About Terminal History Mcp
Terminal History Mcp is a local MCP server for developers and coding agents to search zsh, bash, and fish history. It stores commands in SQLite FTS5 and scrubs detected secrets before storage.
Key features
- 01Full-text shell history search
- 02Filter commands by working directory
- 03Find commands with non-zero exit codes
- 04Inspect nearby command sequences
- 05Reindex history files and logs
- 06Redact secrets before storage
Use cases
- 01Recall a command used weeks ago
- 02Review failed commands in a shell session
- 03Find commands run in a specific directory
MCP support
Exposes shell-history search, filtering, and reindexing tools to MCP clients. It can run over stdio and is designed for clients such as Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, and Zed.
Configuration
Local server config is the same for every client. Copy it into your client’s MCP config file.
Tools
5Saved tool list · updated 3w ago
This tool takes no parameters.
Details
From the project README
terminal-history-mcp
Search your shell history (zsh / bash / fish) from Claude Code, Cline, Cursor, Zed, or any MCP client. Local-only. SQLite FTS5. Secret-redacted before storage.

What you can ask
- "When did I last ssh into the staging server?"
- "Show recent failed commands."
- "What did I run yesterday in
/etc/nginx?" - "What's that long docker compose flag I used 3 weeks ago?"
- "Show command chains around
kubectl apply."
Install
npm install -g terminal-history-mcp
terminal-history-mcp index # one-time backfill from existing history
(Or run from a clone: git clone … && npm install && npm run build && npm link.)
Wire to Claude Code
claude mcp add --scope user terminal-history -- terminal-history-mcp
claude mcp list
Wire to other MCP clients
Anywhere that takes a stdio MCP server config:
{
"mcpServers": {
"terminal-history": {
"command": "terminal-history-mcp"
}
}
}
Connect via MCPize
Use this MCP server instantly with no local installation:
npx -y mcpize connect @HasanJahidul/terminal-history --client claude
Or connect at: https://mcpize.com/mcp/terminal-history
Capture cwd + exit code (recommended)
By default zsh/bash history files store only the command. To unlock recent_in_dir and failed_commands, install the shell hook:
terminal-history-mcp install-hook zsh # or bash, or fish
exec $SHELL # reload
The hook appends pipe-delimited lines to ~/.terminal-history-mcp/extended.log. Reindex picks them up.
To inspect the snippet first:
terminal-history-mcp print-hook zsh
To remove:
terminal-history-mcp uninstall-hook zsh
Tools
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
search_history(query, limit) | FTS5 keyword + prefix match across all history |
recent_in_dir(cwd, limit) | Last N commands in a working dir (needs hook) |
failed_commands(since_ts_ms, limit) | Commands with non-zero exit (needs hook) |
command_chains(query, window_ms, limit) | For each match, list commands within ±5 min |
reindex | Re-parse history files + extended log |
Privacy
Everything is local. The DB lives at ~/.terminal-history-mcp/history.db. Nothing is uploaded.
Secrets are scrubbed before insert. Detected patterns:
- GitHub PATs (
ghp_*,gho_*, …) - OpenAI keys (
sk-*) - Slack tokens (
xox[baprs]-*) - AWS access keys (
AKIA…) Authorization: Bearer/Basic <value>X-*-Token: …,X-*-Key: …,X-*-Secret: …headers- Env vars containing
TOKEN/KEY/SECRET/PASSWORD/API_KEY - CLI flags
--token=…,--api-key …,-k … - URL basic-auth
https://user:pass@host - JWTs (
eyJ.*.*)
If you find a leak, please open an issue. To wipe and re-index after upgrading patterns:
rm ~/.terminal-history-mcp/history.db*
terminal-history-mcp index
Development
git clone https://github.com/hasanjahidul/terminal-history-mcp
cd terminal-history-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test
License
MIT — see LICENSE.
Comments
New to MCP?
From what the protocol is to installing your first server, these answers cover most first questions.
An open protocol that defines how AI applications connect to external tools and data in a uniform way. Clients talk to the model; MCP servers provide tools, resources and prompt templates. They exchange standard messages, so one server can be reused by many clients.