shell-use

shell-use

Let agents use the shell like a human.

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Features

• Interact with any CLI application (vim, htop, gdb, etc.)
• Send special keys (Ctrl+C, Enter, arrow keys, etc.)
• Dockerized for easy deployment

Available Tools

Tool	Description
list_sessions()	Returns allowed session names
capture(session, scroll_back?)	Captures terminal screen text
send_keys(session, keys)	Sends key input (e.g., Enter, C-c)
send_text(session, text, enter?)	Sends literal text (enter=True to press Enter)
scroll(session, direction, amount?)	Scrolls through history
exit_scroll_mode(session)	Exits copy-mode

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Setup

1. Build the Docker image

docker build -t shell-use:latest .

2. Create a tmux session

tmux new-session -s dev

2.1. Get the tmux socket path

SOCK="$(tmux display-message -p -F '#{socket_path}')"
[ -S "$SOCK" ] || { echo "tmux socket not found: $SOCK"; exit 1; }

3. Configure your MCP client

Claude Code:

claude mcp add shell-use \
  -- docker run -i --rm \
  -v "$SOCK":/tmux/tmux.sock \
  -e SHELL_USE_SOCKET=/tmux/tmux.sock \
  -e SHELL_USE_SESSIONS=dev \
  shell-use:latest

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shell-use": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-v", "/tmp/tmux-1000/default:/tmux/tmux.sock",
        "-e", "SHELL_USE_SOCKET=/tmux/tmux.sock",
        "-e", "SHELL_USE_SESSIONS=dev",
        "shell-use:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Replace /tmp/tmux-1000/default with the path from tmux display-message -p -F '#{socket_path}'.

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Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Required
SHELL_USE_SESSIONS	Comma-separated list of allowed session names	Yes
SHELL_USE_SOCKET	Path to tmux socket (default: /tmux/tmux.sock in Docker)	No

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Acknowledgments

Inspired by browser-use.