filesystem-mcp-server vs filesystem

Side-by-side comparison to help you pick between these two MCP servers.

	filesystem-mcp-server by cyanheads	filesystem by modelcontextprotocol
Stars	★ 37	★ 85,748
30d uses	—	—
Score	41	77
Official	—	✓
Categories	File SystemDeveloper ToolsAI / LLM Tools	File SystemDeveloper ToolsProductivity
Language	TypeScript	TypeScript
Last commit	10 mo ago	this month

filesystem-mcp-server · Summary

A robust TypeScript MCP server enabling AI agents to securely interact with the local filesystem via STDIO or HTTP transports.

filesystem · Summary

A feature-rich MCP server for filesystem operations with dynamic directory access control.

filesystem-mcp-server · Use cases

AI assistants reading and analyzing codebases for code review or documentation generation
Automated file management systems that organize and restructure file hierarchies
Development environments where AI needs to modify files as part of the coding workflow

filesystem · Use cases

Enable AI models to read and write project files during development
Allow Claude or other MCP clients to browse and analyze codebases
Provide secure sandboxed access to specific directories for content generation

filesystem-mcp-server · Install

Installation

**Clone the repository:**

git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/filesystem-mcp-server.git
cd filesystem-mcp-server

**Install dependencies:**

npm install

**Build the project:**

npm run build

**Configure with Claude Desktop (example):**

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/filesystem-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "FS_BASE_DIRECTORY": "/safe/workspace",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

filesystem · Install

Installation

Using NPX

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
        "/path/to/allowed/directory"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Using Docker

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "--mount", "type=bind,src=/path/to/allowed/dir,dst=/projects/allowed/dir",
        "mcp/filesystem",
        "/projects"
      ]
    }
  }
}

VS Code Extension

Click the installation buttons in the README to install directly in VS Code.

Comparison generated from public README + GitHub signals. Last updated automatically.