Filesystem MCP Server

Node.js server implementing Model Context Protocol (MCP) for filesystem operations.

Features

• Read/write files
• Create/list/delete directories
• Move files/directories
• Search files
• Get file metadata

Note: The server will only allow operations within directories specified via args.

API

Resources

• file://system: File system operations interface

Tools

• read_file

  • Read complete contents of a file
  • Input: path (string)
  • Reads complete file contents with UTF-8 encoding

• read_multiple_files

  • Read multiple files simultaneously
  • Input: paths (string[])
  • Failed reads won’t stop the entire operation

• write_file

  • Create new file or overwrite existing (exercise caution with this)
  • Inputs:
    • path (string): File location
    • content (string): File content

• edit_file

  • Make selective edits using advanced pattern matching and formatting
  • Features:
    • Line-based and multi-line content matching
    • Whitespace normalization with indentation preservation
    • Fuzzy matching with confidence scoring
    • Multiple simultaneous edits with correct positioning
    • Indentation style detection and preservation
    • Git-style diff output with context
    • Preview changes with dry run mode
    • Failed match debugging with confidence scores
  • Inputs:
    • path (string): File to edit
    • edits (array): List of edit operations
      • oldText (string): Text to search for (can be substring)
      • newText (string): Text to replace with
    • dryRun (boolean): Preview changes without applying (default: false)
    • options (object): Optional formatting settings
      • preserveIndentation (boolean): Keep existing indentation (default: true)
      • normalizeWhitespace (boolean): Normalize spaces while preserving structure (default: true)
      • partialMatch (boolean): Enable fuzzy matching (default: true)
  • Returns detailed diff and match information for dry runs, otherwise applies changes
  • Best Practice: Always use dryRun first to preview changes before applying them

• create_directory

  • Create new directory or ensure it exists
  • Input: path (string)
  • Creates parent directories if needed
  • Succeeds silently if directory exists

• list_directory

  • List directory contents with [FILE] or [DIR] prefixes
  • Input: path (string)

• move_file

  • Move or rename files and directories
  • Inputs:
    • source (string)
    • destination (string)
  • Fails if destination exists

• search_files

  • Recursively search for files/directories
  • Inputs:
    • path (string): Starting directory
    • pattern (string): Search pattern
    • excludePatterns (string[]): Exclude any patterns. Glob formats are supported.
  • Case-insensitive matching
  • Returns full paths to matches

• get_file_info

  • Get detailed file/directory metadata
  • Input: path (string)
  • Returns:
    • Size
    • Creation time
    • Modified time
    • Access time
    • Type (file/directory)
    • Permissions

• list_allowed_directories

  • List all directories the server is allowed to access
  • No input required
  • Returns:
    • Directories that this server can read/write from

Usage with Claude Desktop

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

Note: you can provide sandboxed directories to the server by mounting them to /projects. Adding the ro flag will make the directory readonly by the server.

Docker

Note: all directories must be mounted to /projects by default.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "--mount", "type=bind,src=/Users/username/Desktop,dst=/projects/Desktop",
        "--mount", "type=bind,src=/path/to/other/allowed/dir,dst=/projects/other/allowed/dir,ro",
        "--mount", "type=bind,src=/path/to/file.txt,dst=/projects/path/to/file.txt",
        "mcp/filesystem",
        "/projects"
      ]
    }
  }
}

NPX

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
        "/Users/username/Desktop",
        "/path/to/other/allowed/dir"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Build

Docker build:

docker build -t mcp/filesystem -f src/filesystem/Dockerfile .

License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. This means you are free to use, modify, and distribute the software, subject to the terms and conditions of the MIT License. For more details, please see the LICENSE file in the project repository.