Free the Tools vs Anymd
A side-by-side look at the Free the Tools and Anymd MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Free the Tools for file systems work as a local process; choose Anymd for file systems as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Free the Tools when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the File Systems domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: No auth required.
Choose Anymd when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the File Systems domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: No auth required.
- You want tools like
inspect, outline, read.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | File Systems | File Systems |
| Quality signal | 41/100 · Fair | 72/100 · Great |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | No auth required | No auth required |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 1 | 1,046 |
| Directory activity | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 3 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | Not listed | 4 |
| Full listing | View Free the Tools | View Anymd |
Tools & capabilities
Free the Tools tools
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
Anymd tools 4
inspectDocument and media evidence when Markdown is not enough. video_timeline (bounded scene/cue timeline) and render_frame (actual decoded frames), and cite_check (quote/location support, not semantic truth), are anymd Pro; PDF operations: inspect (page facts, metadata), render_page (PNG images), extract_regions (crop bounding boxes), ocr_pages / analyze_regions (configured OCR or vision provider), structure (JSON with document map, elements, geometry; profile quality|research adds trust and accessibility reports), compare (page-level diff of sources[0] vs sources[1]).outlineReturn a document heading tree with stable node ids, title paths, page/slide/chapter ranges and Markdown byte ranges. PDF bookmarks or detected headings, Word headings, PowerPoint slides, EPUB chapters and headings, HTML and Markdown. format json (default) or tree. Pass a node id to read to fetch that section.readRead any document as clean Markdown: PDF, Word (DOCX), PowerPoint (PPTX), Excel (XLSX/XLS/ODS), CSV, EPUB, HTML or a web URL, Markdown/text, images (metadata + OCR), audio/video (metadata, chapters, subtitles). Pages/slides/sheets carry <!-- page N --> style markers for citation. Long documents stop at max_tokens (default 20000) and end with a cursor to continue; choose pages with pages: "1-5,8". A directory returns its readable files.searchSearch documents for text: one file, many files, whole directories (recursive, .gitignore aware), or URLs, across every format read supports. Returns each hit as file + page/slide/sheet + a snippet with the match in bold. mode auto (default) finds the exact phrase and falls back to BM25-ranked passages when there is none; literal or ranked force one. Narrow directories with glob, e.g. "*.pdf".
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
Free the Tools
{
"mcpServers": {
"free-the-tools": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"freethetools"
]
}
}
}
Anymd
{
"mcpServers": {
"anymd": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@sylphx/anymd"
]
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Free the Tools is categorized under File Systems and uses a local stdio subprocess. Anymd belongs to File Systems and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Free the Tools for file systems work and Anymd for file systems.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Free the Tools is listed as free. Auth: no auth required. Anymd is listed as free. Auth: no auth required. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add free-the-tools and anymd as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Free the Tools has a quality signal of 41/100 (Fair) with 1 views, 0 installs and 1 GitHub stars. Anymd has 72/100 (Great) with 3 views, 0 installs and 1,046 GitHub stars.
