Modern CLI

You run a modern MCP server that exposes 107 practical command-line tools through JSON-RPC, optimized for AI consumption. It offers access to filesystem operations, code search, Git repositories, containers, Kubernetes, and data transformations, all with zero-config deployment via Nix, Docker, or a binary runtime. This enables AI agents to perform complex tasks with structured output and controlled access to your environment.

How to use

Connect your MCP client to the server using the explicit MCP runtimes described in the installation options. You will interact with the exposed tools through JSON-based requests and receive consistently structured results that AI agents can parse and reason about.

How to install

Choose one of the supported runtimes and follow the corresponding steps.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "modern-cli": {
      "command": "nix",
      "args": ["run", "github:NacoSolutions/modern-cli-mcp", "--"]
    }
  }
}

Install via Docker (recommended for isolated environments):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "modern-cli": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "ghcr.io/nacosolutions/modern-cli-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Run directly from a prebuilt binary (local runtime):

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

Additional sections

Configuration and security are important to maintain safe and predictable automation. You can tighten access with agent ignore rules to restrict which files AI agents can access and ensure that tools respect those restrictions.

Key configuration concepts include the optional agent ignore mechanism and the zero-config runtime packaging that bundles dependencies with Nix. You can customize tool access and behavior through the provided options without manual tool installation.

Configuration and security

• Use .agentignore files to declare which files or directories AI agents may access. Patterns follow similar syntax to gitignore but are evaluated specifically for agent access. Global patterns can be placed at ~/.config/agent/ignore and per-directory patterns can be added in .agentignore, walked up from the working directory.

• Blocked paths result in a clear error like "Path is blocked by .agentignore: /path/to/file" to help you diagnose access restrictions.

Available tools

eza

Modern ls with icons and git integration

bat

Cat with syntax highlighting

fd

Fast find alternative

duf

Disk usage viewer (JSON)

dust

Directory size analyzer

trash_*

Safe file deletion

rg

Ripgrep for fast content search (JSON)

fzf_filter

Fuzzy filtering

ast_grep

AST-based code search (JSON)

web_search

DuckDuckGo web search (JSON)

gh_repo

GitHub repository operations (JSON)

gh_issue

GitHub issues (JSON)

gh_pr

GitHub pull requests (JSON)

gh_search

Search repos, issues, PRs, code (JSON)

gh_release

GitHub releases (JSON)

gh_workflow

GitHub Actions workflows (JSON)

gh_run

GitHub Actions runs (JSON)

gh_api

Direct GitHub API access (JSON)

glab_issue

GitLab issues (JSON)

glab_mr

GitLab merge requests (JSON)

glab_pipeline

GitLab CI/CD pipelines (JSON)

podman

Container operations (JSON)

dive

Image layer analysis

skopeo

Registry operations (JSON)

crane

Low-level registry tool (JSON)

trivy

Security vulnerability scanner (JSON)

kubectl_get

Get resources (JSON)

kubectl_describe

Describe resources

kubectl_logs

Pod logs

kubectl_apply

Apply manifests

kubectl_delete

Delete resources

kubectl_exec

Execute in pods

stern

Multi-pod log aggregation (JSON)

helm

Chart management (JSON)

kustomize

Manifest building

jq

JSON processor

yq

YAML/JSON/XML processor

gron

JSON→greppable format

htmlq

jq for HTML

pup

HTML parser (JSON)

miller

Multi-format processor

dasel

Universal data selector

http

HTTP requests (xh)

dns

DNS lookups (doggo)

usql

Universal SQL client

procs

Process viewer (JSON)

tokei

Code statistics (JSON)

hyperfine

Benchmarking (JSON)

delta

Syntax-highlighted diffs

difft

Structural diff

git_diff

Git diff with highlighting

tldr

Command cheatsheets

grex

Regex generator

ouch_*

Archive handling

pueue_*

Task queue