Shell

Execute shell commands

Overview

Shell tool allows you to execute shell commands from your AI agents. Use with caution!

The user asks to run a command; the agent executes it in the shell and returns the output.

Installation

pip install "praisonai[tools]"

Quick Start

1. Simple Usage

   from praisonai_tools import ShellTool
   
   # Initialize
   shell = ShellTool()
   
   # Execute command
   result = shell.execute("ls -la")
   print(result)
   
2. With Configuration

   Use the same tool with an agent — see Usage with Agent below, or pass env vars and options from the sections above.

Usage with Agent

from praisonaiagents import Agent
from praisonai_tools import ShellTool

agent = Agent(
    name="SysAdmin",
    instructions="You help with system administration tasks.",
    tools=[ShellTool()]
)

response = agent.chat("List all Python processes")
print(response)

Available Methods

execute(command)

Execute a shell command.

from praisonai_tools import ShellTool

shell = ShellTool()
result = shell.execute("echo 'Hello World'")

Security Warning

⚠️ Use with caution! Shell commands can be dangerous. Consider:

• Restricting allowed commands
• Running in sandboxed environments
• Validating user input

Common Errors

Error	Cause	Solution
Command not found	Invalid command	Check command exists
Permission denied	Insufficient permissions	Check file permissions

How It Works

---

Best Practices

Allowlist commands

Restrict the agent to a known set of safe commands rather than arbitrary shell access.

Never interpolate untrusted input

Build commands from validated arguments to avoid injection.

Set timeouts

Bound command execution so a hung process doesn’t stall the agent.

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