Using External MCP Tools in ForkTTY

Quick start

Configure MCP in your agent client, then run that client in a ForkTTY pane.

Inspect ForkTTY socket capabilities

forktty capabilities --json

Read compact workspace context

forktty context-snapshot --tail-lines 0 --json

No built-in bridge

ForkTTY deliberately keeps MCP ownership outside the terminal core. It does not register servers, manage MCP config, or translate MCP tools into internal orchestration calls.

Clean up older registrations

Before upgrading from an orchestration build, use that older binary's MCP and skill removal dry runs. If it is unavailable, back up each client config and remove only entries marked FORKTTY_MCP_MANAGED=forktty and skill directories whose SKILL.md contains the ForkTTY-managed marker.

External tools still work

An MCP client or server is just another process from the terminal's perspective. Run it in a pane, split, tab, worktree, or persistent dtach-backed session.

Direct local automation

Scripts that need ForkTTY state can use the CLI or the newline-delimited JSON-RPC socket for bounded workspace, pane, notification, worktree, and agent lifecycle operations.

Questions

Does ForkTTY include an MCP server?

No. The built-in stdio MCP bridge and managed MCP setup were removed; the README includes cleanup steps for registrations created by older releases.

Can I still use MCP agents inside ForkTTY?

Yes. Configure MCP in the agent client and run it as a normal terminal process.

How do scripts control ForkTTY?

Use the socket CLI or connect to the owner-only Unix socket directly.

Explore related ForkTTY pages

Codex Claude Code Ghostty terminal Docs

Get the alpha build

AppImage and .deb packages are published on GitHub Releases for Linux x86_64.

View releases

MCP stays with your agent tools.