Set up Filesystem MCP in Claude Desktop
Read, write, search, and manage files on your local filesystem with secure directory-scoped access for your AI editor.
1
Locate the config file
Claude Desktop reads MCP server configuration from the following file:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.jsonCreate this file if it does not already exist.
2
Add the configuration
Add the following to your Claude Desktop config file:
json
{
"mcpServers": {
"filesystem-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
"/path/to/allowed/directory"
]
}
}
}3
Set up environment variables
No environment variables needed. Filesystem MCP works out of the box without any API keys or tokens.
4
Verify it works
Restart Claude Desktop. Filesystem MCP should appear in your MCP server list with 11 tools available.
This server adds approximately 5,665 tokens to your context window for tool definitions.