Classic confinement request for local-shell-mcp


  • name: local-shell-mcp

  • description: local-shell-mcp is an open-source MCP control plane that allows AI coding agents, under user control, to work with the local shell, filesystem, browser automation, terminals, and remote development machines.

  • snapcraft: The initial Snap packages the official standalone executable released at: Release v3.2.0 · fwerkor/local-shell-mcp · GitHub

  • upstream: GitHub - fwerkor/local-shell-mcp: Enables LLM to use a cli environment. · GitHub

  • upstream-relation: I am the upstream project owner and publisher.

  • supported-category: development tools / tools for local, non-root user driven development workflows

  • reasoning: Classic confinement is required because local-shell-mcp is explicitly a development and automation tool whose core purpose is to execute arbitrary user-authorized shell commands and existing host executables, and to access user-selected workspaces and filesystem paths.The set of commands and paths cannot be enumerated ahead of time. Typical workflows require access to tools installed by the user such as git, Python, Node.js, compilers, package managers, Docker/Podman, SSH, editors, and arbitrary project-specific executables. Strict confinement would fundamentally change the semantics of the product: the agent would see the snap sandbox rather than the user’s actual development environment and would be unable to invoke many host-installed tools or access arbitrary user-selected working directories. The application does not silently perform privileged system administration. Shell/filesystem operations are initiated through the MCP interface on behalf of the user and remain subject to local-shell-mcp’s own policy and authorization controls.

    I understand that strict confinement is generally preferred, but existing Snap interfaces are insufficient for this application’s core functionality.

:check_box_with_check: I understand that strict confinement is generally preferred over classic.

:check_box_with_check: I’ve tried the existing interfaces to make the snap to work under strict confinement.

This request has been added to the queue for review by the @reviewers team.

Hello @fwerkor,

The technical reasons here are sound, and I believe this snap is a good candidate to fall under our new classic category agent/assistant that runs arbitrary user-directed code.... However, classic confinement is reserved for mature, well-known applications from trusted publishers and, as of right now, I do not believe local-shell-mcp meets this criteria and should not be granted classic. I would highly encourage you to request classic again in the future when this project’s user-base grows, as it does fit the technical criteria and is covered by a supported category. Thank you.