sonirico/mcp-shell

Overview

An MCP server written in Go that lets AI agents execute shell commands on a host machine. It provides a controlled interface with auditing and security constraints, enabling on-demand command execution.

Best for

Best for
Developers who need to give AI agents safe, auditable shell access for automation and operations tasks.

Use cases

• Automating system administration tasks via AI agents
• Running deployment scripts from a chat interface
• Executing diagnostic commands for remote troubleshooting

How to use

Install

make install && mcp-shell

Tools exposed

• MCP_SHELL_SEC_CONFIG_FILE
• MCP_SHELL_ALLOW_UNSAFE
• MCP_SHELL_SERVER_NAME
• MCP_SHELL_LOG_LEVEL
• MCP_SHELL_LOG_FORMAT
• MCP_SHELL_LOG_OUTPUT

Tested with

Claude Desktop

Example client config

{\n  "mcpServers": {\n    "shell": {\n      "command": "docker",\n      "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "sonirico/mcp-shell:latest"],\n      "env": { "MCP_SHELL_LOG_LEVEL": "info" }\n    }\n  }\n}

Notes

An MCP server written in Go that lets AI agents execute shell commands on a host machine. It provides a controlled interface with auditing and security constraints, enabling on-demand command execution.

79 stars on GitHub. Last updated 2026-05-02. Licensed GPL-3.0.

Use cases

• Automating system administration tasks via AI agents
• Running deployment scripts from a chat interface
• Executing diagnostic commands for remote troubleshooting

Pros

• Written in Go, single binary deployment with no runtime dependencies
• Built-in auditing for tracking all executed commands
• Security-focused design with configurable command restrictions

Cons

• Requires careful configuration to prevent unauthorized access
• Limited to shell commands, no built-in file system or database access
• Relatively small community and limited documentation

Indexed from awesome-mcp-servers-punkpeye and enriched against its public facts.