Remote Terminal

Remote Terminal

AI-Powered Remote Linux Server Management via MCP

Remote Terminal lets Claude (the AI assistant) execute commands on your remote Linux servers through a natural chat interface. Watch full output in your browser in real-time while Claude receives smart-filtered summaries optimized for token efficiency.

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🎯 What Is This?

Imagine telling Claude:

"Install nginx on my server and configure it with SSL"
"Run complete system diagnostics and tell me if anything looks wrong"
"Find all log errors from the last hour and summarize them"
"Save this batch script and run it again next week"

And Claude does it - executing commands, analyzing output, saving useful scripts, and taking action on your behalf.

That's Remote Terminal.

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✨ Key Features

Core Capabilities

• 🖥️ Remote Command Execution - Run any bash command on Linux servers
• 🌐 Multi-Server Management - Switch between multiple servers easily
• 📁 File Transfer (SFTP) - Upload/download files and directories with compression
• 📜 Batch Script Execution - Run multi-command scripts 10-50x faster
• 📚 Batch Script Library - Save, browse, and reuse batch scripts (NEW in 3.1)
• 💬 Conversation Tracking - Group commands by goal with rollback support
• 🎯 Recipe System - Save successful workflows for reuse
• 🗄️ Database Integration - Full audit trail with SQLite
• 🌍 Interactive Web Terminal - Full-featured terminal in browser (type, paste, scroll history)
• 🔄 Multi-Terminal Sync - Open multiple terminals, all perfectly synchronized
• ✨ Bash Syntax Highlighting - VS Code-style colors in standalone UI (NEW in 3.1)

The Interactive Web Terminal

Remote Terminal provides a fully interactive terminal window in your browser at http://localhost:8080 - it looks and feels just like WSL, PuTTY, or any standard terminal:

You can:

• Type commands directly (just like any terminal)
• Copy/paste text (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V)
• Scroll through command history
• Use arrow keys for history navigation
• View real-time command output with colors preserved

Claude can:

• Execute commands that appear in your terminal
• See command results instantly
• Continue working while you watch

The key advantage: You maintain complete visibility and control. Every command Claude runs appears in your terminal window in real-time. You're never in the dark about what's happening on your server - it's like sitting side-by-side with an assistant who types commands for you while you watch the screen.

Multi-Terminal Support: Open multiple browser windows at http://localhost:8080 - they all stay perfectly synchronized via WebSocket broadcast. Type in one terminal, see it in all terminals instantly. Perfect for multi-monitor setups or sharing your view with others.

⚠️ Best Practice: Close unused terminal tabs when done. While the system handles multiple connections efficiently, keeping many old tabs open can consume unnecessary resources and may cause connection issues.

🎬 See It In Action

Your browser does not support the video tag.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/98a6fa41-ec4f-410b-8d4a-a2422d8ac7c9

Watch the interactive web terminal in action - see Claude execute commands while you maintain full visibility and control

The Dual-Stream Architecture

Behind the scenes, Remote Terminal uses a smart two-stream approach:

           SSH Output from Remote Server
                      ↓
                  [Raw Output]
                      ↓
                 ┌────┴────┐
                 │         │
                 ↓         ↓
             [FULL]    [FILTERED]
                 │         │
                 ↓         ↓
            Web Terminal    Claude
         (You see all)  (Smart summary)

Result:

• You: Full visibility and control in interactive terminal
• Claude: Efficient work with 95% token savings
• Both: Shared SSH session, synchronized state
• Best of both worlds!

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

Step 1: Create Installation Directory

# Choose a location for your installation (example: C:\RemoteTerminal)
mkdir C:\RemoteTerminal
cd C:\RemoteTerminal

Step 2: Install Package

# Create dedicated virtual environment
python -m venv remote-terminal-env
remote-terminal-env\Scripts\activate
pip install remote-terminal-mcp

Step 3: Configure Claude Desktop

Edit %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "remote-terminal": {
            "command": "C:\\RemoteTerminal\\remote-terminal-env\\Scripts\\remote-terminal-mcp.exe",
            "env": {
                "REMOTE_TERMINAL_ROOT": "C:\\RemoteTerminal"
            }
        }
    }
}

Important: Replace C:\RemoteTerminal with your actual installation path from Step 1.

Step 4: First Run - Auto Setup

Restart Claude Desktop. On first use, configuration files will automatically copy to C:\RemoteTerminal:

• config.yaml - Default settings (auto-created from package defaults)
• hosts.yaml - Server list (auto-created from template)

Step 5: Configure Your Servers

You have two options to configure your servers:

Option A: Manual Configuration (Recommended for first server)

Edit C:\RemoteTerminal\hosts.yaml:

servers:
  - name: My Server
    host: 192.168.1.100
    user: username
    password: your_password
    port: 22
    description: My development server
    tags:
      - development
# Optional: Set default server for auto-connect
# Use list_servers to see which server is marked as [DEFAULT]
default_server: My Server

Option B: AI-Assisted Configuration

Ask Claude to help you add a new server:

Claude, add a new server to my configuration:
- Name: Production Server
- Host: 192.168.1.100
- User: admin
- Password: mypassword
- Port: 22

Claude will use the add_server tool to update your hosts.yaml file automatically.

Restart Claude Desktop and test:

List my configured servers

Step 6: (Optional) Run Standalone Web Interface

cd C:\RemoteTerminal
remote-terminal-env\Scripts\activate
remote-terminal-standalone

Access at:

• Control Panel: http://localhost:8081
• Terminal: http://localhost:8082

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📖 Documentation

Complete guides for every use case:

• Quick Start — Get running in 5 minutes
• Installation — Detailed setup instructions
• User Guide — Complete feature walkthrough
• Feature Reference — All MCP tools reference
• Troubleshooting — Common problems and solutions
• WebSocket Broadcast — Multi-terminal synchronization details
• Release Notes v3.1 — Release notes for version 3.1

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💡 Usage Examples

System Administration

"Check disk space and memory usage"
"What processes are using the most CPU?"
"Is nginx running? If not, start it"
"Show me the last 50 lines of the system log"

Software Management

"Install htop and verify it works"
"Update all packages"
"Check if docker is installed and what version"

Troubleshooting

"Run complete network diagnostics"
"Find all errors in the last hour of logs"
"Check why nginx won't start"
"Analyze disk usage by directory"

File Operations

"Upload my local config.json to /etc/app/"
"Download all log files from /var/log/myapp/"
"List files in /var/log modified today"
"Find all files larger than 100MB"

Automation & Script Management

"Create a recipe from our successful nginx installation"
"Execute the network diagnostics recipe"
"Start a conversation to configure WiFi"
"List my saved batch scripts"
"Execute script 5"
"Load script 3 for editing"

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🎨 Example Session

You: > Install nginx on my production server

Claude: > I'll install nginx. This will create a package installation...

Interactive terminal opens automatically at http://localhost:8080

Web Terminal shows (real-time):

$ sudo apt install nginx
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
[... 500+ lines of installation output ...]
Setting up nginx (1.18.0-0ubuntu1) ...
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/nginx.service
Processing triggers for systemd (245.4-4ubuntu3.23) ...

Claude receives (filtered summary):

nginx installed successfully in 45s
12 packages installed
Service: nginx.service is active

Claude responds: > nginx has been successfully installed and is now running. The service is active. Would you like me to configure it or show you the default page?

Token savings: 96% (15,000 tokens → 600 tokens)

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🏗️ Architecture

Project Structure

remote_terminal/
├── config/                         # Default configuration templates
│   ├── config.yaml                 # Default settings (packaged)
│   └── hosts.yaml.example          # Server template (packaged)
├── data/                           # SQLite database (user directory)
│   └── remote_terminal.db          # Command history, conversations, recipes, scripts
├── docs/                           # Documentation
│   ├── DATABASE_SCHEMA.md
│   ├── FEATURE_REFERENCE.md
│   ├── INDEX.md
│   ├── INSTALLATION.md
│   ├── QUICK_START.md
│   ├── RELEASE_NOTES_v3.1.md
│   ├── TROUBLESHOOTING.md
│   ├── USER_GUIDE.md
│   └── WEBSOCKET_BROADCAST.md
├── recipes/                        # Example automation recipes
├── src/                            # Source code (modular architecture)
│   ├── batch/                      # Batch execution system
│   │   ├── batch_executor.py
│   │   ├── batch_helpers.py
│   │   └── batch_parser.py
│   ├── config/                     # Configuration management
│   │   ├── config.py
│   │   ├── config_dataclasses.py
│   │   ├── config_init.py
│   │   └── config_loader.py
│   ├── database/                   # Database operations (SQLite)
│   │   ├── database_manager.py     # Core database manager
│   │   ├── database_batch.py       # Batch script storage
│   │   ├── database_batch_execution.py
│   │   ├── database_batch_queries.py
│   │   ├── database_batch_scripts.py
│   │   ├── database_commands.py    # Command history
│   │   ├── database_conversations.py
│   │   ├── database_recipes.py     # Recipe storage
│   │   └── database_servers.py     # Machine identity tracking
│   ├── output/                     # Output filtering & formatting
│   │   ├── output_buffer.py
│   │   ├── output_buffer_base.py
│   │   ├── output_buffer_filtered.py
│   │   ├── output_filter.py        # Smart filtering (95% token savings)
│   │   ├── output_filter_commands.py
│   │   ├── output_filter_decision.py
│   │   └── output_formatter.py
│   ├── prompt/                     # Command completion detection
│   │   ├── prompt_detector.py
│   │   ├── prompt_detector_checks.py
│   │   ├── prompt_detector_pager.py
│   │   └── prompt_detector_patterns.py
│   ├── ssh/                        # SSH/SFTP operations
│   │   ├── ssh_manager.py          # High-level SSH manager
│   │   ├── ssh_connection.py       # Connection lifecycle
│   │   ├── ssh_commands.py         # Command execution
│   │   └── ssh_io.py               # Input/output streaming
│   ├── state/                      # Shared state management
│   │   ├── shared_state_conversation.py
│   │   ├── shared_state_monitor.py
│   │   └── shared_state_transfer.py
│   ├── static/                     # Web terminal static assets
│   │   ├── fragments/              # HTML fragments
│   │   ├── vendor/                 # xterm.js library
│   │   ├── terminal.css
│   │   ├── terminal.js
│   │   └── transfer-panel.js
│   ├── tools/                      # MCP tool modules (modular)
│   │   ├── decorators.py           # Tool decorators
│   │   ├── tools_hosts.py          # Server management (main)
│   │   ├── tools_hosts_crud.py     # Add/remove/update servers
│   │   ├── tools_hosts_select.py   # Server selection & connection
│   │   ├── tools_commands.py       # Command execution (main)
│   │   ├── tools_commands_database.py
│   │   ├── tools_commands_execution.py
│   │   ├── tools_commands_status.py
│   │   ├── tools_commands_system.py
│   │   ├── tools_conversations.py  # Conversation tracking (main)
│   │   ├── tools_conversations_lifecycle.py
│   │   ├── tools_conversations_query.py
│   │   ├── tools_batch.py          # Batch script execution (main)
│   │   ├── tools_batch_execution.py
│   │   ├── tools_batch_helpers.py
│   │   ├── tools_batch_management.py
│   │   ├── tools_recipes.py        # Recipe automation (main)
│   │   ├── tools_recipes_create.py
│   │   ├── tools_recipes_crud.py
│   │   ├── tools_recipes_execution.py
│   │   ├── tools_recipes_helpers.py
│   │   ├── tools_recipes_modify.py
│   │   ├── tools_recipes_query.py
│   │   ├── tools_sftp.py           # File transfer (main)
│   │   ├── tools_sftp_single.py    # Single file transfer
│   │   ├── tools_sftp_directory.py # Directory transfer
│   │   ├── tools_sftp_directory_download.py
│   │   ├── tools_sftp_directory_upload.py
│   │   ├── tools_sftp_exceptions.py
│   │   ├── tools_sftp_utils.py
│   │   ├── sftp_compression.py     # Compression logic
│   │   ├── sftp_compression_download.py
│   │   ├── sftp_compression_tar.py
│   │   ├── sftp_compression_upload.py
│   │   ├── sftp_decisions.py       # Auto/manual compression decisions
│   │   ├── sftp_progress.py        # Progress tracking
│   │   ├── sftp_transfer_compressed.py
│   │   ├── sftp_transfer_download.py
│   │   ├── sftp_transfer_scan.py
│   │   ├── sftp_transfer_standard.py
│   │   ├── sftp_transfer_upload.py
│   │   └── tools_info.py           # System information
│   ├── utils/                      # Utility functions
│   │   ├── utils.py
│   │   ├── utils_format.py
│   │   ├── utils_machine_id.py     # Hardware/OS fingerprinting
│   │   ├── utils_output.py
│   │   └── utils_text.py
│   ├── web/                        # Web terminal (WebSocket-enabled)
│   │   ├── web_terminal.py         # Main web server
│   │   ├── web_terminal_ui.py      # UI components
│   │   └── web_terminal_websocket.py  # Multi-terminal sync
│   ├── mcp_server.py               # MCP server entry point
│   ├── shared_state.py             # Global shared state
│   ├── command_state.py            # Command registry & tracking
│   ├── hosts_manager.py            # Multi-server configuration
│   └── error_check_helper.py       # Error detection
└── standalone/                     # Standalone web UI (no Claude)
├── static/
│   ├── css/                        # Standalone UI styles
│   │   ├── control-forms.css
│   │   ├── control-layout.css
│   │   ├── control-response.css
│   │   └── control-styles.css      # Bash syntax highlighting
│   ├── js/                         # Standalone UI scripts
│   │   ├── control-forms.js
│   │   ├── control-forms-fields.js
│   │   ├── control-forms-generation.js
│   │   ├── control-forms-utils.js
│   │   ├── control-main.js
│   │   └── control-response.js
│   └── tool-schemas/               # MCP tool schemas
│       ├── batch.json
│       ├── commands.json
│       ├── file-transfer.json
│       ├── servers.json
│       └── workflows.json
├── mcp_control.html                # Control panel HTML
├── standalone_mcp.py               # Standalone server entry point
├── standalone_mcp_endpoints.py     # API endpoints
└── standalone_mcp_startup.py       # Initialization & connection

Tech

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Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: TiM00R
• Source: TiM00R/remote-terminal
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.