ACP MCP

MCP server for remote machine operations via SSH. Provides a single, powerful tool for executing any shell command on remote machines with real-time progress streaming.

Installation

npm install @prmichaelsen/acp-mcp

Development

npm install
npm run dev

Build

npm run build

Usage

With Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "acp-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/acp-mcp/dist/server.js"]
    }
  }
}

With mcp-auth

import { createServer } from '@prmichaelsen/acp-mcp/factory';
import { readFileSync } from 'fs';

const server = await createServer({
  userId: 'user-123',
  ssh: {
    host: 'remote.example.com',
    port: 22,
    username: 'remote-user',
    privateKey: readFileSync('/path/to/private/key', 'utf-8'),
  },
});

Available Tools

acp-mcp v1.0.0 provides a single, powerful tool for all remote operations:

acp_remote_execute_command

Execute any shell command on the remote machine with optional progress streaming.

Parameters:

• command (required): Shell command to execute
• cwd (optional): Working directory for command execution
• timeout (optional): Timeout in seconds (default: 30, ignored if progress streaming)

Returns: { stdout, stderr, exitCode, timedOut, streamed? }

Features:

1. Shell Environment (v0.7.1+): Automatically sources shell configuration files

   • Sources ~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc, or ~/.profile before executing commands
   • Ensures $PATH and environment variables are properly loaded
   • Enables user-installed tools (nvm, homebrew, etc.) to work correctly
   • Gracefully handles missing config files

2. Progress Streaming (v0.7.0+): Real-time output for long-running commands

   • Requires MCP SDK v1.26.0+ (server and client)
   • Client must provide progressToken in request _meta
   • Client must handle progress notifications via onprogress callback
   • Graceful fallback to timeout mode if no progressToken provided
   • Rate limited to max 10 notifications/second
   • Ideal for: npm run build, npm test, npm run dev

Common Operations

List Files

# Basic listing
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "ls -la ~/project" })

# Recursive listing
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "find ~/project -type f" })

# With tree (if installed)
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "tree ~/project" })

# Only directories
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "ls -d */ ~/project" })

Read Files

# Read entire file
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "cat ~/project/package.json" })

# Read first 100 lines
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "head -n 100 ~/project/large-file.txt" })

# Read last 50 lines
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "tail -n 50 ~/project/log.txt" })

# Search in file
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "grep 'pattern' ~/project/file.txt" })

Write Files

# Write simple content
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "echo 'hello world' > ~/project/file.txt" })

# Write multi-line content
acp_remote_execute_command({ 
  command: "cat > ~/project/file.txt << 'EOF'\nline 1\nline 2\nline 3\nEOF" 
})

# Append to file
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "echo 'new line' >> ~/project/file.txt" })

# Create directories
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "mkdir -p ~/project/new/nested/dir" })

File Operations

# Copy files
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "cp ~/source.txt ~/dest.txt" })

# Move files
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "mv ~/old.txt ~/new.txt" })

# Delete files
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "rm ~/file.txt" })

# Change permissions
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "chmod 755 ~/script.sh" })

Development Operations

# Git operations
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "git status", cwd: "~/project" })
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "git commit -m 'message'", cwd: "~/project" })

# Package management
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "npm install", cwd: "~/project" })
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "npm run build", cwd: "~/project" })

# Process management
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "ps aux | grep node" })
acp_remote_execute_command({ command: "kill -9 12345" })

Why Single Tool?

v1.0.0 removed specialized tools (list_files, read_file, write_file) in favor of execute_command:

✅ Properly expands ~ and environment variables - SFTP-based tools didn't ✅ Maximum flexibility - Use any shell command or tool ✅ Simpler codebase - One tool instead of four ✅ More reliable - No SFTP edge cases or limitations ✅ Consistent behavior - Works exactly like interactive SSH ✅ Easier to maintain - Single code path to test and debug

Configuration

Standalone Server Configuration

Copy .env.example to .env and configure SSH credentials:

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env with your SSH connection details:

# SSH Configuration (required)
SSH_HOST=your-remote-server.com
SSH_PORT=22
SSH_USERNAME=your-username
SSH_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH=/path/to/your/ssh/private/key

mcp-auth Configuration

When using with mcp-auth, SSH credentials are provided programmatically:

import { createServer } from '@prmichaelsen/acp-mcp/factory';
import { readFileSync } from 'fs';

// SSH credentials provided by mcp-auth wrapper
const server = await createServer({
  userId: 'user-123',
  ssh: {
    host: process.env.REMOTE_HOST,
    port: parseInt(process.env.REMOTE_PORT || '22'),
    username: process.env.REMOTE_USERNAME,
    privateKey: readFileSync(process.env.REMOTE_KEY_PATH, 'utf-8'),
  },
});

Scripts

• npm run dev - Start development server with hot reload
• npm run build - Build for production
• npm run build:watch - Build and watch for changes
• npm start - Run production build
• npm test - Run tests
• npm run typecheck - Type check without emitting
• npm run clean - Remove build output

License

MIT

Author

Patrick Michaelsen