diff --git a/docs/assets/themes/zeppelin/img/docs-img/shell-example.png b/docs/assets/themes/zeppelin/img/docs-img/shell-example.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2d7fa9a878d
Binary files /dev/null and b/docs/assets/themes/zeppelin/img/docs-img/shell-example.png differ
diff --git a/docs/interpreter/shell.md b/docs/interpreter/shell.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..11e73b7cba6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/interpreter/shell.md
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+---
+layout: page
+title: "Shell Interpreter"
+description: "Shell Interpreter"
+group: manual
+---
+{% include JB/setup %}
+
+## Shell interpreter for Apache Zeppelin
+
+### Overview
+Shell interpreter uses [Apache Commons Exec](https://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-exec) to execute external processes. 
+
+In Zeppelin notebook, you can use ` %sh ` in the beginning of a paragraph to invoke system shell and run commands.
+Note: Currently each command runs as Zeppelin user.
+
+### Example
+The following example demonstrates the basic usage of Shell in a Zeppelin notebook.
+
+<img src="{{BASE_PATH}}/assets/themes/zeppelin/img/docs-img/shell-example.png" width="70%" />
diff --git a/shell/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/shell/ShellInterpreter.java b/shell/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/shell/ShellInterpreter.java
index 8f6f0d09faf..a4cf550baf4 100644
--- a/shell/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/shell/ShellInterpreter.java
+++ b/shell/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/shell/ShellInterpreter.java
@@ -19,21 +19,23 @@
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.*;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Properties;
+
 import org.apache.commons.exec.CommandLine;
 import org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor;
 import org.apache.commons.exec.ExecuteException;
 import org.apache.commons.exec.ExecuteWatchdog;
-import org.apache.commons.exec.Executor;
 import org.apache.commons.exec.PumpStreamHandler;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.zeppelin.interpreter.Interpreter;
 import org.apache.zeppelin.interpreter.InterpreterContext;
-import org.apache.zeppelin.interpreter.InterpreterPropertyBuilder;
 import org.apache.zeppelin.interpreter.InterpreterResult;
 import org.apache.zeppelin.interpreter.InterpreterResult.Code;
 import org.apache.zeppelin.interpreter.thrift.InterpreterCompletion;
-import org.apache.zeppelin.scheduler.Job;
 import org.apache.zeppelin.scheduler.Scheduler;
 import org.apache.zeppelin.scheduler.SchedulerFactory;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -43,14 +45,11 @@
  * Shell interpreter for Zeppelin.
  */
 public class ShellInterpreter extends Interpreter {
-  Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ShellInterpreter.class);
-  private static final String EXECUTOR_KEY = "executor";
-  public static final String SHELL_COMMAND_TIMEOUT = "shell.command.timeout.millisecs";
-  int commandTimeOut;
-  private static final boolean isWindows = System
-          .getProperty("os.name")
-          .startsWith("Windows");
-  final String shell = isWindows ? "cmd /c" : "bash -c";
+  private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ShellInterpreter.class);
+  private static final String TIMEOUT_PROPERTY = "shell.command.timeout.millisecs";
+  private final boolean isWindows = System.getProperty("os.name").startsWith("Windows");
+  private final String shell = isWindows ? "cmd /c" : "bash -c";
+  private Map<String, DefaultExecutor> executors;
 
   public ShellInterpreter(Properties property) {
     super(property);
@@ -58,9 +57,8 @@ public ShellInterpreter(Properties property) {
 
   @Override
   public void open() {
-    logger.info("Command timeout is set as:", SHELL_COMMAND_TIMEOUT);
-
-    commandTimeOut = Integer.valueOf(getProperty(SHELL_COMMAND_TIMEOUT));
+    LOGGER.info("Command timeout property: {}", TIMEOUT_PROPERTY);
+    executors = new HashMap<String, DefaultExecutor>();
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -69,7 +67,10 @@ public void close() {}
 
   @Override
   public InterpreterResult interpret(String cmd, InterpreterContext contextInterpreter) {
-    logger.debug("Run shell command '" + cmd + "'");
+    LOGGER.debug("Run shell command '" + cmd + "'");
+    OutputStream outStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+    OutputStream errStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+    
     CommandLine cmdLine = CommandLine.parse(shell);
     // the Windows CMD shell doesn't handle multiline statements,
     // they need to be delimited by '&&' instead
@@ -78,62 +79,45 @@ public InterpreterResult interpret(String cmd, InterpreterContext contextInterpr
       cmd = StringUtils.join(lines, " && ");
     }
     cmdLine.addArgument(cmd, false);
-    DefaultExecutor executor = new DefaultExecutor();
-    ByteArrayOutputStream errorStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
-    executor.setStreamHandler(new PumpStreamHandler(contextInterpreter.out, errorStream));
-    executor.setWatchdog(new ExecuteWatchdog(commandTimeOut));
-
-    Job runningJob = getRunningJob(contextInterpreter.getParagraphId());
-    Map<String, Object> info = runningJob.info();
-    info.put(EXECUTOR_KEY, executor);
+
     try {
+      DefaultExecutor executor = new DefaultExecutor();
+      executor.setStreamHandler(new PumpStreamHandler(outStream, errStream));
+      executor.setWatchdog(new ExecuteWatchdog(Long.valueOf(getProperty(TIMEOUT_PROPERTY))));
+      executors.put(contextInterpreter.getParagraphId(), executor);
       int exitVal = executor.execute(cmdLine);
-      logger.info("Paragraph " + contextInterpreter.getParagraphId()
-          + "return with exit value: " + exitVal);
-      return new InterpreterResult(InterpreterResult.Code.SUCCESS, null);
+      LOGGER.info("Paragraph " + contextInterpreter.getParagraphId() 
+        + " return with exit value: " + exitVal);
+      return new InterpreterResult(Code.SUCCESS, outStream.toString());
     } catch (ExecuteException e) {
       int exitValue = e.getExitValue();
-      logger.error("Can not run " + cmd, e);
+      LOGGER.error("Can not run " + cmd, e);
       Code code = Code.ERROR;
-      String msg = errorStream.toString();
+      String message = errStream.toString();
       if (exitValue == 143) {
         code = Code.INCOMPLETE;
-        msg = msg + "Paragraph received a SIGTERM.\n";
-        logger.info("The paragraph " + contextInterpreter.getParagraphId()
-            + " stopped executing: " + msg);
+        message += "Paragraph received a SIGTERM.\n";
+        LOGGER.info("The paragraph " + contextInterpreter.getParagraphId() 
+          + " stopped executing: " + message);
       }
-      msg += "ExitValue: " + exitValue;
-      return new InterpreterResult(code, msg);
+      message += "ExitValue: " + exitValue;
+      return new InterpreterResult(code, message);
     } catch (IOException e) {
-      logger.error("Can not run " + cmd, e);
+      LOGGER.error("Can not run " + cmd, e);
       return new InterpreterResult(Code.ERROR, e.getMessage());
     }
   }
 
-  private Job getRunningJob(String paragraphId) {
-    Job foundJob = null;
-    Collection<Job> jobsRunning = getScheduler().getJobsRunning();
-    for (Job job : jobsRunning) {
-      if (job.getId().equals(paragraphId)) {
-        foundJob = job;
-      }
-    }
-    return foundJob;
-  }
-
   @Override
   public void cancel(InterpreterContext context) {
-    Job runningJob = getRunningJob(context.getParagraphId());
-    if (runningJob != null) {
-      Map<String, Object> info = runningJob.info();
-      Object object = info.get(EXECUTOR_KEY);
-      if (object != null) {
-        Executor executor = (Executor) object;
-        ExecuteWatchdog watchdog = executor.getWatchdog();
-        watchdog.destroyProcess();
+    for (String paragraphId : executors.keySet()) {
+      if (paragraphId.equals(context.getParagraphId())) {
+        DefaultExecutor executor = executors.get(paragraphId);
+        executor.getWatchdog().destroyProcess();
       }
     }
   }
+
   @Override
   public FormType getFormType() {
     return FormType.SIMPLE;
diff --git a/shell/src/test/java/org/apache/zeppelin/shell/ShellInterpreterTest.java b/shell/src/test/java/org/apache/zeppelin/shell/ShellInterpreterTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cb96df7fb31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shell/src/test/java/org/apache/zeppelin/shell/ShellInterpreterTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.zeppelin.shell;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import java.util.Properties;
+
+import org.apache.zeppelin.interpreter.InterpreterContext;
+import org.apache.zeppelin.interpreter.InterpreterResult;
+import org.apache.zeppelin.interpreter.InterpreterResult.Code;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class ShellInterpreterTest {
+
+  private ShellInterpreter shell;
+
+  @Before
+  public void setUp() throws Exception {
+    Properties p = new Properties();
+    p.setProperty("shell.command.timeout.millisecs", "60000");
+    shell = new ShellInterpreter(p);
+  }
+
+  @After
+  public void tearDown() throws Exception {
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void test() {
+    shell.open();
+    InterpreterContext context = new InterpreterContext("", "1", "", "", null, null, null, null, null, null, null);
+    InterpreterResult result = new InterpreterResult(Code.ERROR);
+    if (System.getProperty("os.name").startsWith("Windows")) {
+      result = shell.interpret("dir", context);
+    } else {
+      result = shell.interpret("ls", context);
+    }
+    assertEquals(InterpreterResult.Code.SUCCESS, result.code());
+  }
+  
+}