Get started with Jump CLI¶

Jump CLI (jump-cli) is Jump Desktop's command-line tool for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Jump CLI is in beta. It automates Jump Desktop tasks from a terminal or script. You don't need a team: most commands work with a personal Jump Desktop account. Use it to:

• Set up computers for remote access: install Jump Desktop Connect and add a computer to your personal account or your team in one command, on this machine or a remote host over SSH.
• Let an AI agent use your remote computers. Jump CLI includes an MCP server that agents such as Claude Code and Codex use to connect to, see, and control computers your account can access, while you watch and take over in Mission Control.
• Manage a Jump Desktop for Teams team: find computers and users, check who's online, and get JSON output for automation.

To integrate Jump Desktop into your own code, use the REST API instead.

Install¶

$env:JUMP_COMPONENT = 'cli'; irm https://jumpdesktop.com/downloads/install.ps1 | iex

curl -fsSL https://jumpdesktop.com/downloads/install.sh | sh -s -- --component cli

curl -fsSL https://jumpdesktop.com/downloads/install.sh | sh -s -- --component cli

Check the install:

jump-cli version

Sign in¶

Jump CLI uses two kinds of token:

Each login command prints a sign-in URL. Open it in a browser and sign in. Jump CLI saves the token in the system keyring.

• auth api login tokens last a few hours; commands that need one sign you in again automatically when run in a terminal.
• To create a token in the dashboard, go to Security > API Tokens and click Generate new token. These tokens don't expire by default and can be read-only. Save it with jump-cli auth login (paste when prompted), or set JUMP_TOKEN for scripts and CI.
• JUMP_TOKEN takes priority over saved tokens. If you get authorization errors after signing in, check that JUMP_TOKEN isn't set to an old token.
• Jump CLI never accepts a token as a command-line argument.

To sign out of both tokens on this computer, run jump-cli auth logout. To list or revoke every token on your account, run jump-cli tokens list or jump-cli tokens revoke <token-id>.

Set up a computer for remote access¶

jump-cli connect bootstrap installs Jump Desktop Connect and adds the computer to your account, so you can connect to it without anyone at the computer (see unattended access). By default it prints a single command to review; add --run to run it instead.

jump-cli connect bootstrap --personal --run                 # this computer, your personal account
jump-cli connect bootstrap --personal --ssh user@host        # a remote Mac or Linux (beta) computer over SSH
jump-cli connect bootstrap --team <team-id>                 # pick one of the team's installers

• If your account has no team, the computer is added to your personal account. If you belong to a team, Jump CLI shows the exact --personal and --team commands to choose from.
• --personal reuses your personal Connect Code, or creates a single-use code that expires after 1 hour.
• The printed command runs Jump Desktop's official installer script, which checks signatures, installs Connect, and applies the code. Installing may ask for your sudo password.
• With --run, a computer that already has Connect is only registered, and a computer already registered to another account is refused.
• For Windows over SSH, Jump CLI always prints the command: run it in an elevated PowerShell on that computer.
• On a Mac, someone at the Mac still grants Connect its macOS permissions.

Check your computers¶

See which of your computers are online, personal or team:

jump-cli viewer status            # online or offline status of your computers
jump-cli viewer status --watch    # keep updating

Use Jump CLI with AI agents¶

jump-cli mcp runs an MCP server that lets an AI agent connect to and control computers your Jump Desktop account can access.

Before you start¶

• Each remote computer needs Jump Desktop Connect installed, and your Jump Desktop account needs access to it.
• On a Mac remote computer, someone at the Mac grants Connect its macOS permissions. Without Screen Recording and Accessibility, the agent can't see the screen or control the mouse and keyboard.
• Jump CLI installed on the computer that runs your MCP client. See Install.

Set up¶

1. Sign in with jump-cli auth viewer login. To keep the agent limited to viewer access, see Security.

2. Add Jump CLI as an MCP server in your agent:

   Claude CodeCodex CLIOther MCP clients

   claude mcp add jump-cli -- jump-cli mcp
   

   codex mcp add jump-cli -- jump-cli mcp
   

   For clients that use an mcpServers file:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "jump-cli": {
         "command": "jump-cli",
         "args": ["mcp"]
       }
     }
   }
   

3. Ask the agent to list your computers and connect to one.

Agents can run jump-cli --help-ai to read the full command surface on one page.

To check which credentials are saved on this computer, run jump-cli config show. It lists API Token and Viewer Token as stored, expired, or not set. config show doesn't show JUMP_TOKEN, which takes priority (see Security).

What the agent can do¶

• List your computers and see which are online.
• Connect to a computer, with up to 8 sessions at once.
• Take screenshots, move and click the mouse, type, and press keys.
• Read and set the remote clipboard.
• Change displays: select a display, create virtual displays, and set resolutions.
• Turn on privacy mode, which blanks the remote computer's screen and blocks its local keyboard and mouse, when the remote computer supports it and an administrator allows it.

To keep a remote computer's virtual displays between an agent's visits and yours, see Check in on AI agents and long-running work.

Watch and take over with Mission Control¶

Mission Control is a local web page, started by jump-cli mcp, that shows each agent session live. The agent gets its URL when it first connects and can pass it to you.

• Click Take control to pause the agent and use the computer yourself.
• When a computer or an app on it asks for a password, you enter it in Mission Control, and the agent types it without receiving the password as text. Check that the remote password field hides what's typed.

Security¶

An agent connected through Jump CLI can do anything the signed-in user on the remote computer can do.

• Use only a viewer token for agents. jump-cli mcp uses JUMP_TOKEN first, then a saved API token, and only then the viewer token. To limit the agent to viewer access, run jump-cli auth api logout, don't set JUMP_TOKEN for the MCP client, then run jump-cli auth viewer login. Running a team or connect bootstrap command later saves a new API token.
• Limit what the account can reach. The agent can connect to every computer your account can access. Consider a separate Jump Desktop account with access to only the computers the agent needs. On a team, use Access Groups.
• Treat remote content as untrusted. Text on the remote screen or clipboard can contain instructions aimed at the agent.
• Don't give passwords to the agent in chat. Enter them in Mission Control instead.
• Keep the Mission Control URL private. The URL contains the key that protects the page. It's reachable only from this computer unless you change --mission-control-addr.
• Screenshots and clipboard data are temporary files on the computer running Jump CLI. Jump CLI deletes them when the session ends or when it exits normally.
• Revoke access when you're done. Run jump-cli auth logout, or revoke tokens with jump-cli tokens revoke.

Manage a team¶

These commands need a Jump Desktop for Teams team and an Admin or Admin (Read-Only) role.

Select a team¶

If you belong to one team, Jump CLI uses it automatically. If you belong to several:

jump-cli team list                  # list your teams and their IDs
jump-cli team select <team-id>      # set the default team

To run one command against a different team, add --team <team-id>.

Common team tasks¶

Add --json to any command for machine-readable output.

jump-cli team info                          # active team summary
jump-cli team devices list                  # all computers in the team
jump-cli team devices find '^office-'       # computers whose names start with "office-"
jump-cli team users find smith              # users matching an email or name
jump-cli team users list --json             # users as JSON

find takes a regular expression and ignores case. A plain word matches anywhere in the name, email, first name, or last name.

Run jump-cli <command> --help for a command's options.

Next steps¶

• Set up unattended access
• Connect to your own computer
• Get started with Jump Desktop for Teams
• Add and manage computers
• Launch links and connection files
• Check in on AI agents and long-running work