Martinschlott BetterMCPFileServer

🚀 BetterMCPFileServer

BetterMCPFileServer is a more powerful MCP file server designed specifically for developers. It offers a simple and user - friendly interface for managing files and directories, supporting operations such as writing, reading, editing, moving, copying, deleting files, and searching for files and directories.

🚀 Quick Start

BetterMCPFileServer requires at least one alias:path pair when starting the server.

BetterMCPFileServer alias:directory [alias2:directory2 ...]

Examples

# Single directory
BetterMCPFileServer code:~/projects

# Multiple directories
BetterMCPFileServer code:~/Development docs:~/Documents/Technical notes:~/Notes

✨ Features

• Powerful yet Simple: Handles all file operations through 6 core functions.
• Virtual Root Directory: Maps physical paths to virtual paths by defining alias:path pairs.
• Secure Sandbox: Strictly restricts access permissions, ensuring operations are limited to specified directories.
• Flexible Search: Supports Glob pattern matching to help you efficiently locate files and directories.

📦 Installation

# From npm (Coming soon)
npm install -g BetterMCPFileServer  # Not available yet

# From source code (Current method)
git clone https://github.com/martinschlott/BetterMCPFileServer.git
cd BetterMCPFileServer
npm install
npm run build
npm link  # Optional, use the command globally

💻 Usage Examples

Basic Usage

// Read file content
const content = await readFileContent({ filePath: "projects/README.md" });

// Write file
await writeFile({
  filePath: "projects/notes.txt",
  content: "Important meeting notes."
});

// Edit file
await editFile({
  filePath: "projects/config.json",
  edits: [
    {
      oldText: '"version": "1.0.0"',
      newText: '"version": "1.0.1"'
    }
  ],
  dryRun: false
});

Advanced Usage

// Create a new directory
await manageFolder({
  action: "create",
  folderPath: "projects/new-feature"
});

// List directory contents
const files = await searchFilesAndFolders({
  pattern: "projects/src/*"
});

📚 Documentation

Advanced Configuration

Create a simple shell script to maintain a consistent configuration:

#!/bin/bash
# start-server.sh
BetterMCPFileServer \
  code:~/Development/MyProjects \
  docs:~/Documents/Technical \
  data:~/Data/Samples \
  config:~/Configuration

Troubleshooting

• Error: Invalid alias:path format: Ensure each parameter uses the alias:directory format.
• Error: Directory does not exist: The specified directory must exist.
• Access denied error: Attempting to access an unauthorized directory.
• Unknown alias: The referenced alias was not defined when the server was started.

Credits

This project was completed in collaboration between Martin Schlott (concept and design) and AI assistants:

• Claude 3.7 Sonnet (API design consultation and documentation)
• Cursor AI (implementation)

This README file was generated by Claude.

BetterMCPFileServer provides a powerful and concise interface to help you manage files and directories more efficiently. By defining alias:path pairs, you can map physical paths to virtual paths and strictly restrict access permissions, ensuring operations are limited to specified directories. It supports writing, reading, editing, moving, copying, deleting files, and searching for files and directories, making it an ideal choice for developers.

For more detailed information, please refer to the project documentation.