Quickstart

Configure your LLM, Claude Code, Cursor or whatever to use the Shellwright MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shellwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@dwmkerr/shellwright"]
    }
  }
}

Use a prompt such as:

Using shellwright, open Vim. Write a message saying how to close Vim. Close Vim. Give me a screenshot of each step and a GIF recording, save the screenshots and videos to './output'".

A video recording will be saved, as well as screenshots in multiple formats.

Check the Examples or Installation guide for more details. I also use this to create rich recordings for my book Effective Shell.

Running Locally

Run the MCP server in HTTP mode for local development:

npm install
npm run dev:http

# Or add parameters if needed...
npm run dev:http -- --font-size 32

The server runs at http://localhost:7498/mcp.

Testing with the MCP Inspector

Open the MCP Inspector in another terminal and connect to http://localhost:7498/mcp to list and test tools:

# Open MCP inspector in another terminal.
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

# Now connect to:
# http://localhost:7498/mcp

Testing with an Agent

Run the demo.py program to chat to an agent that has the Shellwright tool. Note that you must have the Shellwright MCP sever running in HTTP mode (e.g. npm run dev:http):

# Optionally setup your .env to specify configuration.
# cp ./demo/.env.sample .env && vi .env

# Install requirements and run the agent.
pip install -r ./demo/requirements.txt
python ./demo/demo.py

# Output:
# User (enter message): Show me what the htop tool looks like showing me my resources.

# ...or provide a message directly.
python ./demo/demo.py -- "Run a shell command to show me the names \
of the folders in this directory and take a screenshot and give me its path"

You will see logs from the MCP server and the demo agent:

Screenshots and videos by default will be written to ./output.

Examples

Have fun with some prompts.

Do some Vim stuff:

Open Vim. Write a message saying how to close Vim. Close Vim. Give me a screenshot of each step and a GIF recording.

Open k9s and show Ark agents:

Open K9S. Check for resources of type 'agents'. Give me a GIF recording and take screenshots along the way.

Use htop:

Open htop and show the most resource intensive process.

Open vim, create validate.py that checks if arguments are UK postcodes. Print ✓ or ✗ for each. Then run: python3 validate.py on a set of UK postcodes (valid and invalid) such as "SW1A 1AA" "INVALID" "M1 1AA". Record as a video. Take 2-3 screenshots along the way.

Installation

Claude Code

# Install for current project. Use '--scope user' for for user-wide.
claude mcp add --scope project shellwright -- npx -y @dwmkerr/shellwright

# Configure via command line parameters (or env vars) if needed.
claude mcp add --scope project shellwright -- npx -y @dwmkerr/shellwright \
  --log-path /tmp/shellwright/log.jsonl

# Uninstall. Same comment on 'scope'.
claude mcp remove --scope project shellwright

Cursor / VS Code / Other MCP Clients

Add to your MCP configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shellwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@dwmkerr/shellwright"]
    }
  }
}

Configuration

| Variable | Parameter | Default | Description | |----------|-----------|---------|-------------| | PORT | --port, -p | 7498 | Server port ("SWRT" on a phone keypad) | | THEME | --theme, -t | one-dark | Color theme (one-dark, one-light, dracula, solarized-dark, nord, etc... | | TEMP_DIR | --temp-dir | /tmp/shellwright | Directory for recording frames | | FONT_SIZE | --font-size | 14 | Font size in pixels for screenshots/recordings | | FONT_FAMILY | --font-family | Hack, Monaco, Courier, monospace | Font family for screenshots/recordings (use a font with bold variant for bold text support) | | - | --cols | 120 | Default terminal columns | | - | --rows | 40 | Default terminal rows | | - | --http | false | Use HTTP transport instead of stdio | | - | --log-path | - | Log tool calls to JSONL file (one JSON object per line) |

Some configuration can also be provided by the LLM, simply prompt for it:

• Terminal Dimensions: e.g: "Use a terminal that is 80x24 for the recording"
• Theme: e.g: "Use the dracula theme for this recording"

MCP Tools

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | shell_start | Start a new PTY session | | shell_send | Send input to a session | | shell_read | Read the terminal buffer | | shell_screenshot | Capture terminal as PNG | | shell_record_start | Start recording for GIF export | | shell_record_stop | Stop recording and save GIF | | shell_stop | Stop a PTY session |

shell_start

Start a new PTY session with a command. Columns, rows, and theme are optional and the defaults can be set in the Configuration:

Start a shell session running bash:

{
  "command": "bash",
  "cols": 80,
  "rows": 24
}

Start a session with an login mode shell and a specific theme:

{
  "command": "bash",
  "args": ["--login", "-i"],
  "theme": "dracula"
}

Available themes (see Theme Guide for previews):

| Theme | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | one-dark | Dark | Muted, balanced colors (default) | | one-light | Light | Clean, readable colors | | dracula | Dark | Vibrant purple theme | | solarized-dark | Dark | Blue-green, easy on eyes | | nord | Dark | Arctic-inspired, cool blue tones |

The response contains the shell session ID (as multiple shell sessions can be run) and theme:

{
  "shell_session_id": "shell-session-a1b2c3",
  "theme": "dracula"
}

shell_send

Send input to a PTY session. Returns the full terminal buffer (plain text, no ANSI codes) before and after sending input, so the LLM can see exactly what changed on screen:

{
  "session_id": "shell-session-a1b2c3",
  "input": "ls -la\n",
  "delay_ms": 100
}

The delay_ms parameter controls how long to wait after sending input before capturing bufferAfter (default: 100ms). Increase for slow commands.

The response includes the terminal buffer before and after the input was sent:

{
  "success": true,
  "bufferBefore": "$ _",
  "bufferAfter": "$ ls -la\ntotal 24\ndrwxr-xr-x  5 user staff ...\n$ _"
}

shell_read

Read the current terminal buffer. Use raw: true to include ANSI escape codes:

{
  "session_id": "shell-session-a1b2c3",
  "raw": false
}

The response is the terminal content as plain text (truncated to 8KB to avoid context overflow):

total 24
drwxr-xr-x  5 user staff  160 Dec 18 10:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 10 user staff  320 Dec 18 09:00 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 user staff 1234 Dec 18 10:00 README.md

shell_screenshot

Capture terminal as PNG. Also saves SVG, ANSI, and plain text versions:

{
  "session_id": "shell-session-a1b2c3",
  "name": "my-screenshot"
}

The response contains a download_url for curl to save the file locally:

{
  "filename": "my-screenshot.png",
  "download_url": "http://localhost:7498/files/mcp-.../screenshots/my-screenshot.png",
  "hint": "Use curl -o <filename> <download_url> to save the file"
}

shell_record_start

Start recording frames for GIF export. Frames are captured at the specified FPS (default 10, max 30, compression occurs by deduplicating identical frames):

{
  "session_id": "shell-session-a1b2c3",
  "fps": 10
}

The response confirms recording has started:

{
  "recording": true,
  "fps": 10,
  "frames_dir": "/tmp/shellwright/.../frames"
}

shell_record_stop

Stop recording and render frames to GIF:

{
  "session_id": "shell-session-a1b2c3",
  "name": "my-recording"
}

The response contains a download_url for curl to save the file locally:

{
  "filename": "my-recording.gif",
  "download_url": "http://localhost:7498/files/mcp-.../recordings/my-recording.gif",
  "hint": "Use curl -o <filename> <download_url> to save the file",
  "frame_count": 42,
  "duration_ms": 4200
}

shell_stop

Stop a PTY session and clean up resources:

{
  "session_id": "shell-session-a1b2c3"
}

The response confirms the session was stopped:

{
  "success": true
}

MCP Prompts are also available for common workflows like vim editing and recording sessions. See src/prompts.ts.

Troubleshooting

The MCP server by default will write screenshots, video frames and the GIF (if requested) to a temporary location. This location includes the MCP session ID and the Shell session ID (one MCP session can have many shell sessions):

# Show the contents of an MCP and shell session.
tree /tmp/shellwright/mcp-session-16281bdf-7881-458a-8bee-475b02d000d2/shell-session-c66b8a

# Output:
# .
# ├── frames                         # Frames for the GIF recording. These are 
# │   └── frame000000.png            # cleaned up at the end of the session.
# ├── recordings
# │   └── vim_tutorial_complete.gif  # The GIF recording (if requested).
# └── screenshots
# ├── step1_initial_terminal.ansi    # Individual screenshot w/ ansi color etc.
# ├── step1_initial_terminal.png     # Screenshot as PNG (ANSI->SVG->PNG).
# └── step1_initial_terminal.svg     # The SVG intermediate.
# └── step1_initial_terminal.txt     # Screenshot as plain text.

You can check raw txt files to troubleshoot the contents of screenshots. You can see the ansi content which contains formatting and color codes. Finally, you can open the png files - these are generated by converting the ansi to SVG (using themes defined in code) and then SVG is converted PNG. Check the plain text contents of a buffer, or raw ansi, or formatted like so:

# Show plain text. Make sure you are in the shell session temp directory.
cat ./k9s_initial_view.txt

# Show formatted ANSI. Good for troubleshooting color codes.
cat ./k9s_initial_view.ansi

Developer Guide

To test local changes with Cursor, VS Code, or other MCP clients, first build the project then configure them to use your local build:

npm run build

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shellwright-dev": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/shellwright/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Run npm run build after making changes, then restart your MCP client.

For HTTP mode development with hot-reload:

npm run dev:http

Claude Code

To test local development changes with Claude Code, add the local build as an MCP server:

# From the shellwright repo root - build first!
npm run build
claude mcp add shellwright-dev --scope project -- node "${PWD}/dist/index.js"

This registers your local build so you can test changes before publishing.

License

MIT