Terminal MCP server

This is a small add-on for Claude Desktop on Linux (and it also works on macOS). It gives Claude the ability to use your computer's terminal, look at your files, and start long jobs in the background. It is handy if you want your AI to actually do things on your machine instead of just talking about them.

What this MCP server does

You ask your AI to do something, like list a folder or run a script. The AI uses this helper to send the command to your computer's terminal. The helper runs it with your normal user permissions and sends back what happened. You see the output, any errors, and the exit code right in the chat. For long tasks, it can start them in the background and check on them later.

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What you can do with it

• Run shell commands and see the output
• Read the contents of a text file
• List what is inside a folder
• Create or overwrite a text file
• Start a long-running command in the background
• Check on a background job and read its latest output
• Stop a background job that is still running

Try asking your AI

• “List the files in my projects folder”
• “Show me the last 20 lines of server.log”
• “Create a file called notes.txt with a short summary of this chat”
• “Run npm install in the background and tell me when it finishes”

What it gives back to you

You get answers in the chat: command output, lists of files with sizes and dates, file contents, or a job id for background work. For long jobs, you can ask for the status and the last few lines of output. If a command fails, you see the error message and the exit code. Everything is also saved to a log file on your computer so the AI can look at it again later in the same conversation.

Before you start

Who it's for

Developers, system administrators, and anyone on Linux who wants their AI to run commands and manage files on their own machine.