mcp-interminal

Interminal

Lightweight MCP server that gives AI assistants terminal access — SSH and local shells — with support for interactive and long-running commands.

Installation

# Run directly, no install needed (recommended)
uvx mcp-interminal

# Or install permanently
pip install mcp-interminal

Requires Python ≥ 3.11.

MCP Client Configuration

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "interminal": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-interminal"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor / other clients: same command + args format above.

Tools

Tool	Description
connect_ssh	Connect to an SSH server; returns session_id and welcome banner
execute	Run a command locally (no session needed) or over SSH; returns output or status=partial + command_id
read_output	Poll a running command for new output without sending input
respond	Send text input to a command waiting at a prompt
send_control	Send control keys: ctrl+c, ctrl+z, arrow keys, F-keys, etc.
disconnect	Close an SSH session and release all resources

Recommended: Install Zellij

Each execute call runs in an isolated channel — there is no persistent shell between calls. For simple tasks, chaining with && works. For multi-step workflows (project development, debugging, deployment), a terminal multiplexer provides persistent state that survives across calls.

Zellij is strongly recommended on the host machine (local or remote):

# Linux / macOS / WSL
cargo install zellij    # or: brew install zellij

# Check if installed
zellij --version

With Zellij installed, the AI agent will automatically create a persistent session where cd, environment variables, virtual environments, and long-running processes carry over naturally. As a bonus, you can run zellij attach <session-name> to watch the AI's terminal work in real-time.

Key Behaviors

• Stateless execute — each call is an isolated channel; cd /foo does not persist. Simple tasks: chain with &&. Multi-step workflows: the AI will use a Zellij session for persistent state
• Long-running commands return status="partial" with a command_id; poll with read_output or send input with respond
• TUI apps (zellij, vim, htop) must be started in the foreground — never background with &; after the server daemonizes, the partial channel can be abandoned
• SSH PTY is 500×200 xterm-256color so multiplexer sessions render at your actual terminal size

Optional Dependencies

pip install "mcp-interminal[pty]"       # Windows PTY support (pywinpty)
pip install "mcp-interminal[ansi]"      # ANSI escape rendering (pyte)
pip install "mcp-interminal[pty,ansi]"  # both