zellij

This MCP server provides a comprehensive integration layer for managing Zellij terminal workspace sessions. It exposes a rich set of tools for sessions, panes, tabs, plugins, and layouts, along with inter-plugin communication and specialized LLM completion detection helpers. You can interact with these capabilities through your MCP client (e.g., Claude Desktop or direct CLI usage) by invoking the predefined tools such as zellij_list_sessions, zellij_new_session, zellij_attach_session, zellij_new_pane, zellij_resize_pane, zellij_launch_plugin, zellij_dump_layout, zellij_pipe, zellij_watch_pipe, and many more. The server orchestrates Zellij sessions and exposes a consistent API surface to create, modify, query, and arrange sessions, tabs, panes, and plugins, with optional layout saving/loading and inter-plugin piping.

To use it, configure your MCP client to point at the Node.js server script (dist/index.js) and start the server as shown in the installation guide. You can then call tools by name, passing the required parameters and receiving structured results that reflect current Zellij state, including session health, layout content, and plugin statuses.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18 or higher
• Zellij installed and available in PATH
• An active terminal environment

Setup steps:

1. Clone the repository git clone https://github.com/yourusername/zellij-mcp-server.git cd zellij-mcp-server

2. Install dependencies npm install

3. Build the project npm run build

4. Make the server executable (if needed) chmod +x dist/index.js

5. Run the server (example) npm start

6. Optional: configure environment variables for production tuning

   • Create a .env file or export variables prior to startup export NODE_ENV=production export ZELLIJ_MCP_LOG_LEVEL=info

Notes and tips:

• The server requires Zellij to be installed and accessible in your environment PATH.
• Configure the mcp_server in your client with the appropriate command and path to dist/index.js (as shown in the Claude Desktop example).
• You can adjust logging and behavior via environment variables (e.g., ZELLIJ_MCP_LOG_LEVEL).
• If you encounter permission issues starting the script, ensure the dist/index.js file is executable and that you have the necessary filesystem permissions.
• For production deployments, consider running the server under a process manager (e.g., pm2) and ensuring proper health checks and restart policies.