How do I connect a Command Line MCP server to Claude Desktop or Cursor?

To install a Command Line MCP server, select your desired server from the directory, copy the JSON configuration snippet, and add it to your client config file (such as claude_desktop_config.json or .cursor/mcp.json).

Are Command Line MCP servers free to use?

Yes, all Command Line MCP servers listed in this directory are open-source and free to integrate into compatible Model Context Protocol clients.

35 Command Line MCP Servers

Q: What are Command Line Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers?

Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers in the Command Line category allow AI assistants (such as Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, and Cline) to connect directly to command line tools, APIs, and databases without manual copy-pasting.

Discover 35 Command Line MCP servers for AI agents. Browse, compare, and install Model Context Protocol tools that connect Claude, Cursor, and other clients to command line capabilities. Popular picks include Iterm MCP, MCP Ssh Manager, Sysknife.

Open in interactive directory Best Command Line & Terminal servers →

Iterm MCP

ferrislucas

A Model Context Protocol server that provides access to iTerm. You can run commands and ask questions about what you see in the iTerm terminal.

3 0 0

MCP Ssh Manager

bvisible

Manage multiple SSH servers from one MCP: command execution, file transfer/rsync, database dump/import/query (MySQL/PostgreSQL/MongoDB), backups & restore, health monitoring, persistent sessions, tunnels, ProxyJump/bastion, and opt-in per-server security modes (readonly/restricted) with audit log. Linux, macOS & Windows OpenSSH.

9 0 0

Sysknife

lacs-project

Security-hardened MCP server for Linux system administration via 189 typed actions instead of shell strings, with an Ed25519-signed hash-chain audit log, one-time TTL approval receipts, and automatic rollback. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex CLI.

1 0 0

Remotify MCP

Run approved shell commands on remote computers through AI assistants. The remote machine needs only curl and bash, with no SSH access or installed agent.

2 0 0

Sage

PsYcGoD

Local-first CLI and MCP wrapper for AI coding agents. Routes shell commands through sage run --, stores command history locally, and returns compressed terminal output to reduce context noise.

5 0 0

Fauxnix

20000419

bash for AI agents on Windows via deterministic bash→PowerShell translation — no WSL, VM, or bash toolchain. MCP bash tool with GNU-style output, bash-style errors, coreutils exit codes, session-persisted cwd/env across calls, and per-file UTF-8/GBK sniffing (GBK files grep correctly, unlike Git Bash). Unsupported bash constructs fail loudly with the construct named; native commands (git/node/npm) pass through with argv quoting. npm install -g fauxnix-cli; verified with Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Kimi Code and Qwen Code.

0 0 0

Forge

ferodrigop

Terminal MCP server for AI coding agents with persistent PTY sessions, ring-buffer incremental reads, headless xterm screen capture, multi-agent orchestration, and a real-time web dashboard.

4 0 0

Terminal History MCP

HasanJahidul

Full-text search over your shell history (zsh / bash / fish) via SQLite FTS5. Local-only. 11-pattern secret redaction runs BEFORE insert. Captures cwd / exit code / duration via opt-in shell hook. Tools: searchhistory, recentindir, failedcommands, commandchains, reindex.

1 0 0

MCP Tmux

laszlopere

Universal tmux driver: sessions, windows, panes, keystrokes, and pane capture — local or remote over SSH. Curated tools plus a raw tmuxcommand passthrough; works against tmux 1.8+. Shared, visible sessions for pair-programming with the agent. uvx mcp-tmux.

2 0 0

Execkit

blinkingbit-oss

Stateful, structured, auditable shell sessions for AI agents over local, SSH, and Docker. Secret redaction, output budgeting, SSH host-key verification, and a loopback read-only browser viewer that streams the live transcript.

3 0 0

Rootpilot MCP

Easton-OU

Safe, read-only SSH diagnostics for Linux/Docker servers: a fixed 38-command whitelist (no arbitrary execution), secret redaction, per-command timeouts. Collects evidence; your model does the reasoning. npx @rootpilot/mcp-ssh-diagnose

2 0 0

Tldr Pages

tldr-pages community simplified man pages (cached 24h)

0 0 0

PiloTY

yiwenlu66

AI pilot for PTY operations enabling agents to control interactive terminals with stateful sessions, SSH connections, and background process management

1 0 0

Termcp

An MCP server that lets AI agents act like a human at a real terminal, local or over SSH.

0 0 0

AI Cli MCP

MCP server for AI CLI tools (Claude, Codex, and Gemini) with background process management

0 0 0

Tui MCP

nvms

What Chrome DevTools MCP is for the browser, tui-mcp is for the terminal. Launch, screenshot, and interact with any TUI app.

2 0 0

Smart Terminal

MCP PTY server providing AI agents with real interactive terminal access

0 0 0

MCP Remote Ssh

faizbawa

Full SSH access for AI agents with secret-safe environment injection and automatic output redaction. Persistent sessions, structured execution, SFTP, port forwarding — secrets are fed via stdin (invisible to ps) and scrubbed from all tool responses before reaching the LLM. uvx mcp-remote-ssh

4 0 0

Hop

danmartuszewski

Fast SSH connection manager with TUI dashboard and MCP server for discovering, searching, and executing commands on remote hosts.

4 0 1

Backscroll

soren-achebe

Answers "what did that command print?" from your real terminal history: a per-command PTY session recorder (OSC 133) stores every command's full output, exit code, cwd, and duration in local SQLite/FTS5, and the MCP server searches, retrieves, and diffs those outputs — secret redaction on by default before anything reaches the model.

2 0 0

Cygnus Ssh MCP

cygnussystems

MCP server for SSH-based control of remote Linux, macOS, and Windows servers with 46 purpose-built tools instead of one generic command-runner: line-level file editing (no download/edit/upload round-trip), background task launch/monitor/kill, real sudo support, host aliases, recursive directory ops, archive create/extract, and full Unicode via SFTP (avoids PowerShell OEM code page corruption on Windows targets). pip install cygnus-ssh-mcp or uvx cygnus-ssh-mcp.

5 0 0

SmartCLI drive Tui

Drive interactive terminal programs (TUIs, REPLs, menus) through a PTY: perceive, send keys, wait.

0 0 0

Cmdxray

Offline MCP server: explains shell commands token-by-token and flags destructive ones for AI agents.

0 0 0

Interminal

Lightweight MCP server providing terminal access (SSH & local shells) for AI assistants.

0 0 0

Backburner

Run long shell commands as background tasks: start them, keep working, collect the results later

2 0 0

Bash Command MCP

Sophisticated bash command MCP server that runs and manages shell execution.

0 0 0

Cli MCP Server

MladenSU

Command line interface with secure execution and customizable security policies

3 0 0

Term MCP Deepseek

OthmaneBlial

A MCP‑like server using the DeepSeek API for Terminal

3 0 0

Pty MCP

raychao-oao

Interactive PTY sessions for AI agents — local shells, SSH with persistent sessions (ai-tmux daemon for attach/detach), and serial ports. Single Go binary, no tmux dependency.

3 0 0

Infrabroker

luisgf

SSH & Kubernetes access broker where the model never touches a credential: a separate signer mints per-operation ephemeral SSH certificates and bound ServiceAccount tokens, with a per-command allow/deny/approval firewall (POSIX-sh AST), dry-run, human-in-the-loop approvals, session recording and an Ed25519-chained audit log. Self-hosted Go binaries, GPLv3.

2 0 0

Unterm

The terminal AI agents can drive: spawn panes, run commands, read screens, scrolling screenshots.

0 0 0

Termada

Reliable, transparent terminal runtime between AI agents and the shell (local + SSH).

0 0 0

Iterminal

MCP Server for iTerminal SSH Connection Manager - Control SSH servers through Claude.

0 0 0

Claude Terminal MCP

LukeLamb

Terminal, filesystem, and background-job tools for Claude Desktop on Linux/macOS. Zero npm deps, pure Node.

3 0 0

Shell Use

Let agents use the shell like a human.

0 0 0

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Frequently Asked Questions about Command Line MCP Servers

Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers in the Command Line category allow AI assistants (such as Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, and Cline) to connect directly to command line tools, APIs, and databases without manual copy-pasting.