MCP.directory
Shell Exec

Shell Exec

domdomegg

Execute bash commands directly from Claude with support for background jobs. Run builds, file operations, system commands, and long-running processes.

Execute bash commands with background job support.

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developer tools
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What it does

  • Execute bash commands with optional timeout
  • Run background jobs and processes
  • Check status of running background jobs
  • Perform file operations like find, grep, mv, rm
  • Get system information with df, ps, env commands
  • Run build tools like npm, make, or custom scripts

Best for

Developers needing to run build commands and file operationsSystem administration and monitoring tasksRunning long-running processes or servers in background
Background job supportNo API key needed

About Shell Exec

Shell Exec is a community-built MCP server published by domdomegg that provides AI assistants with tools and capabilities via the Model Context Protocol. Shell Exec - execute bash commands and manage background jobs on Linux. Fast, reliable shell command execution with back It is categorized under developer tools.

How to install

You can install Shell Exec in your AI client of choice. Use the install panel on this page to get one-click setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and other MCP-compatible clients. This server runs locally on your machine via the stdio transport.

License

Shell Exec is released under the MIT license. This is a permissive open-source license, meaning you can freely use, modify, and distribute the software.

shell-exec-mcp

MCP server for executing bash commands with background job support.

Use Cases

Run build commands: Execute npm run build, make, or other build tools and get the output.

File operations: Use find, grep, mv, rm, mkdir -p, stat etc. for file management.

Long-running tasks: Start servers or watch processes in background mode, check on them later.

System info: Run df -h, ps aux, env etc. to inspect the system state.

Setup

claude mcp add shell-exec-mcp -- npx -y shell-exec-mcp

Or with HTTP transport:

# Start the server
MCP_TRANSPORT=http PORT=3000 npx -y shell-exec-mcp

# Add to Claude
claude mcp add --transport http shell-exec-mcp http://localhost:3000/mcp

Tools

ToolDescription
executeRun a bash command (with optional timeout and background mode)
get_job_statusCheck status of a background job

Contributing

Pull requests are welcomed on GitHub! To get started:

  1. Install Git and Node.js
  2. Clone the repository
  3. Install dependencies with npm install
  4. Run npm run test to run tests
  5. Build with npm run build

Releases

Versions follow the semantic versioning spec.

To release:

  1. Use npm version <major | minor | patch> to bump the version
  2. Run git push --follow-tags to push with tags
  3. Wait for GitHub Actions to publish to the NPM registry.

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