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Shell Exec

Official registry Productivity

Execute bash commands with background job support.

Source code Website Documentation

Install

Add this to your client's MCP configuration (Claude Desktop: claude_desktop_config.json; Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json; VS Code and others use the same "mcpServers" shape).

NPM package shell-exec-mcp
Claude Code 
claude mcp add shell-exec -- npx -y shell-exec-mcp@1.2.0
JSON configuration (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code) 
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "shell-exec": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "shell-exec-mcp@1.2.0"
            ]
        }
    }
}
NPM package shell-exec-mcp
Claude Code 
claude mcp add shell-exec -e 'MCP_TRANSPORT=<MCP_TRANSPORT>' -- npx -y shell-exec-mcp@1.2.0
JSON configuration (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code) 
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "shell-exec": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "shell-exec-mcp@1.2.0"
            ],
            "env": {
                "MCP_TRANSPORT": "<MCP_TRANSPORT>"
            }
        }
    }
}

Environment variables

  • MCP_TRANSPORT required Transport type.

Documentation

From the project's README on GitHub, refreshed weekly. Links open on GitHub.

Contents
  1. shell-exec-mcp
  2. Use Cases
  3. Setup
  4. Tools
  5. Contributing
  6. Releases

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

Follow the instructions on install-mcp, which generates the right config for your MCP client (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, VS Code, and more).

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.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shell Exec?

Execute bash commands with background job support.

How do I install Shell Exec?

It runs on your machine. In Claude Code: claude mcp add shell-exec -- npx -y shell-exec-mcp@1.2.0. For other clients, paste the JSON configuration from this page into their MCP settings.

Does Shell Exec need an API key?

Yes. It expects MCP_TRANSPORT, which you set in its configuration.

Is Shell Exec open source?

Its code is public on GitHub, but the repository does not declare a standard license.

Who maintains Shell Exec?

It is published by domdomegg. AI.tn lists it but does not maintain or endorse it.

From the official MCP Registry. Listing is not an endorsement: review a server's code and permissions before giving it access to your data.