mcp-bear vs filesystem

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

	mcp-bear by jkawamoto	filesystem by modelcontextprotocol
Stars	★ 70	★ 85,748
30d uses	—	—
Score	46	77
Official	—	✓
Categories	Productivitynote-takingOther	File SystemDeveloper ToolsProductivity
Language	Python	TypeScript
Last commit	3 mo ago	this month

mcp-bear · Summary

MCP server for Bear note-taking app with multiple client support and good documentation.

filesystem · Summary

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

mcp-bear · Use cases

Automating note creation and organization between Bear and AI assistants
Integrating Bear notes into AI workflows for enhanced content processing
Managing Bear tags and notes programmatically through MCP clients

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

mcp-bear · Install

Installation

Install uv on your system

Set the BEAR_API_TOKEN environment variable to your API token

Configure in your MCP client:

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bear": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "git+https://github.com/jkawamoto/mcp-bear",
        "mcp-bear",
        "--token",
        "<YOUR_TOKEN>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Goose

Add to ~/.config/goose/config.yaml:

extensions:
  bear:
    name: Bear
    cmd: uvx
    args: [--from, git+https://github.com/jkawamoto/mcp-bear, mcp-bear]
    envs: { "BEAR_API_TOKEN": "<YOUR_TOKEN>" }
    enabled: true
    type: stdio

LM Studio

Click the install button from the repository page or manually configure.

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.