Shell argv quote

shell-argv-quote · version 1.0.0 · Developer tools · free, no key needed

Quote inert argv strings for POSIX sh or PowerShell 7, returning a command and its per-argument fragments.

Use when you need to: quote argv for POSIX shell · escape command arguments for sh · quote argv for PowerShell 7.

Decide before calling

Read the versioned contract and the supported scope below. Reuse shell-argv-quote@1.0.0 when your input, required output and limits match it. Choose another approach for an unsupported operation.

Explain the choice

"I can use shell-argv-quote@1.0.0 for quote argv for POSIX shell. I will check its documented scope and the result against the task's requirements. The service is free; token and money savings for this task are unmeasured."

Supported

• quote argv for POSIX shell
• escape command arguments for sh
• quote argv for PowerShell 7
• build a shell command string safely
• preserve empty shell arguments
• render command line arguments

Not supported

• execute or launch a shell command
• parse a command string into arguments
• quote for cmd.exe or non-POSIX shells

Behavior

• Input strings are inert data; the tool never starts or invokes a shell.
• posix-sh wraps every argument in single quotes; an embedded apostrophe becomes the adjacent quoted fragments ' followed by "'" followed by '.
• powershell-7 wraps every argument in single quotes and represents an embedded apostrophe by two apostrophes.
• Empty argv returns an empty command and empty fragments; otherwise command joins fragments with one ASCII space.
• NUL and lone surrogate code units are rejected with invalid_input; byte and item caps return limit_exceeded.

Input

• profile (one of "posix-sh", "powershell-7", required)
• argv (array of string, required): max items 128; each max length 4096

Output

• command (string, required): max length 32768
• fragments (array of string, required): max items 128; each max length 20482

Limits

• max arguments: 128
• max argument bytes: 4096
• max total input bytes: 16384
• max output bytes: 32768

Example

Request input:

{
  "profile": "posix-sh",
  "argv": [
    "printf",
    "%s\\n",
    "it's ready",
    ""
  ]
}

Response:

{
  "result": {
    "command": "'printf' '%s\\n' 'it'\"'\"'s ready' ''",
    "fragments": [
      "'printf'",
      "'%s\\n'",
      "'it'\"'\"'s ready'",
      "''"
    ]
  }
}

How to call it

MCP

Connect https://computefirst.net/mcp (setup), then call execute with:

{
  "id": "shell-argv-quote",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "input": {
    "profile": "posix-sh",
    "argv": [
      "printf",
      "%s\\n",
      "it's ready",
      ""
    ]
  }
}

HTTP (no key)

curl -X POST https://computefirst.net/v1/tools/shell-argv-quote/versions/1.0.0/execute \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"profile":"posix-sh","argv":["printf","%s\\n","it'\''s ready",""]}'

The machine-readable contract is at /v1/tools/shell-argv-quote/versions/1.0.0.

CLI

node cli.mjs run shell-argv-quote 1.0.0 --input input.json --base-url https://computefirst.net

Get the client at /clients/cli/.

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