MCP Filesystem Server

What mark3labs/mcp-filesystem-server MCP server does

The mark3labs/mcp-filesystem-server MCP server gives MCP clients access to selected areas of a local filesystem. It exposes a file:// resource representing files and directories, along with tools for reading, writing, copying, moving, deleting, and inspecting filesystem entries.

The server supports individual and batch file reads, creation or replacement of file contents, directory creation, and detailed directory listings. It can also return a hierarchical directory tree, retrieve file or directory metadata, and report which directories are currently permitted.

Search tools cover both filenames and file contents. Filename searches operate recursively from a supplied starting path, while content searches can be limited by directory depth and result count. File modification supports either literal text matching or regular expressions, with an option to replace only the first match or all matches.

How it works

The process starts with one or more allowed directory paths as command-line arguments. Requests received over MCP are checked against those allowed locations before filesystem operations are performed. The stated security behavior includes protection against directory traversal, security checks during symlink resolution, and access restricted to configured directories.

The implementation is written in Go and can run as a standalone process or inside Docker. MCP clients launch the process using a command and argument list, then communicate with it through the client’s MCP support. When Docker is used, a host directory must be mounted into the container if file changes need to be visible on the host.

The server handles text, binary, and image files. It also includes MIME type detection and size limits for inline content and base64 encoding, although the provided material does not specify the exact limit values.

Setup and configuration

Install the executable with Go:

go install github.com/mark3labs/mcp-filesystem-server@latest

Start it by passing at least one allowed directory:

mcp-filesystem-server /data/project

Additional allowed directories can be supplied as further arguments. An MCP client configuration uses mcp-filesystem-server as the command and places the allowed paths in args. The README also documents a Docker image at ghcr.io/mark3labs/mcp-filesystem-server:latest, launched with interactive input and one or more permitted container paths.

The mark3labs/mcp-filesystem-server MCP server does not document environment variables, API credentials, or a hosted endpoint in the supplied material. Directory arguments are therefore the main configuration required for normal operation.

Tools and capabilities

The documented tools are:

• read_file and read_multiple_files for reading one or several files.
• write_file for creating or overwriting a file.
• copy_file, move_file, and delete_file for filesystem changes.
• modify_file for literal or regex-based find-and-replace operations.
• list_directory, create_directory, and tree for directory management and structure inspection.
• search_files for filename-pattern searches and search_within_files for content searches.
• get_file_info for metadata and list_allowed_directories for the access boundary.

Limitations and notes

This server operates on local or container-accessible storage; the supplied README does not describe remote filesystems or cloud storage integrations. Delete operations are non-recursive by default, and tree traversal does not follow symbolic links by default. Content-search results default to a maximum of 1,000 entries, while tree traversal defaults to a depth of three. Exact behavior for files outside the configured directories is intentionally constrained by the server’s path validation.

The Docker example’s container paths are not automatically the same as host paths. Use a volume mount when operations performed in the container must modify host files. The project’s license is not identified in the provided excerpt; the repository’s LICENSE file is referenced for details.