iTerm2 MCP server

This MCP server implementation for iTerm2 allows AI assistants to interact with iTerm2 terminals through the Model Context Protocol, enabling command execution, terminal management, and output reading capabilities directly from AI tools.

Installation

To get started with the iTerm MCP server, ensure you meet the following requirements:

• Node.js >= 14.x
• iTerm2 installed
• macOS (iTerm2 is macOS-only)

Install the server from npm:

npm install iterm_mcp_server

Configuration

Standard Setup

The server uses standard MCP configuration options without additional setup required.

Cursor Integration

To use this server with Cursor, add the following configuration to your ~/.cursor/mcp.json file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "terminal": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["iterm_mcp_server"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

The iTerm MCP server provides the following tools for terminal interaction:

Terminal Management

• open_terminal: Creates a new terminal instance
• list_terminals: Lists all active terminals and their information
• close_terminal: Closes a specific terminal

Command Execution

• execute_command: Runs a command in a specific terminal
• read_output: Reads the output from a specific terminal

Usage Examples

Opening a New Terminal

// Example of using the open_terminal tool
const response = await tools.open_terminal({
  name: "my-terminal" // Optional name for the terminal
});
console.log(response.terminal_id);

Executing Commands

// Run a command in a specific terminal
const result = await tools.execute_command({
  terminal_id: "term_123",
  command: "ls -la"
});

Reading Terminal Output

// Get the output from a terminal
const output = await tools.read_output({
  terminal_id: "term_123"
});
console.log(output.content);

Listing Active Terminals

// List all active terminals
const terminals = await tools.list_terminals({});
terminals.forEach(terminal => {
  console.log(`ID: ${terminal.id}, Name: ${terminal.name}`);
});

Closing a Terminal

// Close a specific terminal
await tools.close_terminal({
  terminal_id: "term_123"
});

Security Notes

The server includes several security features:

• Input validation using Zod schemas
• Command execution in isolated terminal sessions
• Error handling and input sanitization

Always be careful when executing commands in terminals through automated means.

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.