Filesystem MCP

open sourcestdio

Official Anthropic MCP server for reading and writing files on disk

Updated 2026-03-01

File SystemFree· Open source, self-hostedGitHubDocs

The official Anthropic-maintained MCP server that gives AI agents secure, configurable access to the local filesystem. Supports reading, writing, listing, and searching files with access controls that restrict agents to specified directories.

Install

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem /path/to/allowed/dir

Runtime: node

Tools (11)

read_file

Read the complete contents of a file from the filesystem

path
read_multiple_files

Read the contents of multiple files simultaneously

paths
write_file

Create a new file or overwrite an existing file with content

pathcontent
edit_file

Make line-based edits to a text file using search/replace

patheditsdry_run
create_directory

Create a new directory or ensure a directory exists

path
list_directory

Get a detailed listing of all files and directories in a path

path
directory_tree

Get a recursive tree view of files and directories

path
move_file

Move or rename files and directories

sourcedestination
search_files

Recursively search for files and directories matching a pattern

pathpatternexcludePatterns
get_file_info

Retrieve detailed metadata about a file or directory

path
list_allowed_directories

Returns the list of directories the server is allowed to access

Use Cases

  • ·Give agents access to project files and codebases
  • ·Enable agents to read configuration files and write outputs
  • ·Build agents that generate and save documents or reports
  • ·Allow agents to search and navigate large file trees

Key Points

  • Official Anthropic-maintained server, most stable and well-documented filesystem MCP
  • Access control via allowed directories configured at startup
  • Supports read, write, edit, search, tree listing, and file metadata
  • Runs as a stdio process, works with any MCP-compatible client

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Machine-Readable

This MCP is available as structured JSON via the API.

GET /api/v1/mcps/filesystem