Show HN: ht-mcp – a Rust MCP server of headless terminal for agents

3 days ago 1

A high-performance Rust implementation of a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for headless terminal ht.

🚀 Pure Rust: Single binary MCP server, no external dependencies
🔗 Direct Integration: Embed excellent ht headless terminal library for optimal performance
🖥️ Multi-Session: Concurrent terminal session management
🌐 Web Interface: Optional live terminal preview

brew tap memextech/tap brew install ht-mcp

Download from releases:

# macOS Intel curl -L https://github.com/memextech/ht-mcp/releases/latest/download/ht-mcp-x86_64-apple-darwin -o ht-mcp # macOS Apple Silicon curl -L https://github.com/memextech/ht-mcp/releases/latest/download/ht-mcp-aarch64-apple-darwin -o ht-mcp # Linux curl -L https://github.com/memextech/ht-mcp/releases/latest/download/ht-mcp-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu -o ht-mcp # Windows (PowerShell) curl.exe -L https://github.com/memextech/ht-mcp/releases/latest/download/ht-mcp-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc -o ht-mcp.exe # Make executable and install chmod +x ht-mcp && sudo mv ht-mcp /usr/local/bin/

# From crates.io (stable) cargo install ht-mcp # From git (latest) cargo install --git https://github.com/memextech/ht-mcp

git clone https://github.com/memextech/ht-mcp.git cd ht-mcp git submodule update --init --recursive cargo install --path .

See docs/INSTALLATION.md for detailed installation options.

Tool Description Parameters

ht_create_session	Create new terminal session	command?, enableWebServer?
ht_send_keys	Send keystrokes to session	sessionId, keys[]
ht_take_snapshot	Capture terminal state	sessionId
ht_execute_command	Execute command and get output	sessionId, command
ht_list_sessions	List all active sessions	None
ht_close_session	Close terminal session	sessionId

Note: Parameters use camelCase (e.g., sessionId, enableWebServer) for MCP compatibility.

Add to your MCP client configuration:

{ "mcpServers": { "ht-mcp": { "command": "ht-mcp", "args": ["--debug"] } } }

For custom installation paths:

{ "mcpServers": { "ht-mcp": { "command": "/path/to/ht-mcp", "args": [] } } }

# Start the MCP server ht-mcp # With debug logging ht-mcp --debug

Once configured in your MCP client:

Create session: ht_create_session → Returns session ID
Run commands: ht_execute_command with session ID and command
Interactive input: ht_send_keys for multi-step interactions
Check state: ht_take_snapshot to see current terminal
Clean up: ht_close_session when finished

This server returns human-readable text responses (not JSON), designed for natural language interaction:

# Create session response HT session created successfully! Session ID: abc123-def456-789... 🌐 Web server enabled! View live terminal at: http://127.0.0.1:3000

# Terminal snapshot response Terminal Snapshot (Session: abc123...) bash-3.2$ ls -la total 16 drwxr-xr-x 4 user staff 128 Jun 13 10:30 . -rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 45 Jun 13 10:30 file.txt bash-3.2$

Rust: 1.75+ (install via rustup)
Supported OS: Linux, macOS, Windows (experimental)