ftp-deploy-mcp

The deploy button for AI coding agents.

Give Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Trae, Antigravity, or any MCP client a focused way to list, read, upload, download, and deploy files on your own FTP, FTPS, and SFTP servers.

Version française → README.fr.md

CLI and MCP language: English by default; use --lang fr or FTP_MCP_LANG=fr. Language scope and precedence.

Purpose-built deployment controls keep credentials out of tool responses, support read-only servers and dry runs, and limit local file access with localRoot. The repository is covered by an extensive end-to-end suite that runs against local FTP and SFTP servers. There is no telemetry.

Availability: install from source today. The npm package and MCP registry entry have not been published yet, so npx -y ftp-deploy-mcp and registry-based installation will not work until the first release is announced. Existing Glama and MCP Index pages are discovery listings, not proof that an installable package is available. Package and server metadata are aligned at release candidate 0.2.0, pending publication.

Documentation

Architecture and scenarios

Explore the current and target architecture diagrams and illustrative scenarios in the bilingual interactive HTML guide. The guide and its English / French build instructions are in the repository, outside the npm package. After cloning, open site/index.html locally and use its language selector.

The README banners were generated with ChatGPT Image. Their provenance and exact prompts document their illustrative role; they are not a certification.

First source install

1. Install a supported Node.js LTS version: 22 or 24 (minimum: 22).
2. Run git clone https://github.com/alebgl77/ftp-deploy-mcp.git, then cd ftp-deploy-mcp.
3. Run npm install.
4. Run npm run setup, then edit the generated server config: set an absolute localRoot, replace credentials, and configure the SFTP host-key pin or the FTP/FTPS safety acknowledgments described below.
5. Restart the MCP client and try a dry run:

Call ftp_deploy with:
{"server":"prod","local_dir":"dist","remote_dir":"/","dry_run":true}

Windows users can run install.cmd and macOS/Linux users can run ./install.sh instead of steps 3–4. Review every generated server entry before the first connection.

Protocol and security matrix

All three protocols also enforce localRoot for ftp_upload, ftp_deploy, and ftp_download. This limits which local files the MCP server can access.

What you get

• Ten focused MCP tools for server discovery, testing, listing, reading, uploading, recursive deploys, downloading, creating directories, renaming, and deleting.
• Multiple named servers in one local configuration.
• Gitignore-like deploy exclusions, dry-run, and per-server readOnly mode.
• FileZilla import, an interactive setup wizard, and a read-only doctor command.
• Credentials loaded locally from the config, environment variables, or SSH keys and never intentionally returned to the model.

Server configuration

An explicit configuration path is authoritative:

1. --config <path>
2. FTP_MCP_CONFIG, when --config is absent

An empty, missing, unreadable, or invalid explicit configuration reports an error without falling back to another file. The MCP tools remain available to report the configuration problem. --config requires a path argument.

Without either selector, the first configuration found wins:

1. ./ftp-servers.json
2. ~/.ftp-mcp/servers.json

The teaching example below is JSON with comments. Real configuration files must be strict JSON; start from ftp-servers.example.json.

{
  "defaultServer": "prod",
  "servers": {
    "prod": {
      "protocol": "sftp",
      "host": "ssh.example.com",
      "port": 22,
      "user": "deploy",
      "password": "${ENV:PROD_PASSWORD}",
      "privateKeyPath": "~/.ssh/id_ed25519",
      "passphrase": "${ENV:PROD_KEY_PASSPHRASE}",
      "localRoot": "/home/alice/projects/site",
      "root": "/var/www/site",
      "hostKeySha256": "SHA256:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA",
      "readOnly": false
    }
  }
}

Replace the all-A fingerprint; it is deliberately non-functional for a real host. Use hostKeySha256 as an array during a controlled key rotation:

"hostKeySha256": [
  "SHA256:old_verified_43_character_base64_value_here",
  "SHA256:new_verified_43_character_base64_value_here"
]

The illustrative labels above show the shape but are not valid pins. Each real entry is exactly SHA256: plus 43 characters of unpadded base64.

Field reference

Any string can contain ${ENV:VARIABLE_NAME}. Missing variables produce a named configuration error.

Verify an SFTP fingerprint out of band

Do not trust a fingerprint obtained only through the connection you are about to verify.

1. Obtain the SHA-256 host-key fingerprint from the hosting provider's authenticated control panel or support channel, or from an administrator through a separately authenticated channel.
2. If you administer the host, use its trusted console to run a command such as ssh-keygen -lf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub -E sha256.
3. Compare the complete SHA256:... value before putting it in hostKeySha256. ssh-keyscan may collect a candidate key, but by itself it does not authenticate that key.

For rotation, verify the new fingerprint out of band, temporarily configure both old and new pins, rotate the server key, confirm connections use the expected key, then remove the old pin. Do not use allowUnknownHostKey as a rotation shortcut.

Tool reference

All remote path arguments are relative to the configured remote root. The server parameter is optional when defaultServer is set or only one server exists.

Verified staged promotion

Uploads and deploys write to an unpredictable sibling temporary, verify its actual byte count and SHA256 against the local source, then promote it with one rename. A verification or rename failure never triggers deletion of the final target or a direct-overwrite fallback. Downloads verify an exclusive local temporary, synchronize and close it, then promote the complete file. The default overwrite:false uses a hard link to avoid clobbering a file that appeared meanwhile; filesystems without hard-link support fail closed.

Local and SFTP replacements preserve an existing regular target's permission bits (0777); FTP/FTPS cannot portably preserve permissions, so account creation defaults, umask and ACL policy need to suit the destination. Rename behavior depends on the server and filesystem. This does not promise universal atomic replacement, a site transaction, or rollback. Readback adds network traffic. See transfer guarantees, limits and cleanup.

Execution, cancellation, and contention

Within one Node process, upload, deploy, mkdir, rename, and delete run in FIFO order for the same normalized protocol, hostname, port, and username. Server aliases and roots share that lock. Downloads serialize by canonical local destination, including across servers. Read-only remote operations can overlap.

MCP cancellation and deadlines close active transports and stop subsequent deploy files. Errors identify CANCELLED or TIMEOUT; TARGET_BUSY indicates waiting for another operation. A timed-out call can return before an underlying operation settles, but its lock remains owned until settlement and cleanup. No uncertain mutation is retried automatically. Inspect partial remote/local state before retrying; this is not transactional deployment or rollback.

Progress notifications are sent only when the caller supplies a progress token, with increasing counters and no paths or credential text. Locks do not coordinate other Node processes, DNS aliases, other accounts, or external clients on the same host.

Response compatibility, pagination, and annotations

ftp_list returns one page instead of an unbounded directory listing. Its successful response includes total, count, offset, limit, has_more, and next_offset pagination fields. For example, a request with {"server":"prod","path":"/assets","limit":2,"offset":2} may include the following intentionally non-exhaustive excerpt. It omits the required top-level server, path, and security_warning fields and the required per-entry size_bytes and modified_at fields:

{
  "structuredContent": {
    "entries": [
      { "name": "app.css", "type": "file" },
      { "name": "app.js", "type": "file" }
    ],
    "total": 6,
    "count": 2,
    "offset": 2,
    "limit": 2,
    "has_more": true,
    "next_offset": 4
  }
}

The existing human-readable content text is retained for compatibility. On success, every tool except ftp_read also advertises an MCP outputSchema and returns matching structuredContent; ftp_read remains a bounded text-only tool on success. Each of the nine structured schemas accepts either its strict success shape or a strict {error} envelope. Tool execution errors return isError: true with localized text and structured code, request UUID, effect observations and safe-retry guidance. Unknown tools remain protocol errors. See the error contract.

The process admits at most 64 tool calls, including workers still cleaning up after cancellation. Excess calls return CAPACITY_LIMIT. Local deployment scans are asynchronous and separately bounded; see resource limits for exact counting, SCAN_LIMIT and corrected custom exclusion behavior.

All tools publish MCP annotations describing read-only, destructive, idempotent, and open-world behavior. These annotations are client hints, not a security boundary; enforce access with server credentials, readOnly, localRoot, and the protocol controls described above. ftp_deploy structured results contain a summary and bounded samples, not exhaustive file lists.

ftp_deploy is not a transaction. If one or more transfers fail, the tool returns an MCP error with a partial-deployment summary; files already promoted before the failure are not rolled back.

Default deploy exclusions include node_modules, .git, environment files, logs, OS metadata, ftp-servers.json, and .ftp-mcp content at any depth. The reserved .ftp-mcp-*.tmp basename is always excluded, even if an explicit include pattern matches it, so deploy cannot select a partial download temporary.

Client setup

npm run setup detects supported clients, creates timestamped backups before changing existing client configuration, and prints a block for UI-only clients. To wire a client manually, replace the path below with the absolute path to this checkout:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ftp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/ftp-deploy-mcp/src/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Common locations include .mcp.json for Claude Code, ~/.cursor/mcp.json for Cursor, and ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json for Windsurf. Claude Desktop and other clients accept the same command/arguments structure through their MCP settings.

After the first npm release is verified, this source command can be replaced with npx -y ftp-deploy-mcp. It is intentionally not presented as a working installation method today.

FileZilla import and diagnostics

node src/index.js import-filezilla --file /path/sitemanager.xml --out ./ftp-servers.json
npm run doctor

Imported passwords may be decoded into plaintext. Keep the output outside version control, restrict its permissions, add localRoot, and review every insecure-transport or FTP/FTPS remote-root warning before connecting. doctor is read-only and reports configuration and client wiring without printing passwords.

Migrating from v0.1 to the unreleased v0.2

The source checkout contains v0.2 work, but no v0.2 package or registry release exists yet.

1. Add an absolute localRoot to every server used by upload, deploy, or download.
2. For every SFTP server, add an out-of-band-verified hostKeySha256. Use allowUnknownHostKey: true only as a temporary, explicit risk acceptance; do not configure both fields.
3. For FTP/FTPS, prefer a dedicated server-side chroot whose visible root is / and set root to /. A non-root client path now requires allowUnsafeRemoteRoot: true and remains unsafe against server-side symlinks.
4. Treat a failed ftp_deploy as a partial deployment: inspect its summary and reconcile the remote tree before retrying.
5. Re-run npm run setup or update the MCP client command to this checkout, then run npm run doctor and a dry run.

Atomic replacement for newly written sensitive configuration is a v0.2 release gate, not a guarantee of the 0.2.0 release-candidate metadata in this checkout. See docs/RELEASE.md before cutting a release.

Security and limitations

• The strongest FTP/FTPS boundary is the server's own account isolation or chroot. Client-side normalization rejects obvious traversal, but FTP lacks portable REALPATH/LSTAT primitives and cannot prove that a server-side symlink stays inside a configured sub-root.
• SFTP verifies the host pin and rejects symlink components using realpath/lstat. A server controlled by an attacker can still change filesystem state between checks and operations.
• readOnly reduces accidental writes through this MCP server; it is not a substitute for read-only credentials enforced by the remote server.
• FTP, insecureTLS, allowUnknownHostKey, and allowUnsafeRemoteRoot are explicit risk acceptances, not security features.

Read the full security model and private disclosure policy.

Development

npm test
npm run eval:scripted
node src/index.js --version
node src/index.js --help

The test suite uses local FTP and SFTP servers and does not require an external network. Contributions are welcome; see CONTRIBUTING.md. Maintainers should use the release guide. A reproducible, externally hosted read-only agent evaluation is documented in evaluations/README.md.

From a source checkout, npm run eval:scripted runs 43 cases in both languages with a memory adapter and real MCP handlers. See the scripted conformance guide for reports and limits; this command does not evaluate a model.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.