Shellway

Home / Connect / Claude

Let Claude work on your own computer

Add Shellway as a custom connector in Claude, and Claude can read, edit and run things on your computer from claude.ai or the Claude apps.

Get started free

See it in action

You, in Claude: “Read the README in ~/code/my-app and tell me how to run the project.”
  • Shellway sends the request to your computer.
  • Your computer does the work and reports what changed.
  • Claude shows you the result in the chat.

What Claude can do with Shellway

Files and folders

Read, search (by name or by text), edit part of a file, move and organise files on your computer, including batch jobs.

Terminal and programs

Run git, npm, Python and other commands on your real machine, not a cloud sandbox. Start a dev server or another program that keeps running, check on it and stop it.

Text and data

Read text, CSV, Markdown and code files and write new reports as files. For Excel, Word or PDF files your AI can use programs already installed on your computer.

From any device

Ask from your phone while your computer at home does the work.

Set up Claude

First install the Shellway app on your computer and pair it from your dashboard. Then:

  1. Open connector settings

    On claude.ai, open Settings, then Connectors, and choose Add custom connector. Custom connectors are available on Claude plans that support them.

  2. Add Shellway

    Name it Shellway and paste https://mcp.getshellway.com/mcp as the URL, then choose Add.

  3. Connect your account

    Choose Connect, sign in with Google and allow access.

  4. Turn it on in a chat

    In a chat, open the tools menu and switch on Shellway. It also appears in the Claude desktop and mobile apps.

Questions

Does my computer need to be on?

Yes. Claude can reach your computer only while it is on and the Shellway app is running.

Can Claude delete my files?

Yes, if you ask it to, because it works with your real files. To prevent changes, start the Shellway app with --readonly: your AI can then read, search and list files but cannot write, edit, move or create anything, run commands or start programs.

Does it work on Windows and Mac?

The Shellway app needs Node.js 22 or newer and runs on Linux, macOS and Windows. Linux is the most tested, so tell us if you hit a problem elsewhere.

Does it work from my phone?

Yes. Anywhere Claude runs with your account, it can reach your paired computer.

Other AI apps

ChatGPT

Ask ChatGPT on your phone or browser to sort files, edit files and run commands, and the work happens on your computer.

Cursor

Cursor already works on the machine in front of you. With Shellway it can also reach your home desktop, a build machine or a server.