Skip to content
Kitbay
Submit
MCP serverreference implementation

Filesystem (MCP reference server)

Runs locallyApache-2.0 AND MITCan change dataNo API key needed

Filesystem is a reference MCP server in the modelcontextprotocol/servers repository, kept by the MCP steering group, that lets an assistant work with files on the local machine.

InstallRepository Checked on Nov 12, 2026

What it does

Filesystem is a reference MCP server in the modelcontextprotocol/servers repository, kept by the MCP steering group, that lets an assistant work with files on the local machine. It may only touch the directories passed on the command line; MCP Roots can replace them for older clients but are deprecated. Tools read text and media files, write, append to and edit files, create, list, move and copy files and folders, search by pattern, print a directory tree and return file metadata. A read-only flag, and read-only directories, limit what it can change. It runs over stdio through npx or Docker, with setup given for Claude Desktop and VS Code.

Capabilities

  • Read text and media files, one or several at a time
  • Write, append to and edit files with text replacements
  • Create, list, move and copy files and directories
  • Search files by pattern and print a directory tree
  • Return file metadata and the allowed directories
  • Run in read-only mode or with read-only directories

Other MCP servers and skills for File system