IronClaw as an MCP Server

IronClaw ships a built-in MCP server (ironctl mcp serve) that exposes the sandbox_exec tool to any MCP-compatible AI client. Connect it once and every AI action runs inside an isolated gVisor sandbox -- no escapes, no host side-effects.

What is sandbox_exec?

sandbox_exec lets the AI client run arbitrary shell commands inside an ephemeral IronClaw sandbox container. The sandbox is destroyed after each session, so nothing persists to your host.

Supported clients

Client	Config file
Claude Desktop	~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Cursor	~/.cursor/mcp.json
Windsurf	~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_server_config.json
Cline	cline_mcp_settings.json (VS Code panel) / ~/.cline/mcp.json
Roo Code	mcp_settings.json (VS Code panel) / .roo/mcp.json
Continue.dev	~/.continue/config.yaml

Prerequisites

Install IronClaw:

brew install ironsecco/ironclaw/ironclaw

or via the one-liner:

curl -fsSL https://ironclaw.sh/install.sh | sh

Then verify:

ironctl version

This page covers IronClaw acting as an MCP server (outbound tool provider).

For the reverse -- using external MCP servers inside an IronClaw-guarded agent sandbox -- see MCP servers.