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Shell Exec MCP Server

local only

Shell Exec runs on your own machine — the client starts it, so there is no endpoint to ping. 499 installs a week from npm. Last commit 25 Oct 2026.

Execute bash commands with background job support.

Installs per day peak 17 · avg 8 · -28% w/w
a month agotoday
499
Installs / week
npm · shell-exec-mcp
9
Stars
0 open issues
25 Oct 2026
Last commit
no releases in 90 days
MIT
License
TypeScript

Nothing serious here today

Today is the operative word: we check Shell Exec every 15 minutes and re-read its code on every release. Watch it and you find out the day that stops being true.

Three servers free · no card

Connect this server

This server runs on your own machine — install it with the package manager and the client starts it for you. Package name taken from the official registry entry.

run in your terminal
claude mcp add shell-exec-mcp -e 'MCP_TRANSPORT=<MCP_TRANSPORT>' -- npx -y shell-exec-mcp
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shell-exec-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "shell-exec-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT": "<MCP_TRANSPORT>"
      }
    }
  }
}
~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.shell-exec-mcp]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "shell-exec-mcp"]
env = { MCP_TRANSPORT = "<MCP_TRANSPORT>" }
.cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shell-exec-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "shell-exec-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT": "<MCP_TRANSPORT>"
      }
    }
  }
}
.vscode/mcp.json
{
  "servers": {
    "shell-exec-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "shell-exec-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT": "<MCP_TRANSPORT>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Put your own value in place of <MCP_TRANSPORT> (Transport type). The author’s registry entry marks it as required.

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Shell Exec — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

Why is there no uptime for Shell Exec?
Shell Exec runs on your own machine over stdio — there is no network address to reach, so uptime cannot be measured for it by anyone. What can be measured is adoption: the npm package shell-exec-mcp was installed 499 times last week.
How do I connect Shell Exec?
Copy the ready config from this page. We generate it for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, each in the form that client actually reads. It runs locally, so the command pulls shell-exec-mcp straight from npm; nothing to host, nothing to sign up for.
How many people use Shell Exec?
The npm package shell-exec-mcp was installed 499 times in the last week. Week over week that is -28%. We show installs rather than GitHub stars on purpose: a star is a bookmark, an install is someone actually running it.
Is Shell Exec open source?
Yes — it is published under the MIT licence, written in TypeScript and 9 stars on GitHub. The source link is on this page, so you can read exactly what it does with your data before you connect it.