Terminal Command Executor MCP server

This lightweight MCP server allows interaction with the terminal through Claude models, enabling terminal commands to be executed via the Model Context Protocol. It provides functionality for reading file content and running commands directly from your AI assistant.

Installation

To install the MCP terminal server, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository or download the source code
2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Build the server:

npm run build

Configuration

Add the terminal-mcp service to your Model Context Protocol JSON configuration file:

"terminal-mcp": {
  "command": "node",
  "args": [
    "/path/to/terminal-mcp/build/index.js"
  ]
}

Make sure to replace /path/to/terminal-mcp with the actual path where you installed the server.

Usage

Once configured, the terminal-mcp server allows models to:

Read File Content

You can request file content using the following command structure:

!file /path/to/file

Execute Terminal Commands

Run terminal commands directly with:

!terminal command_to_run

For example:

!terminal ls -la

View Command Output

The server will execute your command and return the output directly in the conversation, allowing the model to analyze and respond to the command results.

Security Considerations

Remember that enabling terminal command execution through the MCP server grants the AI model access to execute commands on your system. Only use this with trusted models and in secure environments.

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.