Desktop Commander MCP

Search, update, manage files and run terminal commands with AI

Work with code and text, run processes, and automate tasks, going far beyond other AI editors - without API token costs.

All of your AI development tools in one place. Desktop Commander puts all dev tools in one chat. Execute long-running terminal commands on your computer and manage processes through Model Context Protocol (MCP). Built on top of MCP Filesystem Server to provide additional search and replace file editing capabilities.

Features

Enhanced terminal commands with interactive process control
Execute code in memory (Python, Node.js, R) without saving files
Instant data analysis - just ask to analyze CSV/JSON files
Interact with running processes (SSH, databases, development servers)
Execute terminal commands with output streaming
Command timeout and background execution support
Process management (list and kill processes)
Session management for long-running commands
Server configuration management:
- Get/set configuration values
- Update multiple settings at once
- Dynamic configuration changes without server restart
Full filesystem operations:
- Read/write files
- Create/list directories
- Move files/directories
- Search files
- Get file metadata
- Negative offset file reading: Read from end of files using negative offset values (like Unix tail)
Code editing capabilities:
- Surgical text replacements for small changes
- Full file rewrites for major changes
- Multiple file support
- Pattern-based replacements
- vscode-ripgrep based recursive code or text search in folders
Comprehensive audit logging:
- All tool calls are automatically logged
- Log rotation with 10MB size limit
- Detailed timestamps and arguments

Installation

First, ensure you've downloaded and installed the Claude Desktop app and you have npm installed.

📋 Update & Uninstall Information: Before choosing an installation option, note that only Options 1 and 3 have automatic updates. Options 2, 4, and 5 require manual updates. See the sections below for update and uninstall instructions for each option.

Option 1: Install through npx ⭐ Auto-Updates

Just run this in terminal:

npx @wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander@latest setup

For debugging mode (allows Node.js inspector connection):

npx @wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander@latest setup --debug

Restart Claude if running.

✅ Auto-Updates: Yes - automatically updates when you restart Claude
🔄 Manual Update: Run the setup command again
🗑️ Uninstall: Run npx @wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander@latest setup --uninstall

Option 2: Using bash script installer (macOS) ⭐ Auto-Updates

For macOS users, you can use our automated bash installer which will check your Node.js version, install it if needed, and automatically configure Desktop Commander:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wonderwhy-er/DesktopCommanderMCP/refs/heads/main/install.sh | bash

This script handles all dependencies and configuration automatically for a seamless setup experience.

✅ Auto-Updates: Yes - requires manual updates
🔄 Manual Update: Re-run the bash installer command above
🗑️ Uninstall: Remove the MCP server entry from your Claude config file and delete the cloned repository if it exists

Option 3: Installing via Smithery ⭐ Auto-Updates

To install Desktop Commander for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander --client claude

✅ Auto-Updates: Yes - automatically updates when you restart Claude
🔄 Manual Update: Re-run the Smithery install command
🗑️ Uninstall: npx -y @smithery/cli uninstall @wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander --client claude

Option 4: Add to claude_desktop_config manually ❌ Manual Updates

Add this entry to your claude_desktop_config.json:

On Mac: ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
On Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
On Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "desktop-commander": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude if running.

❌ Auto-Updates: No - uses npx but config might not update automatically
🔄 Manual Update: Usually automatic via npx, but if issues occur, update your config file or re-add the entry
🗑️ Uninstall: Remove the "desktop-commander" entry from your claude_desktop_config.json file

Option 5: Checkout locally ❌ Manual Updates

Clone and build:

git clone https://github.com/wonderwhy-er/DesktopCommanderMCP.git
cd DesktopCommanderMCP
npm run setup

Restart Claude if running.

The setup command will:

Install dependencies
Build the server
Configure Claude's desktop app
Add MCP servers to Claude's config if needed

❌ Auto-Updates: No - requires manual git updates
🔄 Manual Update: cd DesktopCommanderMCP && git pull && npm run setup
🗑️ Uninstall: Remove the cloned directory and remove MCP server entry from Claude config

Updating & Uninstalling Desktop Commander

Automatic Updates (Options 1 & 3 only)

Options 1 (npx) and 3 (Smithery) automatically update to the latest version whenever you restart Claude. No manual intervention needed.

Manual Updates (Options 2, 4 & 5)

Option 2 (bash installer): Re-run the curl command
Option 4 (manual config): Usually automatic via npx, but re-add config entry if issues occur
Option 5 (local checkout): cd DesktopCommanderMCP && git pull && npm run setup

Uninstalling Desktop Commander

Option 1: npx @wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander@latest setup --uninstall
Option 2: Remove MCP server entry from Claude config and delete any cloned repositories
Option 3: npx -y @smithery/cli uninstall @wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander --client claude
Option 4: Remove the "desktop-commander" entry from your claude_desktop_config.json file
Option 5: Delete the cloned directory and remove MCP server entry from Claude config

After uninstalling, restart Claude Desktop to complete the removal.

Usage

The server provides a comprehensive set of tools organized into several categories:

Available Tools

Category	Tool	Description
Configuration	`get_config`	Get the complete server configuration as JSON (includes blockedCommands, defaultShell, allowedDirectories, fileReadLineLimit, fileWriteLineLimit, telemetryEnabled)
	`set_config_value`	Set a specific configuration value by key. Available settings: • `blockedCommands`: Array of shell commands that cannot be executed• `defaultShell`: Shell to use for commands (e.g., bash, zsh, powershell)• `allowedDirectories`: Array of filesystem paths the server can access for file operations (⚠️ terminal commands can still access files outside these directories)• `fileReadLineLimit`: Maximum lines to read at once (default: 1000)• `fileWriteLineLimit`: Maximum lines to write at once (default: 50)• `telemetryEnabled`: Enable/disable telemetry (boolean)
Terminal	`start_process`	Start programs with smart detection of when they're ready for input
	`interact_with_process`	Send commands to running programs and get responses
	`read_process_output`	Read output from running processes
	`force_terminate`	Force terminate a running terminal session
	`list_sessions`	List all active terminal sessions
	`list_processes`	List all running processes with detailed information
	`kill_process`	Terminate a running process by PID
Filesystem	`read_file`	Read contents from local filesystem or URLs with line-based pagination (supports positive/negative offset and length parameters)
	`read_multiple_files`	Read multiple files simultaneously
	`write_file`	Write file contents with options for rewrite or append mode (uses configurable line limits)
	`create_directory`	Create a new directory or ensure it exists
	`list_directory`	Get detailed listing of files and directories
	`move_file`	Move or rename files and directories
	`search_files`	Find files by name using case-insensitive substring matching
	`search_code`	Search for text/code patterns within file contents using ripgrep
	`get_file_info`	Retrieve detailed metadata about a file or directory
Text Editing	`edit_block`	Apply targeted text replacements with enhanced prompting for smaller edits (includes character-level diff feedback)
Analytics	`get_usage_stats`	Get usage statistics for your own insight
	`give_feedback_to_desktop_commander`	Open feedback form in browser to provide feedback to Desktop Commander Team

Quick Examples

Data Analysis:

"Analyze sales.csv and show top customers" → Claude runs Python code in memory

Remote Access:

"SSH to my server and check disk space" → Claude maintains SSH session

Development:

"Start Node.js and test this API" → Claude runs interactive Node session

Tool Usage Examples

Search/Replace Block Format:

filepath.ext
< SEARCH
content to find
=======
new content
>>>>>>> REPLACE

Example:

src/main.js
< SEARCH
console.log("old message");
=======
console.log("new message");
>>>>>>> REPLACE

Enhanced Edit Block Features

The edit_block tool includes several enhancements for better reliability:

Improved Prompting: Tool descriptions now emphasize making multiple small, focused edits rather than one large change
Fuzzy Search Fallback: When exact matches fail, it performs fuzzy search and provides detailed feedback
Character-level Diffs: Shows exactly what's different using {-removed-}{+added+} format
Multiple Occurrence Support: Can replace multiple instances with expected_replacements parameter
Comprehensive Logging: All fuzzy searches are logged for analysis and debugging

When a search fails, you'll see detailed information about the closest match found, including similarity percentage, execution time, and character differences. All these details are automatically logged for later analysis using the fuzzy search log tools.

Docker Support

🐳 Isolated Environment Usage

Desktop Commander can be run in Docker containers for complete isolation from your host system, providing zero risk to your computer. This is perfect for testing, development, or when you want complete sandboxing.

Installation Instructions

Install Docker for Windows/Mac
- Download and install Docker Desktop from docker.com
Get Desktop Commander Docker Configuration
- Visit: https://hub.docker.com/mcp/server/desktop-commander/manual
- Option A: Use the provided terminal command for automated setup
- Option B: Click "Standalone" to get the config JSON and add it manually to your Claude Desktop config
Mount Your Machine Folders (Coming Soon)
- Instructions on how to mount your local directories into the Docker container will be provided soon
- This will allow you to work with your files while maintaining complete isolation

Benefits of Docker Usage

Complete isolation from your host system
Consistent environment across different machines
Easy cleanup - just remove the container when done
Perfect for testing new features or configurations

URL Support

read_file can now fetch content from both local files and URLs
Example: read_file with isUrl: true parameter to read from web resources
Handles both text and image content from remote sources
Images (local or from URLs) are displayed visually in Claude's interface, not as text
Claude can see and analyze the actual image content
Default 30-second timeout for URL requests

Fuzzy Search Log Analysis (npm scripts)

The fuzzy search logging system includes convenient npm scripts for analyzing logs outside of the MCP environment:

# View recent fuzzy search logs
npm run logs:view -- --count 20

# Analyze patterns and performance
npm run logs:analyze -- --threshold 0.8

# Export logs to CSV or JSON
npm run logs:export -- --format json --output analysis.json

# Clear all logs (with confirmation)
npm run logs:clear

For detailed documentation on these scripts, see scripts/README.md.

Fuzzy Search Logs

Desktop Commander includes comprehensive logging for fuzzy search operations in the edit_block tool. When an exact match isn't found, the system performs a fuzzy search and logs detailed information for analysis.

What Gets Logged

Every fuzzy search operation logs:

Search and found text: The text you're looking for vs. what was found
Similarity score: How close the match is (0-100%)
Execution time: How long the search took
Character differences: Detailed diff showing exactly what's different
File metadata: Extension, search/found text lengths
Character codes: Specific character codes causing differences

Log Location

Logs are automatically saved to:

macOS/Linux: ~/.claude-server-commander-logs/fuzzy-search.log
Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.claude-server-commander-logs\fuzzy-search.log

What You'll Learn

The fuzzy search logs help you understand:

Why exact matches fail: Common issues like whitespace differences, line endings, or character encoding
Performance patterns: How search complexity affects execution time
File type issues: Which file extensions commonly have matching problems
Character encoding problems: Specific character codes that cause diffs

Audit Logging

Desktop Commander now includes comprehensive logging for all tool calls:

What Gets Logged

Every tool call is logged with timestamp, tool name, and arguments (sanitized for privacy)
Logs are rotated automatically when they reach 10MB in size

Log Location

Logs are saved to:

macOS/Linux: ~/.claude-server-commander/claude_tool_call.log
Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.claude-server-commander\claude_tool_call.log

This audit trail helps with debugging, security monitoring, and understanding how Claude is interacting with your system.

Handling Long-Running Commands

For commands that may take a while:

Configuration Management

⚠️ Important Security Warnings

Always change configuration in a separate chat window from where you're doing your actual work. Claude may sometimes attempt to modify configuration settings (like allowedDirectories) if it encounters filesystem access restrictions.
The allowedDirectories setting currently only restricts filesystem operations, not terminal commands. Terminal commands can still access files outside allowed directories. Full terminal sandboxing is on the roadmap.

Configuration Tools

You can manage server configuration using the provided tools:

// Get the entire config
get_config({})

// Set a specific config value
set_config_value({ "key": "defaultShell", "value": "/bin/zsh" })

// Set multiple config values using separate calls
set_config_value({ "key": "defaultShell", "value": "/bin/bash" })
set_config_value({ "key": "allowedDirectories", "value": ["/Users/username/projects"] })

The configuration is saved to config.json in the server's working directory and persists between server restarts.

Understanding fileWriteLineLimit

The fileWriteLineLimit setting controls how many lines can be written in a single write_file operation (default: 50 lines). This limit exists for several important reasons:

Why the limit exists:

AIs are wasteful with tokens: Instead of doing two small edits in a file, AIs may decide to rewrite the whole thing. We're trying to force AIs to do things in smaller changes as it saves time and tokens
Claude UX message limits: There are limits within one message and hitting "Continue" does not really work. What we're trying here is to make AI work in smaller chunks so when you hit that limit, multiple chunks have succeeded and that work is not lost - it just needs to restart from the last chunk

Setting the limit:

// You can set it to thousands if you want
set_config_value({ "key": "fileWriteLineLimit", "value": 1000 })

// Or keep it smaller to force more efficient behavior
set_config_value({ "key": "fileWriteLineLimit", "value": 25 })

Maximum value: You can set it to thousands if you want - there's no technical restriction.

Best practices:

Keep the default (50) to encourage efficient AI behavior and avoid token waste
The system automatically suggests chunking when limits are exceeded
Smaller chunks mean less work lost when Claude hits message limits

Best Practices

Create a dedicated chat for configuration changes: Make all your config changes in one chat, then start a new chat for your actual work.
Be careful with empty allowedDirectories: Setting this to an empty array ([]) grants access to your entire filesystem for file operations.
Use specific paths: Instead of using broad paths like /, specify exact directories you want to access.
Always verify configuration after changes: Use get_config({}) to confirm your changes were applied correctly.

Using Different Shells

You can specify which shell to use for command execution:

// Using default shell (bash or system default)
execute_command({ "command": "echo $SHELL" })

// Using zsh specifically
execute_command({ "command": "echo $SHELL", "shell": "/bin/zsh" })

// Using bash specifically
execute_command({ "command": "echo $SHELL", "shell": "/bin/bash" })

This allows you to use shell-specific features or maintain consistent environments across commands.

execute_command returns after timeout with initial output
Command continues in background
Use read_output with PID to get new output
Use force_terminate to stop if needed

Debugging

If you need to debug the server, you can install it in debug mode:

# Using npx
npx @wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander@latest setup --debug

# Or if installed locally
npm run setup:debug

This will:

Configure Claude to use a separate "desktop-commander" server
Enable Node.js inspector protocol with --inspect-brk=9229 flag
Pause execution at the start until a debugger connects
Enable additional debugging environment variables

To connect a debugger:

In Chrome, visit chrome://inspect and look for the Node.js instance
In VS Code, use the "Attach to Node Process" debug configuration
Other IDEs/tools may have similar "attach" options for Node.js debugging

Important debugging notes:

The server will pause on startup until a debugger connects (due to the --inspect-brk flag)
If you don't see activity during debugging, ensure you're connected to the correct Node.js process
Multiple Node processes may be running; connect to the one on port 9229
The debug server is identified as "desktop-commander-debug" in Claude's MCP server list

Troubleshooting:

If Claude times out while trying to use the debug server, your debugger might not be properly connected
When properly connected, the process will continue execution after hitting the first breakpoint
You can add additional breakpoints in your IDE once connected

Model Context Protocol Integration

This project extends the MCP Filesystem Server to enable:

Local server support in Claude Desktop
Full system command execution
Process management
File operations
Code editing with search/replace blocks

Created as part of exploring Claude MCPs: https://youtube.com/live/TlbjFDbl5Us

DONE

20-05-2025 v0.1.40 Release - Added audit logging for all tool calls, improved line-based file operations, enhanced edit_block with better prompting for smaller edits, added explicit telemetry opt-out prompting
05-05-2025 Fuzzy Search Logging - Added comprehensive logging system for fuzzy search operations with detailed analysis tools, character-level diffs, and performance metrics to help debug edit_block failures
29-04-2025 Telemetry Opt Out through configuration - There is now setting to disable telemetry in config, ask in chat
23-04-2025 Enhanced edit functionality - Improved format, added fuzzy search and multi-occurrence replacements, should fail less and use edit block more often
16-04-2025 Better configurations - Improved settings for allowed paths, commands and shell environments
14-04-2025 Windows environment fixes - Resolved issues specific to Windows platforms
14-04-2025 Linux improvements - Enhanced compatibility with various Linux distributions
12-04-2025 Better allowed directories and blocked commands - Improved security and path validation for file read/write and terminal command restrictions. Terminal still can access files ignoring allowed directories.
11-04-2025 Shell configuration - Added ability to configure preferred shell for command execution
07-04-2025 Added URL support - read_file command can now fetch content from URLs
28-03-2025 Fixed "Watching /" JSON error - Implemented custom stdio transport to handle non-JSON messages and prevent server crashes
25-03-2025 Better code search (merged) - Enhanced code exploration with context-aware results

Work in Progress/TODOs/Roadmap

The following features are currently being explored:

Support for WSL - Windows Subsystem for Linux integration
Support for SSH - Remote server command execution
Better file support for formats like CSV/PDF
Terminal sandboxing for Mac/Linux/Windows for better security
File reading modes - For example, allow reading HTML as plain text or markdown
Interactive shell support - ssh, node/python repl
Improve large file reading and writing

Desktop Commander MCP

Search, update, manage files and run terminal commands with AI

Table of Contents

Features

Installation

Option 1: Install through npx ⭐ Auto-Updates

Option 2: Using bash script installer (macOS) ⭐ Auto-Updates

Option 3: Installing via Smithery ⭐ Auto-Updates

Option 4: Add to claude_desktop_config manually ❌ Manual Updates

Option 5: Checkout locally ❌ Manual Updates

Updating & Uninstalling Desktop Commander

Automatic Updates (Options 1 & 3 only)

Manual Updates (Options 2, 4 & 5)

Uninstalling Desktop Commander

Usage

Available Tools

Quick Examples

Tool Usage Examples

Enhanced Edit Block Features

Docker Support

🐳 Isolated Environment Usage

Installation Instructions

Benefits of Docker Usage

URL Support

Fuzzy Search Log Analysis (npm scripts)

Fuzzy Search Logs

What Gets Logged

Log Location

What You'll Learn

Audit Logging

What Gets Logged

Log Location

Handling Long-Running Commands

Configuration Management

⚠️ Important Security Warnings

Configuration Tools

Understanding fileWriteLineLimit

Best Practices

Using Different Shells

Debugging

Model Context Protocol Integration

DONE

Work in Progress/TODOs/Roadmap

❤️ Support Desktop Commander