PTY Terminal MCP server

This MCP server provides a stateful terminal through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing you to maintain persistent terminal sessions within your applications.

Installation

Using pipx (Recommended)

Using pipx is recommended as it creates an isolated environment for the installation:

1. First, install pipx if you don't have it already:

   python -m pip install --user pipx
   pipx ensurepath
   

2. Install the pty-mcp server:

   pipx install git+https://github.com/qodo-ai/pty-mcp.git
   

After installation, the pty-mcp command will be available in your path.

Usage

Starting the Server

To start the pty-mcp server, simply run:

pty-mcp

By default, this will start the server on port 8000.

Configuration Options

You can customize the server behavior with these command-line options:

pty-mcp --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8080

Connecting to the Server

The server provides a stateful terminal that can be accessed via MCP client implementations. You can connect to it using any MCP-compatible client by pointing to the server's address.

Terminal Commands

Once connected, you can execute any standard terminal commands within the persistent session:

ls -la
cd /path/to/directory
python -c "print('Hello, world!')"

The terminal state is maintained between commands, allowing you to build on previous operations.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

• If you encounter permission errors, ensure you have appropriate access rights
• For connection problems, verify that the port is not blocked by a firewall
• If commands hang, check your network connectivity to the server

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "pty-mcp" '{"command":"pty-mcp","args":[]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For 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 > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

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

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

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 explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

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

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect