About Filesystem MCP Server SSE
Filesystem MCP Server SSE is a Node.js MCP server for reading and managing files in configured directories. Its SSE transport exposes filesystem operations while restricting access to directories supplied at startup.
Key features
- 01Read and write files
- 02Create, list, and delete directories
- 03Move files and directories
- 04Search paths and inspect metadata
- 05Preview edits with diffs
Use cases
- 01Read or update project files through an MCP client
- 02Search an allowed directory for matching files
- 03Review file edits before applying them
MCP support
It exposes a filesystem resource and tools to MCP clients over SSE, including file reading, writing, editing, directory management, search, and metadata lookup. Operations are limited to directories configured at startup.
Configuration
Local server config is the same for every client. Copy it into your client’s MCP config file.
Tools
Local servers expose tools only once running on your machine, and the maintainer has not provided a tool list.
Details
From the project READMEFilesystem MCP Server SSE
Node.js server SSE 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 locationcontent(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
- Multiple simultaneous edits with correct positioning
- Indentation style detection and preservation
- Git-style diff output with context
- Preview changes with dry run mode
- Inputs:
path(string): File to editedits(array): List of edit operationsoldText(string): Text to search for (can be substring)newText(string): Text to replace with
dryRun(boolean): Preview changes without applying (default: false)
- 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 directorypattern(string): Search patternexcludePatterns(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 Cherry Stdio Desktop
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.
1. Docker build:
docker build -t mcp/filesystem -f Dockerfile .
2. Docker run:
docker run -i --mount type=bind,src=type=bind,src=/path/to/other/allowed/dir,dst=/projects/other/allowed/dir,ro -p 3001:3001 mcp/filesystem /projects
3. config:
{
"mcpServers": {
"file_system": {
"name": "file_system",
"baseUrl": "http://ip:3001/sse"
}
}
}
Local
1. build:
npm install
2. run:
node .\dist\index.js C:\Users\User\Desktop\project
allowed directories: C:\Users\User\Desktop\project
3. config:
{
"mcpServers": {
"file_system": {
"name": "file_system",
"baseUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:3001/sse"
}
}
}
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.
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