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πŸš€ Tabby-MCP

License: MIT TypeScript Tabby Plugin MCP Protocol GitHub Release AI Generated Tested on

A Comprehensive MCP Server Plugin for Tabby Terminal

Connect AI assistants to your terminal with full control β€” 34 MCP tools including SFTP support

English | δΈ­ζ–‡


πŸš€ Tabby-MCP is a powerful plugin for Tabby Terminal, bridging the gap between AI agents and your terminal environment. It provides a standardized MCP interface for AI to execute commands, manage tabs, and handle file operations securely.

Give your AI hands to work with.

Tabby-MCP Intro

✨ Features

πŸ–₯️ Terminal Control

  • Execute commands with output capture
  • Stable session IDs (v1.1+)
  • Send interactive input (vim, less, top)
  • Read terminal buffer content
  • Abort/monitor running commands

πŸ“‘ Tab Management

  • Create/Close/Duplicate tabs
  • Split panes (horizontal/vertical)
  • Navigate between tabs
  • Move tabs left/right
  • Reopen closed tabs

πŸ”— Profile & SSH

  • List all terminal profiles
  • Open new tabs with profiles
  • SSH quick connect
  • Profile selector dialog

πŸ“ SFTP Operations (v1.1+)

  • List/read/write remote files
  • Create/delete directories
  • Rename/move files
  • (Requires tabby-ssh)

πŸ”’ Security Features

Pair programming mode with confirmation dialogs β€’ Comprehensive logging β€’ Safe command execution


πŸ“¦ Installation

Method 1: Tabby Plugin Manager (Easiest)

Search for tabby-mcp-server directly in Tabby's built-in Plugin Manager:

  1. Open Tabby β†’ Settings β†’ Plugins
  2. Search for tabby-mcp-server
  3. Click Install
  4. Restart Tabby

Method 2: Quick Install Script

No Node.js required! Downloads pre-built release from GitHub.

🍎 macOS / 🐧 Linux
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GentlemanHu/Tabby-MCP/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Or download and run:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GentlemanHu/Tabby-MCP/main/scripts/install.sh
bash install.sh
πŸͺŸ Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GentlemanHu/Tabby-MCP/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

Or download and run:

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GentlemanHu/Tabby-MCP/main/scripts/install.ps1 -OutFile install.ps1
.\install.ps1

Method 3: Build from Source

Requires Node.js 18+.

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/GentlemanHu/Tabby-MCP.git
cd Tabby-MCP

# Build & Install
bash scripts/build-and-install.sh

Or manually:

npm install --legacy-peer-deps
npm run build
# Then copy dist/ and package.json to Tabby plugins folder

πŸ”„ After Installation

  1. Restart Tabby
  2. Go to Settings β†’ MCP
  3. Start the MCP server

πŸ”Œ Connecting AI Clients

SSE Mode (Cursor / Windsurf)

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Tabby MCP": {
      "type": "sse",
      "url": "http://localhost:3001/mcp"
    }
  }
}

STDIO Mode (Claude Desktop / VS Code)

For clients that don't support SSE, use the STDIO bridge:

Claude Desktop (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tabby-mcp-server": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/Tabby-MCP/scripts/stdio-bridge.js"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code / Other IDEs:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "tabby-mcp-server": {
        "type": "stdio",
        "command": "node",
        "args": ["scripts/stdio-bridge.js"],
        "cwd": "/path/to/Tabby-MCP"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: STDIO mode requires Node.js installed. The bridge script connects to the SSE server running in Tabby.

Endpoints

Endpoint URL Protocol
Streamable HTTP http://localhost:3001/mcp 2025-03-26 (recommended)
Legacy SSE http://localhost:3001/sse 2024-11-05
Health http://localhost:3001/health -
Info http://localhost:3001/info -

πŸ› οΈ Available Tools

Terminal Control (7)

Tool Description
get_session_list List all terminal sessions with stable UUIDs and metadata
exec_command Execute command with flexible session targeting
send_input Send interactive input (Ctrl+C, etc)
get_terminal_buffer Read terminal buffer (defaults to active session)
abort_command Abort running command
get_command_status Monitor active commands
focus_pane Focus a specific pane in split view

New in v1.1: All terminal tools now support flexible session targeting:

  • sessionId (stable UUID, recommended)
  • tabIndex (legacy, may change)
  • title (partial match)
  • profileName (partial match)
  • No parameters = use active session

Tab Management (11)

Tool Description
list_tabs List all open tabs with stable IDs
select_tab Focus a specific tab (defaults to active)
close_tab Close a tab
close_all_tabs Close all tabs
duplicate_tab Duplicate a tab
next_tab / previous_tab Navigate tabs
move_tab_left / move_tab_right Reorder tabs
reopen_last_tab Reopen closed tab
split_tab Split current tab (horizontal/vertical)

Profile Management (4)

Tool Description
list_profiles List terminal profiles
open_profile Open tab with profile
show_profile_selector Show profile dialog
quick_connect SSH quick connect

SFTP Operations (12) πŸ†•

Requires tabby-ssh plugin. If not installed, SFTP tools are disabled automatically.

Basic Operations:

Tool Description Key Parameters
sftp_list_files List remote directory path
sftp_read_file Read remote file (text) path
sftp_write_file Write text to remote file path, content
sftp_mkdir Create remote directory path
sftp_delete Delete remote file/directory path
sftp_rename Rename/move remote file sourcePath, destPath
sftp_stat Get file/directory info path

File Transfer (supports sync/async):

Tool Description Key Parameters
sftp_upload Upload local file β†’ remote localPath, remotePath, sync
sftp_download Download remote β†’ local file remotePath, localPath, sync
sftp_get_transfer_status Query transfer progress transferId
sftp_list_transfers List all transfers status (filter)
sftp_cancel_transfer Cancel active transfer transferId

Transfer Modes: sync=true (default) waits for completion. sync=false returns immediately with transferId.

Size Limits: Configurable in Settings β†’ MCP β†’ SFTP.


βš™οΈ Configuration

Setting Description Default
Port MCP server port 3001
Start on Boot Auto-start server true
Pair Programming Confirm commands true
Session Tracking Use stable UUIDs true
Background Execution Run without focus false
SFTP Enabled Enable SFTP tools true

πŸ”„ Background Execution Mode

Enable this mode to allow MCP commands to run without switching focus to the terminal. This lets you continue working on other tabs while AI executes commands in the background.

Settings β†’ MCP β†’ Background Execution

⚠️ Risks:

  • You won't see commands executing in real-time
  • If you type in the target terminal while AI is running, input will conflict
  • For split panes, commands go to the sessionId target, not the focused pane
  • Dangerous commands could run without you noticing

βœ… Recommended: Keep "Pair Programming Mode" enabled with confirmation dialogs for safety.


⚠️ Platform Support

Platform Status Notes
macOS βœ… Tested Fully functional
Windows ⚠️ Untested Should work β€” please report issues
Linux ⚠️ Untested Should work β€” please report issues

Note: This plugin has been developed and tested on macOS. Windows and Linux support should work but is unverified. Community testing and feedback welcome!


πŸ€– About This Project

🎨 95%+ AI Generated

This project was created almost entirely by AI (Claude/Gemini) through pair programming.
The human's role was primarily to provide requirements and test the results.

Acknowledgments

This project builds upon the work of tabby-mcp-server by @thuanpham582002.

Improvements over the original:

Feature Original This Project
MCP Tools 4 34
Tab Management ❌ βœ…
Profile/SSH ❌ βœ…
SFTP Support ❌ βœ…
Stable Session IDs ❌ βœ…
Streamable HTTP ❌ βœ…
Init Bug Has issue βœ… Fixed
Install Script Manual βœ… One-liner

πŸ“ Changelog

v1.2.0 (2026-01-24)

πŸ”§ Critical Bug Fixes:

  • πŸ”΄ SFTP Session ID Mismatch - Fixed critical bug where SFTP tools operated on wrong SSH server
    • Root cause: SFTP had separate session registry from Terminal, causing ID mismatch
    • Fix: SFTP now shares session registry with Terminal tools
    • SFTP no longer silently falls back to first SSH tab when sessionId doesn't match
  • πŸ”΄ Local Directory Auto-Creation - SFTP downloads now automatically create missing local directories
  • πŸ”΄ Error Reporting - Fixed misleading "Remote file not found" when local directory was missing

🎨 UI Improvements:

  • πŸ“‹ Connection Monitor - Added "Connections" button to settings (always visible)
  • πŸ› οΈ Server Lifecycle - Improved server restart with forced socket cleanup
  • πŸ“Š Session Tracking - Added session metadata with activity history

πŸ”§ Terminal Improvements:

  • 🐚 Heredoc Support - Fixed complex shell commands (Python heredoc) execution
  • πŸ“ Detailed Logging - Added [findSSHSession] debug logs for troubleshooting

v1.1.6 (2026-01-22)

Improvements:

  • 🎨 Enhanced Settings UI - Redesigned header with compact social links (GitHub, npm)
  • πŸ”— Smart Links - All external links now open correctly in default browser
  • πŸ”’ Auto-versioning - Plugin version is now automatically read from package.json
  • 🧹 Cleaner UI - Optimized layout and removed redundant sections

v1.1.5 (2026-01-22)

New Features:

  • 🌐 Internationalization (i18n) - Settings UI now supports multiple languages
    • English (en-US, en-GB)
    • Chinese Simplified (zh-CN, zh-TW)
    • Auto-follows Tabby's language setting
    • Extensible: easily add new languages by adding JSON files

v1.1.4 (2026-01-22)

New Features:

  • πŸ”„ Background Execution Mode - Run MCP commands without switching terminal focus
    • Settings UI with comprehensive risk warnings
    • Split pane focus handling for proper pane targeting
  • 🐚 Multi-shell Compatibility - exec_command now supports Fish, Bash, Zsh, and sh
    • Auto-detects shell type from terminal buffer patterns
    • Shell-specific command wrappers for exit code capture

Bug Fixes:

  • πŸ”§ Fixed open_profile SSH readiness detection - no longer returns prematurely before SSH is connected
  • Fixed shell detection for non-bash shells (Fish shell $status vs $?)

v1.1.3 (2026-01-22)

Bug Fixes:

  • πŸ”§ Fixed open_profile sessionId inconsistency - now returns same sessionId as get_session_list
  • Fixed SSH connection state detection - ready now correctly reflects overall connection status

Improvements:

  • Clearer state fields in open_profile response:
    • tabReady: Tab/frontend initialized
    • sshConnected: SSH connection established (SSH profiles only)
    • ready: Overall ready state (for SSH: tabReady AND sshConnected)
  • Marked all peerDependencies as optional to prevent unnecessary package downloads
  • Added tabby-ssh to devDependencies for developer build stability

v1.1.2 (2026-01-22)

Optimization:

  • πŸ“¦ Reduced npm package size by moving bundled dependencies to devDependencies
  • All dependencies (express, zod, @modelcontextprotocol/sdk) are now bundled into dist/index.js
  • Installing from npm/Tabby store no longer downloads unnecessary packages

v1.3.0 (2026-02-04)

Bug Fixes:

  • πŸ”§ Fixed session disconnect false positives - exec_command and send_input no longer incorrectly report "Session disconnected"
    • Root cause: tab.destroyed is a Subject<void> (RxJS Observable), NOT a boolean
    • Now correctly uses session.open === false for disconnect detection

Cleanup:

  • πŸ—‘οΈ Removed non-functional SFTP "Advanced Tuning" settings (Chunk Size, Concurrency)
    • These had no effect with Tabby's russh-based SFTP implementation
  • πŸ—‘οΈ Removed obsolete fastPut/fastGet detection code

i18n:

  • ✏️ Fixed SFTP size descriptions: corrected "10 MB" β†’ "10 GB" in all translations

v1.1.1 (2026-01-21)

Bug Fixes:

  • πŸ”§ Fixed Streamable HTTP connection leak - connections were not being cleaned up when clients disconnected
  • Added transport.onclose handler to properly remove closed sessions from tracking
  • Enhanced SSE stream close logging for better debugging

v1.1.0 (2026-01-20)

Major Fixes:

  • SFTP tools completely rewritten - Fixed all SFTP tools that were returning "No SSH session found"
  • Fixed SSH tab detection to properly handle tabs inside SplitTabComponent
  • Fixed get_terminal_buffer and select_tab returning error when called without parameters
  • Fixed select_tab tool not finding tabs by tabId (bidirectional lookup)
  • Fixed quick_connect and open_profile parameter validation issues

Improvements:

  • All tools now use smart defaults: no parameters = use active session/tab/first SSH session
  • Updated documentation: tool count corrected to 34 (Terminal 7 + Tab 11 + Profile 4 + SFTP 12)
  • Added detailed debug logging and better error messages
  • Added focus_pane and split_tab to documentation
  • Added Streamable HTTP transport support (protocol 2025-03-26)
  • Settings: SFTP size limits now use MB instead of bytes
  • Settings: Updated SFTP notes (removed outdated base64 warning)

🀝 Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.


πŸ“„ License

MIT License - see LICENSE


Made with ❀️ by AI and GentlemanHu

⭐ Star this repo if you find it useful!