MCP File Tools

Claude sees Настройки — not ???? or Íàñòðîéêè.

MCP server for file operations on text that isn't UTF-8. It detects the encoding from the file's bytes rather than its extension, hands the model UTF-8, and writes back in the original encoding — BOM and CRLF/LF intact, still byte-compatible with whatever legacy tool owns the file.

• 24 encodings, read and write — Cyrillic (CP1251, KOI8-R/U, CP866), Windows-125x, ISO-8859-x, UTF-16 LE/BE, GBK/GB18030 (full list)

• Encoding-aware across the whole tool set — not just read and write: edit_file, grep_text_files and search_files decode the same way

• Detection you can inspect — detect_encoding reports the charset, a confidence score and any BOM, so garbled text becomes diagnosable instead of mysterious

• BOM and line endings are first-class — add or strip a BOM, convert CRLF↔LF, and do it correctly on UTF-16, where a naive byte-level rewrite corrupts the file

• Sandboxed — every path, including symlink and junction targets, is resolved and checked against the directories you allowed

Perfect for: Delphi/Pascal projects, legacy VB6 apps, old PHP/HTML sites, config and data files whose encoding you can't tell from the filename.

PRs welcome and merged fast — no CLA, no style review, one-line fixes count. Forked this to fix something? Please send it back instead.

What It Does

Provides 22 tools for file operations with automatic encoding conversion:

• read_text_file - Read files with encoding auto-detection and conversion

• read_multiple_files - Read multiple files concurrently with encoding support

• write_file - Write files in specific encodings

• edit_file - Line-based edits with diff preview and whitespace-flexible matching

• copy_file - Copy a file to a new location

• delete_file - Delete a file

• list_directory - Browse directories with pattern filtering

• tree - Compact indented tree view (85% fewer tokens than JSON)

• directory_tree - Get recursive tree view as JSON (deprecated, use tree)

• search_files - Recursively search for files matching glob patterns

• grep_text_files - Regex search in file contents with encoding support

• detect_encoding - Auto-detect file encoding with confidence score

• convert_encoding - Convert file between encodings

• detect_line_endings - Detect line ending style (CRLF/LF/mixed)

• change_line_endings - Convert line endings to LF or CRLF

• manage_bom - Detect, strip, or add Unicode BOM

• list_encodings - Show all supported encodings

• get_file_info - Get file/directory metadata

• create_directory - Create directories recursively (mkdir -p)

• move_file - Move or rename files and directories

• list_allowed_directories - Show accessible directories

• check_for_updates - Check whether a newer release is available

See TOOLS.md for detailed parameters and examples.

Supported encodings

24 encodings, each usable for both reading and writing. Any of them can be named explicitly via the encoding parameter, or left to auto-detection.

Common aliases are accepted (cp1251, latin1, gb2312, tis-620, …) — list_encodings prints the whole table with aliases.

UTF-32 is partially supported: LE and BE BOMs are detected, and manage_bom can add or strip them, but transcoding to or from UTF-32 is not implemented and change_line_endings refuses UTF-32 files rather than corrupting their 4-byte alignment.

Security: All operations restricted to allowed directories only. Paths are resolved before the check, so a symlink or Windows junction pointing outside an allowed directory is rejected rather than followed.

Upgrading to 2.0.0? write_file now defaults new files to utf-8 instead of cp1251. Existing files keep their detected encoding and are unaffected. See the CHANGELOG for the migration path.

Related MCP server: ellmos-filecommander-mcp

Installation

Claude Code plugin (recommended)

The simplest way to use this with Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add dimitar-grigorov/mcp-file-tools
/plugin install mcp-file-tools

Requires Node.js 18+ on your PATH — the launcher is a Node script. Claude Code ships as a standalone binary and does not bundle Node, so node --version can fail on an otherwise working install; the server then shows as not connected in /mcp.

On first launch the plugin downloads the right binary for your OS, verifies its SHA-256, caches it, and keeps it pinned to a known version. The server is automatically scoped to the folder you have open (via the MCP roots protocol), so there is nothing to configure.

The plugin only accesses your current workspace. Without Node, or to grant access to directories outside the workspace, use a manual install (below).

Already added the server the manual way? Remove the old claude mcp add entry so you are not running two copies:

claude mcp remove file-tools

Updating the plugin

claude plugin marketplace update mcp-file-tools
claude plugin update mcp-file-tools@mcp-file-tools

Use the full plugin@marketplace id, not the bare name. Or enable auto-update in /plugin → Marketplaces.

MCP Registry

This server is listed in the Official MCP Registry for discovery by any MCP client.

Manual install (other MCP clients, or access outside your workspace)

Download the binary for your platform, then register it with the directories it may access.

Windows (PowerShell, not CMD):

mkdir -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\mcp-file-tools"
iwr "https://github.com/dimitar-grigorov/mcp-file-tools/releases/latest/download/mcp-file-tools_windows_amd64.exe" -OutFile "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\mcp-file-tools\mcp-file-tools.exe"
claude mcp add --scope user file-tools -- "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\mcp-file-tools\mcp-file-tools.exe" "D:\Projects"

Linux / macOS (swap the asset name from the table for your platform):

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -L "https://github.com/dimitar-grigorov/mcp-file-tools/releases/latest/download/mcp-file-tools_linux_amd64" -o ~/.local/bin/mcp-file-tools
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/mcp-file-tools
claude mcp add --scope user file-tools -- ~/.local/bin/mcp-file-tools ~/Projects

Go install (all platforms)

# Requires Go 1.26+
go install github.com/dimitar-grigorov/mcp-file-tools/cmd/mcp-file-tools@latest
# Linux / macOS
claude mcp add --scope user file-tools -- $(go env GOPATH)/bin/mcp-file-tools ~/Projects

# Windows PowerShell
claude mcp add --scope user file-tools -- "$(go env GOPATH)\bin\mcp-file-tools.exe" "D:\Projects"

Other Clients

For Claude Desktop, VSCode, or Cursor, use the downloaded binary path in your config:

Claude Desktop (%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

Windows:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "file-tools": {
      "command": "C:\\Users\\YOUR_NAME\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\mcp-file-tools\\mcp-file-tools.exe",
      "args": ["D:\\Projects", "C:\\Users\\YOUR_NAME\\Documents"]
    }
  }
}

macOS / Linux:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "file-tools": {
      "command": "/Users/YOUR_NAME/.local/bin/mcp-file-tools",
      "args": ["/Users/YOUR_NAME/Projects", "/Users/YOUR_NAME/Documents"]
    }
  }
}

The args array specifies allowed directories the server can access. Add as many directories as you need.

VSCode / Cursor (Claude Code extension)

If you already ran claude mcp add --scope user from the installation steps above, the server is already available in VSCode — no extra config needed.

To configure separately for VSCode only:

claude mcp add --scope user file-tools -- "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\mcp-file-tools\mcp-file-tools.exe" "D:\Projects"

Alternatively, create a per-project config by adding .mcp.json to your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "file-tools": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "C:\\Users\\YOUR_NAME\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\mcp-file-tools\\mcp-file-tools.exe",
      "args": ["D:\\Projects", "D:\\Other\\Directory"]
    }
  }
}

Note: The type: "stdio" field is required. The args array specifies allowed directories — the VSCode extension does not automatically add the workspace directory, so you must list all directories you want to access. To add more directories later, re-run the claude mcp add command with all directories listed (it overwrites the previous config).

OpenAI Codex CLI

Codex does not have an mcp add command -- you need to edit ~/.codex/config.toml manually.

Windows (PowerShell):

# Download
mkdir -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\mcp-file-tools"
iwr "https://github.com/dimitar-grigorov/mcp-file-tools/releases/latest/download/mcp-file-tools_windows_amd64.exe" -OutFile "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\mcp-file-tools\mcp-file-tools.exe"

Then add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.file-tools]
command = "C:\\Users\\YOUR_NAME\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\mcp-file-tools\\mcp-file-tools.exe"
args = ["D:\\Projects"]

Auto-approve tools (Claude Code)

To skip the permission prompts, add to .claude/settings.local.json in your project root:

{ "permissions": { "allow": ["mcp__file-tools__*"] } }

The plugin install uses a different prefix, and keeping delete_file / move_file behind a prompt takes one more rule — see docs/extra.md.

Update

The server checks for updates automatically and notifies you through tool responses when a newer version is available. To update:

1. Close all Claude Code sessions (the binary is locked while running)

2. Re-download the binary:

iwr "https://github.com/dimitar-grigorov/mcp-file-tools/releases/latest/download/mcp-file-tools_windows_amd64.exe" `
    -OutFile "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\mcp-file-tools\mcp-file-tools.exe"

To disable update checks, set the environment variable MCP_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1.

Verify & Uninstall

# Check which file-tools server is connected (plugin or manual)
claude mcp list

# Remove a manual install
claude mcp remove file-tools

# Remove the plugin
claude plugin uninstall mcp-file-tools

How to Use

Once installed, just ask Claude:

• "List all .pas files in this directory"

• "Read config.ini and detect its encoding"

• "Show all supported encodings"

• "Read MainForm.dfm using CP1251 encoding"

Security: The server only accesses directories you explicitly allow:

• Automatic: Claude Desktop/Code provide workspace directories automatically

• Manual: Specify directories in config args: ["/path/to/project"]

Configuration

The server can be configured via environment variables:

To override, set environment variables in your config (Claude Desktop example):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "file-tools": {
      "command": "C:\\Users\\YOUR_NAME\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\mcp-file-tools\\mcp-file-tools.exe",
      "args": ["D:\\Projects"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_DEFAULT_ENCODING": "utf-8"
      }
    }
  }
}

Legacy teams (pre-2.0.0 behaviour)

Before 2.0.0 new files defaulted to cp1251. Existing files are unaffected by the change — their encoding is detected and preserved — so this only matters if your team creates new non-UTF-8 files (e.g. new Delphi units with Cyrillic literals). To keep the old behaviour everywhere, set it once per machine:

"env": { "MCP_DEFAULT_ENCODING": "cp1251" }

Per-project instead of per-machine: commit an .mcp.json with that env block to the legacy repo, so anyone working in it gets the right default without local setup.

Use Cases

Legacy Codebases

Many legacy projects use non-UTF-8 encodings that AI assistants can't handle natively:

• Delphi/Pascal (Windows-1251): Source files with Cyrillic UI text

• Visual Basic 6 (Windows-1252): Forms and config files with Western European characters

• Legacy PHP/HTML (CP1251, ISO-8859-1): Web apps with localized content

• Old config files (Various): INI, properties, registry files with legacy encodings

How it works:

User: Read config.ini and change the title to "Настройки"
Assistant: [read_text_file with cp1251] → [modify UTF-8] → [write_file with cp1251]

The original encoding is preserved - files remain compatible with legacy tools.

Development

Prerequisites: Go 1.26+

# Run tests
go test ./...

# Build
go build -o mcp-file-tools ./cmd/mcp-file-tools

test_server.go is an end-to-end smoke test over every tool, run by CI on each push:

go run test_server.go

Debugging

MCP Inspector gives a web UI for calling tools and inspecting responses (needs Node.js 18+):

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector go run ./cmd/mcp-file-tools -- /path/to/allowed/dir

Or pipe JSON-RPC straight to stdin:

echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}' | go run ./cmd/mcp-file-tools /path/to/project

Contributing

If it fits the scope and works, it gets merged. Don't ask first — just send the PR.

• No CLA, no style review. make test and make lint passing is enough; tests are welcome, never required.

• One-line fixes and half-finished features behind a flag are both fine.

• Pushed back on (with a comment, not a close): out of scope, or breaking tool contracts other people's agents rely on.

• Don't want to write the fix? Open an issue with the file, its encoding, and what the tool did.

Details in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Forking

Forking is fine. That's what GPL-3.0 is for. Taking the project over is not.

GPL-3.0 is a license, not a preference. Distribute your fork in any form (public repo, release binary, registry listing, product you ship to customers) and you must:

• Keep GPL-3.0 and LICENSE, copyright notice intact (§4, §5c)

• Say what you changed and when, prominently (§5a)

• Give the source to everyone you gave the binary to (§6)

It will be enforced, in this order: a request to comply, then a DMCA takedown plus delisting from whichever registry or marketplace carries it, then legal action as the copyright holder. Complying costs one license file, one notice, one source link, so none of this needs to happen. Unsure whether what you ship complies? Ask in an issue, that's a normal question and a cheaper one.

The rest is asked, not enforced:

• Leave the credit in. Copyright (C) 2026 Dimitar Grigorov in LICENSE and the source headers is the legal minimum. One line near the top of your README, "Fork of dimitar-grigorov/mcp-file-tools", is what actually tells a reader where this came from, and costs you nothing.

• Give your fork its own name. A rebranded fork in a public registry (MCP Registry, plugin marketplaces, Smithery) under this product name with the author swapped reads as if the original project moved. People install it believing it's this one, then file its bugs here.

• Try upstream first. A PR beats carrying merge conflicts forever, and puts your name on the commit rather than in a credits list. Maintaining a long-running fork? Open an issue about upstreaming the parts that fit.

Credits

Ideas that started in someone else's fork and were reimplemented here:

• @skyispainted - GBK/GB18030, JSON-string array args, edit_file retry hint

• @haobiao - GBK/GB18030, independently

• Hugo Rosário - merging MCP roots with CLI allowed dirs

• @zoster81 - UTF-16 line endings and grep, path containment fixes, write durability, BOM policy, ordered concurrency

A PR gets your name on the commit instead of this list.

License

GPL-3.0 - see LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2026 Dimitar Grigorov. Free software, distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.