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Heliograph
Overview
Description from the maker (original English)
Run commands on a machine you cannot SSH into. Air-gapped, bastion-only, change-controlled.
PopNx MCP’s three pillars
These three are never merged into one score: opinions, measurements and popularity are different things.
- User voiceiNo reviews yetReviews open together with accounts in a later step
- Our basic checksi1 of 1 passedChecked from public information; code not scanned yet
- UsageiVery new↓ 72/wk · ★ –
What you can do with it
We have not written a plain-language summary for this one yet. Below are the facts we read from the registry.
- Connection: Runs on your computer
- Transport: stdio
- Category: Developer tools
Install
Pick the AI app you use, then copy the settings.
Before you install
- Basic checks: 1 of 1 passed
- Runs on your computer with your user’s permissions (files, network, apps).
- The registry lists no key to fill in.
You need
- npmNode.js installed (for the npx command)
Which app do you use?
Pick your app above. We remember it, so next time the button says “Install in …”.
Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config, and paste this into claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"heliograph": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@dbhq/heliograph",
"mcp"
]
}
}
}Run this in your terminal
claude mcp add heliograph -- npx -y @dbhq/heliograph mcpOr copy the settings yourself
Paste into .cursor/mcp.json in your project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"heliograph": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@dbhq/heliograph",
"mcp"
]
}
}
}Your browser asks to open the app, then the app shows the settings and asks you to confirm. Key values are left empty for you to fill in.
Or copy the settings yourself
Paste into .vscode/mcp.json in your project
{
"servers": {
"heliograph": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@dbhq/heliograph",
"mcp"
]
}
}
}Your browser asks to open the app, then the app shows the settings and asks you to confirm. Key values are left empty for you to fill in.
This one runs on your computer, and ChatGPT can only connect to servers on the internet. Pick another app.
Your choice stays on this device in a cookie; no account needed.
These settings are generated from the maker’s registry entry. If the README says otherwise, follow the README.
What it can do
Runs on your computer; the tool list appears in your AI app after you install it.
Basic checksi
We check information anyone can see; we have not read the code. Checks that do not apply are left out of the count. · Checked Nov 8, 2026
- ✓ Pass
Maker matches the repo
The registry name was verified with the GitHub account dbhq-uk, which owns the repo
- … Not checked yet
Still maintained
We have not read this repo from GitHub yet
- … Not checked yet
Has a licence
We have not read this repo from GitHub yet
- – Not applicable
Endpoint responds
This one runs on your computer; there is no internet endpoint
- – Not applicable
Sign-in with OAuth
Runs on your computer and uses local settings instead
- … Not checked yet
No hidden instructions in tool descriptions
Runs on your computer; we can only read tool lists from internet endpoints
Compared with others in Developer toolsi
- More stars than 0% of the other 4926 servers in this category
- Published to the registry more recently than 44% of the other 4926 servers in this category
- Basic checks equal to or better than 100% of the other 4926 servers in this category
Compared with every active server in this category in the registry. Stars count only when the publisher owns the repo.
Common questions
Is Heliograph safe?
It passed 1 of 1 applicable basic checks. We have not read the code. Before adding a key or token, see what access the server asks for and use a key with only the permissions you need.
What keys or codes does it need?
The registry does not list a required key, though some servers ask you to sign in on first use.
Does it run on my computer or in the cloud?
It runs on your computer. Your AI app starts it when needed, and data does not pass through the maker’s servers (unless it calls an online service itself).
Is it still maintained?
The GitHub repo last changed –, and the latest version (0.3.2) reached the registry 2 months ago.
Which apps can use it?
Apps that support MCP, such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code. You also need Node.js on your computer.
What can I use instead?
In the same category: GitHub, Desktop Commander, Cloudflare MCP
Alternatives
Servers in the same category from other makers, sorted by stars.
Reading a card:↓ Downloads per weeki★ GitHub starsiThree pillars: reviews · checks · usageiUpdated = latest version published to the registryi
Desktop Commander
MCP server for terminal commands, file operations, and process management
Runs on your computer
README from the maker
Open the README
Copied from the maker’s repo as written. PopNx MCP has not reviewed or endorsed it. HTML, images and scripts are removed. Links lead off this site.
heliograph
Remote, captured, auditable execution on a machine you cannot log into
A free, open-source tool by DBHQ
Someone can reach the machine. You cannot, and you are the one who knows what to ask it. heliograph runs that gap as a loop rather than a relay: you publish a step, it runs on the far side, and the whole run comes back as a log with every line timestamped in UTC, whether it passed or failed.
you heliograph send net-probe ────────────────▶ transportstation picks it up within seconds, runs it pushes status, then the log ──────────────▶ transport you heliograph logs --last --gaps ◀────────────
The three ways across
heliograph carries a request to a machine you cannot log into, and brings the log back. There are three ways across the gap, and they differ in one thing: what stays held, and for how long.
Beacon. You cannot reach the machine and it cannot reach you - but you can both reach one agreed place. You leave the request there and walk away. Later the machine passes by, picks it up, runs it, and leaves the log for you to collect. Nobody is ever connected; a *message* waits in the middle. It is the safest of the three, because the code being run is already on the far side and can be read before anything happens - and the slowest, because you wait for the next visit.
Flare. You can reach the machine's door directly. You knock, hand over the request, wait on the step while it runs, and take the log away in the same visit. Nothing waits in the middle and no line stays open. Faster, because there is no pickup to wait for. The trade: you bring the code with you, so the machine trusts *the door* rather than vetting the code in advance.
Beam. You and the machine bring up a connection and hold it open. Either side can speak at any moment and the other hears it at once, until you hang up. A real session, not a message or a knock - and the most exposed, because while the line is open anything can travel down it. You turn it on deliberately and close it when you are done. It is designed, and not yet a transport you can pick.
In one line: a beacon holds a *message*, a flare is a *single exchange*, a beam holds the *connection itself*.
Does this sound familiar
- You have no SSH access to production, and you are not going to be given any.
- The environment is air-gapped, or behind a bastion, a jump host or a VPN you are not on.
- It is a client-owned or customer-managed estate. Only their staff can log in.
- Access is blocked by policy, not capability: restricted, change-controlled, somebody else's sign-off.
- You are on the fourth round of "can you run this and paste the output", and what came back was a screenshot of half a terminal.
- You are an AI coding agent driving an investigation, and you need the evidence rather than somebody's summary of it.
If you can just SSH in, you do not need this.
Three roles, one boundary
The boundary is the gap, and the layout states it once:
| control | your machine: the heliograph CLI, heliograph mcp, and the skill that drives them. Go, and whatever the near side can afford |
| transport | the channel: git, relay, file share, bundle, object store - all behind one interface, so the read-only gates live in one place and cannot drift per transport |
| station | the far side: station/bash/, planted into a private transport repo. Bash 4+, git and GNU coreutils. No packages, no credentials, no tunnel |
Nothing is ever installed on the far side. The station is plain text you can read before you run - bash 4+, or PowerShell 5.1 for a Windows estate that has no bash and will not be given any - and no Go will ever appear under station/ beyond the one file that lets the CLI carry the payload. CI enforces it. That constraint is the entire proposition on a locked-down box where installing anything is its own change request.
Install
# Linux and macOS, from a releasecurl -sSL https://github.com/heliograph-io/heliograph/releases/latest/download/heliograph-linux-amd64 \ -o /usr/local/bin/heliograph && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/heliograph
or from source
go install github.com/heliograph-io/heliograph/cmd/heliograph@latest
A single static binary, no runtime. Checksums are published with each release, and the binary carries the station payload it was built with.
The build is reproducible: packaging/reproduce.sh v0.4.3 rebuilds every released artefact from the tag and arrives at the published hashes, so "the binary in the path is the source you read" is something you check rather than something we say. Full account, including what is not yet covered, at docs.heliograph.io/provenance.
The agent skill - the same loop, driven from Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and friends:
/plugin marketplace add dbhq-uk/marketplace/plugin install heliograph@dbhq # Claude Code ./install-codex.sh # Codex, from a clone ./install.sh # Claude Code, from a clone npx skills add heliograph-io/heliograph # any agent, via skills.sh
Use
heliograph bootstrap ~/transport/payments # plant the station payloadheliograph init payments --dir ~/transport/payments # git, the default heliograph plant # what to send the operator heliograph send net-probe HOSTS="sql01 sql02" # publish a request heliograph watch # follow it heliograph logs --last # read the whole log heliograph logs --last --gaps # where it stalled heliograph doctor # will this work from here heliograph mcp # serve all of the above as tools
The operator's whole job is what plant prints: clone the transport repo, run ./start.sh, walk away. The loop is read-only unless the operator said otherwise: every step declares itself (# heliograph-mode: read-only or action), one that declares neither does not run, and the station refuses an action unless it was started with --allow-actions. It will not run as root either.
For an agent, heliograph mcp is the same CLI as typed MCP tools:
claude mcp add heliograph -- heliograph mcpThe gates do not move. A tool call publishes a request; the station still decides whether to run it.
--gaps is the one worth knowing about. *"Scan the timestamp column for gaps before reading the content"* is the most valuable instruction in the method, and it is arithmetic:
$ heliograph logs --last --gapsdemo-20260906T183628Z.txt 5 captured lines
1 interval(s) of 10s or more, longest first. Each is attributed to the line BEFORE it, which is what was running.
3m12s after 09:14:02 | Refreshing state...
The gap belongs to the line before it: the stamp on a line is when that line was produced, so a long interval means the operation named on the preceding line is what took the time. A log where every line carries the same timestamp is reported as an error, not as "no gaps".
Status
| control CLI over git | works, tested end to end against a stock station |
heliograph bootstrap | works: the binary plants the station it was built with |
--gaps | works |
MCP server (heliograph mcp) | works |
| bash station | in use over git: the loop, the gates, the capture, Azure hosts, Kubernetes, the Windows launcher |
| relay | works end to end. heliograph init --transport relay selects it, both stations implement it, the relay server is deployed, and TestCLIDrivesARelayStation drives the whole loop in CI |
| file share, bundle, object store | station transports exist for all three in the bash station (station/bash/transports/); init selects share, bundle and objstore. The PowerShell station carries share but not bundle or objstore |
| Azure Blob | works end to end, through drop.sh in the station payload rather than the CLI. It is what the Azure Function host uses |
| PowerShell station | ships. station/powershell/ is ~2,600 lines carrying git, share and relay, and CI runs it on a Windows runner. Design: A8 |
| documentation site | docs.heliograph.io: the CLI, the transports, and the far side - the station, the runner, steps, hosts, Azure, Windows, containers, services, secrets, security and the capture contract |
A transport that works on one side of the gap is not a transport, so this table names both sides. Git and relay are driven end to end by the CLI and proved in CI; what the others still need, and in what order, is the roadmap.
This table was wrong for some time, and the reason is worth keeping. Until
21 Sep 2026 it said relay was "half a transport" that "no CLI command can
select", that the station had no transport for share, bundle or object store,
and that the PowerShell station was "planned". All four were false against the
code in this repository. The documentation site did not drift, because
transports_doc_test.gobinds it toinitTransportsand to the station
transport directories - and nothing bound this file. It is bound now, by
TestReadmeTransportClaimsMatchTheCode.
The cost was not confined here:
skills.dbhq.uk/heliographdeliberately
published the *more conservative* claim because this README contradicted the
documentation site, and recorded that it would stay understated "until
heliograph settles which is true". This is that settlement.
The relay
Both sides dial out over ordinary HTTPS, so an estate needs no git host, no storage account and no VNet. Hosted, and self-hostable from the same binary.
Not yet usable end to end. The station side is complete and the server is deployed; no CLI command can select it, so the near side is the missing half.
The relay cannot read your logs, and cannot make a station run anything. That second half is the one that matters: a relay able to forge a request would be code execution inside every estate at once. Content is end-to-end encrypted with keys the relay never holds, and every message is signed. Nothing bespoke - age primitives plus Ed25519. The full account, including what DBHQ can and cannot honestly claim, is in docs/specs/2026-09-06-relay-encryption-design.md. The relay server is its own repository, heliograph-io/heliograph-relay, because it holds no keys and must be publicly, obviously incapable of reading anything it carries.
What the beam is, and what it costs
The beam is designed and not yet built; what follows is what it will do when it lands.
Two of the three shapes never hold a connection open. A beacon leaves a message where both sides can reach it, and needs nothing to be reachable, ever - no inbound port, no endpoint, no tunnel. A flare knocks, waits and leaves; what it does not do is hold the line open once the answer is back, and between the two of them an estate that will not have a held-open line at all still gets the whole job done.
The beam does hold a line open, live and two-way, and that is a tunnel. A blue team will read a held-open channel as one, because it is one. So it is **off unle
Only the beginning is shown; read the rest in the repo