Access and Manage Local Files Securely

MCP Filesystem Server

This MCP server provides secure access to the local filesystem via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Components

Resources

• file://
  • Name: File System
  • Description: Access to files and directories on the local file system

Tools

File Operations

• read_file

  • Read the complete contents of a file from the file system
  • Parameters: path (required): Path to the file to read

• read_multiple_files

  • Read the contents of multiple files in a single operation
  • Parameters: paths (required): List of file paths to read

• write_file

  • Create a new file or overwrite an existing file with new content
  • Parameters: path (required): Path where to write the file, content (required): Content to write to the file

• copy_file

  • Copy files and directories
  • Parameters: source (required): Source path of the file or directory, destination (required): Destination path

• move_file

  • Move or rename files and directories
  • Parameters: source (required): Source path of the file or directory, destination (required): Destination path

• delete_file

  • Delete a file or directory from the file system
  • Parameters: path (required): Path to the file or directory to delete, recursive (optional): Whether to recursively delete directories (default: false)

• modify_file

  • Update file by finding and replacing text using string matching or regex
  • Parameters: path (required): Path to the file to modify, find (required): Text to search for, replace (required): Text to replace with, all_occurrences (optional): Replace all occurrences (default: true), regex (optional): Treat find pattern as regex (default: false)

Directory Operations

• list_directory

  • Get a detailed listing of all files and directories in a specified path
  • Parameters: path (required): Path of the directory to list

• create_directory

  • Create a new directory or ensure a directory exists
  • Parameters: path (required): Path of the directory to create

• tree

  • Returns a hierarchical JSON representation of a directory structure
  • Parameters: path (required): Path of the directory to traverse, depth (optional): Maximum depth to traverse (default: 3), follow_symlinks (optional): Whether to follow symbolic links (default: false)

Search and Information

• search_files

  • Recursively search for files and directories matching a pattern
  • Parameters: path (required): Starting path for the search, pattern (required): Search pattern to match against file names

• search_within_files

  • Search for text within file contents across directory trees
  • Parameters: path (required): Starting directory for the search, substring (required): Text to search for within file contents, depth (optional): Maximum directory depth to search, max_results (optional): Maximum number of results to return (default: 1000)

• get_file_info

  • Retrieve detailed metadata about a file or directory
  • Parameters: path (required): Path to the file or directory

• list_allowed_directories

  • Returns the list of directories that this server is allowed to access
  • Parameters: None

Features

• Secure access to specified directories
• Path validation to prevent directory traversal attacks
• Symlink resolution with security checks
• MIME type detection
• Support for text, binary, and image files
• Size limits for inline content and base64 encoding

Getting Started

Installation

Using Go Install

go install github.com/mark3labs/mcp-filesystem-server@latest

Usage

As a standalone server

Start the MCP server with allowed directories:

mcp-filesystem-server /path/to/allowed/directory [/another/allowed/directory ...]

As a library in your Go project

package main

import (
	"log"
	"os"

	"github.com/mark3labs/mcp-filesystem-server/filesystemserver"
)

func main() {
	// Create a new filesystem server with allowed directories
	allowedDirs := []string{"/path/to/allowed/directory", "/another/allowed/directory"}
	fs, err := filesystemserver.NewFilesystemServer(allowedDirs)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("Failed to create server: %v", err)
	}

	// Serve requests
	if err := fs.Serve(); err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("Server error: %v", err)
	}
}

Usage with Model Context Protocol

To integrate this server with apps that support MCP:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "mcp-filesystem-server",
      "args": ["/path/to/allowed/directory", "/another/allowed/directory"]
    }
  }
}

Docker

Running with Docker

You can run the Filesystem MCP server using Docker:

docker run -i --rm ghcr.io/mark3labs/mcp-filesystem-server:latest /path/to/allowed/directory

Docker Configuration with MCP

To integrate the Docker image with apps that support MCP:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "ghcr.io/mark3labs/mcp-filesystem-server:latest",
        "/path/to/allowed/directory"
      ]
    }
  }
}

If you need changes made inside the container to reflect on the host filesystem, you can mount a volume. This allows the container to access and modify files on the host system. Here's an example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "--volume=/allowed/directory/in/host:/allowed/directory/in/container",
        "ghcr.io/mark3labs/mcp-filesystem-server:latest",
        "/allowed/directory/in/container"
      ]
    }
  }
}