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agent-tool

Encoding-aware, indentation-smart file tools for AI coding agents with SSH, SFTP, and 20+ tools.

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Mar 14, 2026
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Mar 16, 2026

agent-tool

한국어

agent-tool MCP server

MCP (Model Context Protocol) tool server for AI coding agents.

Why?

Built-in tools in AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, etc.) have known limitations:

  • Tab indentation breaks: LLMs output spaces, but your project uses tabs. The built-in Edit tool writes spaces as-is, corrupting your indentation style.
  • Encoding corruption: Editing EUC-KR, Shift-JIS, or GB18030 files silently converts them to UTF-8, breaking legacy projects.
  • Too many separate tools: Making the agent find, install, and configure Redis CLI, MySQL client, SSH client, etc. is tedious and error-prone. agent-tool bundles 43 tools into a single binary — one install, everything works.
  • Network censorship: In some countries, government-level web filtering breaks plain curl/wget requests. agent-tool uses ECH (Encrypted Client Hello) and DoH (DNS over HTTPS) by default to work around these restrictions.

agent-tool solves these by providing drop-in replacement tools that respect your project's conventions.

Supported Agents

Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Gemini CLI, and any MCP-compatible agent.

Features

ToolDescriptionStatus
EditString replacement with smart indentation and encoding preservation (supports dry_run)
ReadEncoding-aware file reading with line range support
WriteEncoding-aware file creation/overwrite
GrepEncoding-aware regex content search
GlobFile pattern matching with ** recursive support
ListDirDirectory listing (flat or tree)
DiffCompare two files with unified diff output (encoding-aware)
PatchApply unified diff patch to a file (supports dry_run)
ChecksumCompute file hash (md5, sha1, sha256)
FileInfoFile metadata (size, encoding, line ending, indentation, line count)
CompressCreate zip / tar.gz archives
DecompressExtract zip / tar.gz archives (Zip Slip/Bomb protection)
BackupTimestamped zip backup with exclude patterns. dry_run preview with directory stats, pattern match counts, and largest files
ConvertEncodingConvert file encoding (EUC-KR ↔ UTF-8, add/remove BOM, etc.)
DeleteSafe single-file deletion (no directories, no symlinks, system path protection, dry_run)
RenameAtomic file/directory rename or move (dry_run)
SysInfoSystem information — OS, CPU, RAM, disk, uptime, CPU usage measurement
FindToolsDiscover installed dev tools — compilers, runtimes, build systems (Go, .NET, Node, Python, Java, Rust, C/C++, etc.). Searches PATH, env vars, and known locations (~/bin, snap, scoop, Homebrew, SDKMAN, nvm, fnm, pyenv)
ProcListList running processes — PID, name, command line, memory. Sensitive args auto-masked. Filter by name or port
ProcKillKill, suspend, or resume processes by PID or port. Tree kill, signal selection (kill/term/hup/int/stop/cont), zombie handling (Linux), dry_run
ProcExecExecute commands as new processes. Foreground/background/suspended start (Windows: CREATE_SUSPENDED, Linux: SIGSTOP). Timeout, env vars
EnvVarRead environment variables. Sensitive values (passwords, tokens) auto-masked
FirewallRead firewall rules — iptables/nftables/firewalld (Linux), netsh (Windows). Read-only
SSHExecute commands on remote servers via SSH. Password & key auth (PEM, OpenSSH, PuTTY PPK), session pooling, host key verification (strict/tofu/none), ProxyJump, IPv6
SFTPTransfer files and manage remote filesystems over SSH. Upload, download, ls, stat, mkdir, rm, chmod, rename. Reuses SSH session pool. Max 2 GB per transfer
BashPersistent shell sessions with working directory and environment variable retention. Session pooling (max 5, idle timeout 30 min). Unix: bash/sh, Windows: PowerShell/git-bash/cmd (auto-detected, best available). PowerShell sessions include UTF-8 encoding and PATH enhancement
WebFetchFetch web content as text/Markdown. ECH (Encrypted Client Hello) + DoH (DNS over HTTPS) by default. HTML→Markdown auto-conversion. SSRF protection. HTTP/SOCKS5 proxy. Chrome User-Agent
WebSearchWeb search via Brave Search or Naver API. Requires API key env vars (BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY or NAVER_CLIENT_ID/NAVER_CLIENT_SECRET). Auto-selects engine, Brave preferred
DownloadDownload files from URLs to disk. ECH + DoH by default. SSRF protection. HTTP/SOCKS5 proxy. Atomic write. Max 2 GB
HTTPReqExecute HTTP requests with any method (GET/POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE/HEAD/OPTIONS). API testing with custom headers, body, proxy. SSRF protection
JSONQueryQuery JSON files with dot-notation paths (e.g. dependencies.react, items[*].id). Extract specific values without loading entire file into context
YAMLQueryQuery YAML files with dot-notation paths (same syntax as JSONQuery)
TOMLQueryQuery TOML files with dot-notation paths (same syntax as JSONQuery). Supports TOML-specific types (datetime, int64)
CopyCopy files/directories with atomic write and permission preservation. Recursive directory copy. dry_run preview
MkdirCreate directories with optional permission mode (octal, e.g. 0755). Recursive by default (mkdir -p). dry_run preview
MultiReadRead multiple files in a single call to reduce API round-trips. Encoding-aware, offset/limit support. Max 50 files
RegexReplaceRegex find-and-replace across files/directories. Encoding-preserving, capture groups ($1, $2). dry_run preview
TLSCheckCheck TLS certificate details — subject, issuer, expiry, SANs, TLS version, cipher suite
DNSLookupDNS record lookup (A/AAAA/MX/CNAME/TXT/NS/SOA). DNS over HTTPS (DoH) by default for privacy
MySQLExecute SQL queries on MySQL/MariaDB. Table-formatted SELECT results, affected rows for DML. Max 1000 rows
RedisExecute Redis commands with formatted output by type. TLS support. Dangerous commands (FLUSHALL, SHUTDOWN, etc.) blocked
PortCheckCheck if a TCP port is open on a host. Returns OPEN/CLOSED with response time. Supports hostname, IPv4, IPv6
ExternalIPGet your external (public) IP address. Multiple providers with automatic fallback (ipify, ifconfig.me, icanhazip)
SLOCCount source lines of code per language. 70+ language detection, per-file/language breakdown, blank line stats, max_depth control
SetConfigChange runtime settings (encoding, file size limit, symlinks, workspace, etc.)
HelpBuilt-in usage guide for agents (encoding, indentation, troubleshooting)

Key Improvements

Smart Indentation

LLMs typically output spaces, but many projects use tabs. AgentTool auto-converts indentation to match the file's existing style.

  • Reads .editorconfig for indent_style and indent_size
  • Falls back to content-based detection (first 100 lines)
  • Protects legacy files: won't convert if actual content contradicts .editorconfig

Encoding Preservation

Edits preserve the original file encoding instead of forcing UTF-8.

  • Detection priority: .editorconfig charset → chardet auto-detection → fallback encoding
  • Supported: UTF-8, UTF-8 BOM, EUC-KR, Shift-JIS, ISO-8859-1, UTF-16, and more
  • Line endings: Preserves \r\n / \n as-is

Quick Start

  1. Download the binary for your OS from Releases
  2. Run agent-tool install (or agent-tool install claude for a specific agent)
  3. Restart your IDE / agent
  4. Done — all tools are available immediately with no permission popups

Or just ask your AI agent to do it for you:

"Download agent-tool from https://github.com/knewstimek/agent-tool/releases/latest and run agent-tool install"

Any capable AI coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, etc.) can handle the full download → install → restart flow automatically.

Recommended: Add to your CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md

After installing, agents will have access to agent-tool but may still default to built-in tools (Read, Edit, etc.). To ensure agents prefer agent-tool's encoding-aware, indentation-smart tools, add one of the following to your project's CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md:

Strict mode (recommended for projects with non-UTF-8 files or mixed indentation):

ALWAYS use agent-tool MCP tools (mcp__agent-tool__*) instead of built-in file tools. agent-tool preserves file encoding and respects .editorconfig indentation settings.

Soft mode (gentle nudge for general projects):

Prefer agent-tool MCP tools (mcp__agent-tool__*) over built-in file tools when available.

Installation

Auto-install (recommended)

# Register with all detected agents (full auto-approve — all tools)
agent-tool install

# Safe mode — only auto-approve local file tools (no SSH, HTTP, DB, shell)
agent-tool install --safe-approve

# No auto-approve — manual approval required for every tool call
agent-tool install --no-auto-approve

# Register with a specific agent
agent-tool install claude
agent-tool install claude --safe-approve

# Uninstall (removes agent-tool entry only, preserves other settings)
agent-tool uninstall          # from all agents
agent-tool uninstall claude   # from specific agent

Install permission levels:

LevelFlagAuto-approved tools
Full (default)(none)All tools (mcp__agent-tool__* wildcard)
Safe--safe-approve29 local-only tools (read, edit, write, grep, glob, etc.) — no SSH, HTTP, DB, bash, process control
None--no-auto-approveNo tools — every call requires manual approval

Manual setup

Claude Code / Cursor / Cline (settings.json or mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agent-tool": {
      "command": "/path/to/agent-tool"
    }
  }
}

Codex CLI (~/.codex/config.toml):

[mcp_servers.agent-tool]
command = "/path/to/agent-tool"

Options

# Set fallback encoding for projects with non-UTF-8 files
agent-tool --fallback-encoding EUC-KR

Environment Variable

Set AGENT_TOOL_FALLBACK_ENCODING to avoid repeating the CLI flag every session:

# Windows (no admin required)
setx AGENT_TOOL_FALLBACK_ENCODING EUC-KR

# Linux / macOS (add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc)
export AGENT_TOOL_FALLBACK_ENCODING=EUC-KR

Priority: CLI flag > environment variable > default (UTF-8).

Runtime Configuration

Agents can change settings at runtime via set_config without restarting:

ParameterDescriptionDefault
fallback_encodingFallback encoding when auto-detection failsUTF-8
encoding_warningsShow encoding detection warningstrue
max_file_size_mbMax file size for read/edit/grep (MB)50
allow_symlinksAllow symlink extraction from tar archivesfalse
workspaceDefault workspace/project root for tools like glob when no explicit path is given(cwd)
allow_http_privateAllow webfetch/download/httpreq to access private IPsfalse
allow_mysql_privateAllow mysql tool to access private IPstrue
allow_redis_privateAllow redis tool to access private IPstrue
allow_ssh_privateAllow ssh/sftp tools to access private IPstrue
enable_dohEnable DNS over HTTPS globally (webfetch/download/httpreq/dnslookup)true
enable_echEnable Encrypted Client Hello globally (webfetch/download/httpreq)true

Build

go build -o agent-tool .

Cross-compile:

GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -o agent-tool .
GOOS=darwin GOARCH=arm64 go build -o agent-tool .
GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build -o agent-tool.exe .

Troubleshooting

Garbled text (encoding issues)

If Korean, Japanese, or other non-ASCII text appears as garbage characters:

Option 1: Add charset to your .editorconfig:

[*]
charset = euc-kr

Option 2: Set environment variable (persistent):

setx AGENT_TOOL_FALLBACK_ENCODING EUC-KR   # Windows
export AGENT_TOOL_FALLBACK_ENCODING=EUC-KR  # Linux

Option 3: CLI flag (per-session):

agent-tool --fallback-encoding EUC-KR

Built-in help for agents

agent-tool includes a agent_tool_help tool that agents can call for usage guidance. When an agent encounters encoding warnings or garbled text, it can call:

{ "tool": "agent_tool_help", "arguments": { "topic": "encoding" } }

Available topics: overview, encoding, indentation, tools, troubleshooting

Security

agent-tool provides powerful system access (SSH, MySQL, Redis, file operations, HTTP requests). When used with AI coding agents, be aware of prompt injection risks:

  • SSRF Protection: Cloud metadata IPs (169.254.x.x, fe80::/10) are always blocked regardless of settings. Private IP access is configurable per protocol via set_config (allow_http_private, allow_mysql_private, allow_redis_private, allow_ssh_private)
  • DLP (Data Loss Prevention): All outbound HTTP request bodies are scanned for sensitive data patterns (PEM private keys, AWS access keys, GitHub/GitLab tokens, Slack tokens, .env file dumps) and blocked before transmission
  • Prompt Injection Warnings: Every private IP connection shows a security warning visible to both the user and the AI agent, helping detect prompt injection attacks from fetched web content
  • Zip Slip protection: Archive entries with ../ path traversal are blocked (both zip and tar)
  • Zip Bomb protection: Single file limit (1GB), total extraction limit (5GB)
  • Symlinks: Skipped by default. Enable via set_config allow_symlinks=true (tar only; zip symlinks always skipped). Even when enabled, symlinks targeting outside the output directory are blocked
  • File size limit: Configurable max file size (default 50MB) prevents OOM on large files. Adjustable via set_config max_file_size_mb=N
  • Encoding safety: chardet uses 64KB sample (not full file) for memory efficiency

For maximum security, review the AI agent's tool calls before approving, especially for SSH commands, HTTP requests to external URLs, and database queries.

Tech Stack

License

MIT

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