filesystem vs lean-ctx

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

	filesystem by modelcontextprotocol	lean-ctx by yvgude
Stars	★ 85,748	★ 1,676
30d uses	—	—
Score	77	57
Official	✓	—
Categories	File SystemDeveloper ToolsProductivity	Developer ToolsAI / LLM ToolsProductivity
Language	TypeScript	Rust
Last commit	this month	this month

filesystem · Summary

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

lean-ctx · Summary

lean-ctx is an MCP server that reduces token waste in AI coding tools by 60-95% through intelligent context compression and caching.

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

lean-ctx · Use cases

Reduce token usage in AI coding assistants while maintaining full context awareness
Optimize context management for large codebases and monorepos
Create shareable context packages for team collaboration

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.

lean-ctx · Install

Install lean-ctx using one of these methods:

# Universal installer (no Rust needed)
curl -fsSL https://leanctx.com/install.sh | sh

# macOS / Linux via Homebrew
brew tap yvgude/lean-ctx && brew install lean-ctx

# Node.js
npm install -g lean-ctx-bin

# Rust
cargo install lean-ctx

# Pi Coding Agent
pi install npm:pi-lean-ctx

After installation, set up with:

lean-ctx setup

Then restart your shell and AI tools. For Claude Desktop, add to your config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lean-ctx": {
      "command": "lean-ctx",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

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