Let Claude control your Mac. Move windows, click menus, type text, read clipboard, manage browser tabs — 12 typed tools with input validation and security guardrails.

Quick Start

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "osascript": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-osascript"]
    }
  }
}

Add this to your Claude Desktop config (Settings → Developer → Edit Config), restart Claude, and you're ready.

Cursor / VS Code (Copilot)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "osascript": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-osascript"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add osascript -- npx -y mcp-osascript

From source (development)

git clone https://github.com/m0rvayne/mcp-osascript.git
cd mcp-osascript && npm install
# then use: "command": "node", "args": ["/path/to/mcp-osascript/server/index.js"]

Try These Prompts

Once installed, ask Claude:

| Prompt | What happens | |--------|-------------| | "Open Safari and show me what tabs I have" | Launches Safari, reads all tab titles and URLs | | "Move the Finder window to the left half of my screen" | Resizes and positions the window | | "Click File → Export as PDF in Keynote" | Navigates the menu bar and clicks the item | | "Copy the URL from my active Chrome tab" | Reads browser tabs, finds the active one | | "Type 'Hello World' into the active text field" | Simulates keyboard input | | "Show a notification when you're done" | Displays a native macOS banner | | "What app am I using right now?" | Returns the frontmost app name and bundle ID | | "Press Cmd+Shift+4" | Triggers the screenshot shortcut | | "List all items in the Edit menu of VS Code" | Introspects the menu bar | | "Close the second window of Terminal" | Targets a specific window by index |

Tools

12 typed tools, each with input validation, error classification, and permission-aware error messages.

| Tool | What it does | Permission | |------|-------------|------------| | run_osascript | Execute any AppleScript or JXA script | None | | get_clipboard | Read clipboard as text | None | | set_clipboard | Write text to clipboard | None | | send_notification | Show macOS notification banner | None | | open_url | Open URL in browser (http/https/mailto only) | None | | open_app | Launch or bring app to front | None | | get_frontmost_app | Get active app name + bundle ID | Automation | | get_browser_tabs | List tabs in Safari, Chrome, or Arc | Automation | | type_text | Type text into active app (max 500 chars) | Accessibility | | press_key | Press key with modifiers (cmd+c, return, f5) | Accessibility | | manage_windows | List / move / resize / minimize / fullscreen / close | Accessibility | | app_menu | List or click menu items in any app | Accessibility |

Self-Correcting Menus

When Claude tries to click a menu item that doesn't exist, the server automatically returns the list of available items at that level — so Claude can retry with the correct name. No other MCP server does this.

User:   "Click File → Export as PDF in Preview"
Claude: calls app_menu click ["File", "Export as PDF"]
Server: "Menu item 'Export as PDF' not found in 'File'.
         Available: ['New from Clipboard', 'Open...', 'Close', 'Save',
         'Duplicate', 'Rename...', 'Export...', 'Export as PDF...']"
Claude: calls app_menu click ["File", "Export as PDF..."]
Server: "Clicked: File > Export as PDF..."

Why mcp-osascript?

| | mcp-osascript | steipete (824★) | peakmojo (463★) | |---|:---:|:---:|:---:| | Typed tools with validation | 12 | 2 (generic) | 1 (generic) | | URL scheme allowlist | http/https/mailto | No | No | | Env isolation (child process) | PATH+HOME+LANG only | Full process.env | Full process.env | | Process group kill (no orphans) | SIGTERM→SIGKILL | No | No | | Error sanitization (paths, tokens) | Yes | No | No | | Prototype pollution protection | Object.create(null) | No | No | | Self-correcting menu click | Yes | No | No | | Integration tests | 41 | 0 | 0 | | Stdin piping (no temp files) | Yes | Temp files | Temp files |

Permissions

Tools work in three tiers:

• No permission needed — clipboard, notifications, URLs, apps. Works immediately.
• Automation — browser tabs, frontmost app. macOS prompts once per browser.
• Accessibility — keyboard, windows, menus. Grant once in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.

When a permission is missing, the server tells you exactly what to do:

"Accessibility permission required. Grant access to 'osascript'
in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility."

Testing

npm test

41 integration tests covering all 12 tools — input validation, security boundaries (URL scheme blocking, prototype pollution, script size limits), timeout enforcement, and permission error handling.

Security

• run_osascript executes arbitrary code — this is by design. The MCP client (Claude) is the trust boundary.
• Scripts piped via stdin to /usr/bin/osascript — no temp files, no TOCTOU race conditions.
• Script size: 50 KB max. Output: 50K chars max (truncated).
• Error messages sanitized — filesystem paths, tokens, and passwords are stripped.
• Child processes get minimal env: PATH, HOME, LANG only — no API keys or secrets leak.
• URL scheme allowlist — file://, smb://, vnc://, javascript: all blocked.
• Handler dispatch uses Object.create(null) — no prototype pollution.

Reliability

• Process group kill on timeout — SIGTERM → 2s grace → SIGKILL. No orphaned processes.
• Concurrency semaphore — max 5 simultaneous osascript processes.
• Graceful shutdown — server.close() with 10s force-exit safety net.
• Error classification — parses macOS error codes (-1728, -1743, -25211) into actionable messages. Supports English and Russian locales.

Requirements

• macOS 13+ (Ventura or later)
• Node.js 18+

License

MIT