File Tools Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that provides file system and utility tools for Claude.

Features

Tools

• get_time: Get current time in any timezone
• search_files: Search for files by pattern in a directory
• read_file: Read file contents (with optional line limit)
• list_directory: List directory contents
• file_info: Get detailed file/directory information
• run_command: Run safe shell commands (limited set)

Resources

• env://system: System and environment information

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm or yarn

Installation

npm install

Usage

Development

npm run dev

Production

npm run build
npm start

Testing with Inspector

npm run inspect

This opens a web UI to test your tools interactively.

Connecting to Claude

Claude Code

Add to ~/.claude/config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "file-tools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["tsx", "/absolute/path/to/src/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "file-tools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["tsx", "/absolute/path/to/src/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Example Prompts

Once connected, try these with Claude:

• "What time is it in Tokyo?"
• "Find all TypeScript files in my project"
• "Read the package.json file"
• "Show me what's in the src directory"
• "Get info about this file: ./tsconfig.json"

Project Structure

├── src/
│   └── index.ts     # Main MCP server
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
└── README.md

Technologies

• @modelcontextprotocol/sdk: Official MCP SDK
• Zod: Schema validation
• TypeScript: Type safety

Security Notes

• The run_command tool only allows a whitelist of safe commands
• File operations are limited to what the process has permission to access
• Consider running with appropriate permissions in production

License

MIT

Article

Read the full tutorial: [Link to Medium article]