Conduit — open-source SSH/RDP/VNC/web connection manager with a built-in MCP server (60+ tools)

[advenimus]

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What I built: Conduit is a cross-platform desktop app (macOS/Windows/Linux) that combines an SSH/RDP/VNC/web connection manager with a built-in MCP server. Instead of copying and pasting commands that Claude Code suggests, you connect Conduit and Claude can actually do the work — running commands, reading output, screenshotting remote desktops, driving web sessions, and reading credentials from an encrypted vault.

What it does via MCP (60+ tools):

• terminal_execute / terminal_read_pane / terminal_send_keys — execute commands on SSH sessions and read output
• rdp_screenshot / rdp_click / rdp_type — screenshot and interact with Windows RDP desktops
• vnc_screenshot / vnc_click — same for VNC sessions
• website_click_element / website_fill_input / website_execute_js — drive web sessions with DOM-aware selectors
• credential_read — retrieve vault secrets (requires explicit user approval prompt)
• connection_list / connection_open / connection_close — manage connections programmatically

How I built it:

• Electron 34 + React + TypeScript for the desktop app
• The MCP server is a separate Node.js process using @modelcontextprotocol/sdk
• It communicates with the desktop app over a Unix domain socket (named pipe on Windows)
• RDP uses a custom FreeRDP 3.x C helper binary with a binary protocol for screenshot streaming
• VNC via rfb2, SSH via ssh2 + node-pty + xterm.js
• AES-256-GCM local vault with optional Supabase cloud sync

Challenges:

• Getting FreeRDP screenshot streaming at acceptable latency required a custom C helper binary with a binary protocol rather than spawning FreeRDP per-screenshot
• The safety/approval system needed careful design: per-tool color-coded prompts, 120-second auto-deny, full audit log, and rate limiting
• Keeping the MCP binary stateless (thin proxy) so it can crash/restart without losing session state in the main app

Design decisions:

• Bring-your-own-subscription: Conduit never proxies AI API calls. Claude Code authenticates directly with Anthropic.
• Local-first vault: credentials never leave your machine by default
• Apache 2.0 open source: full transparency on what agents can access

Relevant Links

• GitHub repository: https://github.com/advenimus/conduit-desktop
• Download (macOS/Windows/Linux): https://conduitdesktop.com/download
• Blog post (dev.to): https://dev.to/chris_vautour_4652874465d/i-built-an-mcp-server-that-lets-claude-code-actually-run-commands-on-my-servers-not-just-suggest-17ca