MCP-Telnet

A bridge connecting LLMs to telnet services.

What is MCP-Telnet?

MCP-Telnet is an MCP server that enables interaction with telnet-based services. It handles the complex details of telnet communication, allowing seamless integration with:

• MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) for text adventure gaming
• Legacy systems and network equipment management
• Mail servers and other text-based interfaces
• Historical network protocols and systems
• Automated routine tasks on network-accessible devices

Key Features

MCP-Telnet provides numerous capabilities to make telnet access seamless:

• Mostly complete telnet protocol implementation with MTTS identification
• Reliable connections with automatic reconnection and state persistence
• Flexible command timing with adjustable delays
• Connection-specific memory system for storing notes
• Comprehensive session logging with filtering
• Interactive CLI available via telnet (port 9000)
• Automatic keep-alive packets to maintain connections
• Extensive configuration options for customization

Installation & Quick Start

The easiest way to use MCP-Telnet is with Claude Desktop. Add this to your claude-desktop-config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "telnet": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github:distantorigin/mcp-telnet"]
    }
  }
}

No separate installation is needed - Claude Desktop will automatically run it as required.

Basic Usage

1. Ask Claude to connect to a telnet service:

   Connect to mud.example.com port 4000 and help me explore as a guest
   

2. Send commands naturally:

   Look at the current room and summarize some of the objects that might be of interest.
   

3. Use more advanced features:

   Please store a note that "The magic shop is west of the town square" in the connection memory
   

For detailed usage examples, see EXAMPLE_PROMPTS.md.

Tools Overview

MCP-Telnet provides various tools to manage telnet connections. Here are the most commonly used:

• Connection Management:

  connect_telnet with: { "host": "mud.example.com", "port": 4000 }
  

• Command Sending (with pattern-based waiting for fast responses):

  send_command with: { "command": "look", "waitFor": "You can go" }
  

• Command Sending (with fixed delay):

  send_command with: { "command": "look", "waitAfter": 2 }
  

• Command Sequences (with smart pattern waits):

  sequence_commands with: {
    "commands": [
      { "command": "north", "waitFor": "You can go" },
      { "command": "look", "waitAfter": 0 }
    ]
  }
  

For a complete list of available tools and their options, see TOOLS.md.

Command Timing and Anti-Spam