Windows CLI MCP Server: Secure PowerShell, CMD Access

Overview

This project implements a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides controlled Windows command-line access. It lets an MCP-capable client open sandboxed shell sessions (PowerShell, CMD, or Git Bash) on a Windows host and exchange I/O over an authenticated, auditable channel. The server focuses on security controls such as command whitelisting, session time limits, TLS, and token-based authentication so automated tools or AI agents can interact with a Windows CLI without granting unrestricted shell access.

For developers, the MCP server is useful when you need remote programmatic access to Windows shells from an orchestration system, a language model agent, or a developer tool that understands MCP. It standardizes session lifecycle management (create/attach/detach/terminate), centralizes auditing, and reduces the attack surface by restricting available binaries and arguments.

Features

• Expose PowerShell, cmd.exe and Git Bash shells via MCP-compatible sessions
• Token-based authentication and TLS for encrypted transport
• Per-session configuration: max duration, stdout/stderr limits, env overrides
• Command and argument whitelisting to reduce risk
• Audit logs of session start/stop and command execution
• Session concurrency and global resource limits
• Configurable shell startup environment (working dir, PATH tweaks)
• Lightweight server binary suitable for local install or deployment

Installation / Configuration

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/SimonB97/win-cli-mcp-server.git
cd win-cli-mcp-server

2. Build (example for a Go-based project — see repo README for exact build instructions):

# if the project uses Go modules
go build -o win-cli-mcp-server ./cmd/server

3. Create a YAML configuration file (example below) and start the server:

# config.yml
listen: "0.0.0.0:8443"
tls:
  cert: "C:\\certs\\server.crt"
  key:  "C:\\certs\\server.key"
auth:
  tokens:
    - "replace-with-secret-token"
allowed_shells:
  - powershell
  - cmd
  - git-bash
whitelist:
  commands:
    - "git"
    - "dir"
    - "ipconfig"
session:
  max_seconds: 600
  max_output_bytes: 10485760
logging:
  path: "C:\\var\\log\\win-cli-mcp-server.log"
  level: "info"

Start the server with the config file:

./win-cli-mcp-server --config config.yml
# or on Windows
win-cli-mcp-server.exe --config C:\path\to\config.yml

Command-line flags commonly supported:

• –config PATH Path to YAML/JSON configuration
• –listen HOST:PORT Bind address and port
• –tls-cert PATH TLS certificate
• –tls-key PATH TLS key
• –log PATH Log file path
• –debug Enable verbose debug logging

Table: Key configuration options

Available Resources

• Source and releases: https://github.com/SimonB97/win-cli-mcp-server
• MCP (Model Context Protocol): use the server’s MCP endpoints to manage sessions; the server implements create/attach/resize/terminate lifecycle operations