Nexus Shell is a native macOS SSH client for managing server connections, terminal sessions, files, containers, and monitoring from one app.
This repository hosts signed and notarized Nexus Shell releases. Download the latest installer from GitHub Releases or install with Homebrew:
brew install --cask viewer12/tap/nexus-shell- Apple Silicon Mac
- macOS 14.2 or later
Agent Bridge turns Nexus Shell into a local Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and other MCP clients can use connections already stored in Nexus Shell without receiving passwords or private keys.
Agent Bridge is available in the direct-download and Homebrew builds. It is not included in the TestFlight or Mac App Store build because that build is sandboxed.
- Open Nexus Shell.
- Go to Settings > Agent Bridge and enable it.
- Copy the setup instruction generated by the app and give it to your local AI agent.
- Approve the agent in Nexus Shell when it makes its first tool call.
The generated setup uses stable launcher paths under ~/Library/NexusShell/. It does not put passwords, API keys, or private-key paths in the MCP client configuration.
Agent Bridge exposes 26 tools:
- Connections (6):
list_connections,get_connection,create_connection,update_connection,delete_connection,test_connection - Terminals (6):
open_terminal,list_terminals,read_terminal,send_text,run_command,close_terminal - Command execution (1):
exec_command - SFTP (8):
sftp_list,sftp_read_file,sftp_write_file,sftp_upload,sftp_download,sftp_mkdir,sftp_rename,sftp_delete - SSH keys (3):
list_keys,generate_key,deploy_public_key - Read-only observability (2):
list_monitors,list_session_logs
The Agent Bridge core is available on the Free tier. Tools backed by Pro features, including SFTP, monitoring, and session logs, require the corresponding Pro entitlement.
- No network port is opened. A bundled stdio shim communicates with Nexus Shell through a local Unix domain socket with mode
0600. - Nexus Shell verifies that the peer belongs to the same local user before processing protocol messages.
- The app derives the calling process identity instead of trusting a client-supplied name.
- Each agent requires approval on first use and can be revoked at any time.
- Passwords, passphrases, and private keys are never returned to agents.
- Agent-created terminal sessions appear as visible tabs that the user can watch and take over.
- Tool calls are recorded in a local audit log with sensitive fields redacted.
Agent Bridge does not expose tools for changing Nexus Shell settings or creating, editing, or deleting monitor definitions. list_session_logs returns metadata only, never terminal contents.