can write and execute scripts
echo "#!/bin/bash\necho 'Hello World'" | bash

# Create files directly from conversation
cat > config.json << EOF
{
  "database": {
    "host": "localhost",
    "port": 5432
  }
}
EOF

# Pass code to interpreters
python3 << EOF
import json
data = {"name": "test"}
print(json.dumps(data, indent=2))
EOF

Works Everywhere

• Claude Desktop: Native MCP support with approval workflow
• Groq Desktop: Full compatibility with local models
• Open-WebUI: Use with mcpo bridge for HTTP access
• Local Models: Ollama, Qwen2.5-Coder, OpenHands LM—all supported

The Result

Instead of being a command-suggestion engine, your AI becomes a capable system administrator and development partner. It can actually diagnose issues, implement solutions, and verify results—all while keeping you in control of what executes.

Your terminal becomes collaborative. Finally.

Install now: npx mcp-server-commands