Shell Exec

Official

by domdomegg · TypeScript

Execute bash commands with background job support.

This MCP server executes bash commands and provides background job support. It is intended to run shell workflows and later check on long-running tasks started in background, while returning command output for subsequent use.

🛠️ Key Features

Executes bash commands
Background job support for running tasks asynchronously

🚀 Use Cases

Run build commands (e.g., npm run build, make)
Perform file operations using tools like find, grep, mv, rm, mkdir -p, stat
Start servers or watch processes in background mode and check later
Collect system info via commands such as df -h, ps aux, env

⚡ Developer Benefits

Enables command-based automation for build, file management, and diagnostics
Supports background execution for tasks that should not block interactive use

⚠️ Limitations

Description covers executing bash commands; no additional constraints or supported environments are specified in the provided material

README.md1 KBView on GitHub

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

Tool	Description
`execute`	Run a bash command (with optional timeout and background mode)
`get_job_status`	Check status of a background job

Contributing

Pull requests are welcomed on GitHub! To get started:

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

Releases

Versions follow the semantic versioning spec.

To release:

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

Install

Configuration

Environment variables

MCP_TRANSPORTrequireddefault http

Transport type.

Add to VS Code Add to Cursor

claude_desktop_config.json

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shell-exec-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "shell-exec-mcp@1.2.0"
      ]
    }
  }
}