Mcp File Tools
About
MCP server for file operations with non-UTF-8/Unicode encoding: Cyrillic, CP1251, CP1252, ISO-8859, KOI8 auto-detection
Details
- Author
- dimitar-grigorov
- GitHub stars
- 18
- Downloads
- 335
- Categories
- Other
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- 21 file operation tools including read, write, edit, copy, move, delete, search, grep, and encoding conversion
- Auto-detection and conversion of 24 encodings (Unicode, Cyrillic, Western/Central European, Greek, Turkish, and others)
- Automatic encoding detection with confidence score
- Recursive directory tree view using 85% fewer tokens than JSON
- Security: all operations restricted to explicitly allowed directories only
- Automatic update checks and notification via tool responses
Setting up with Highlight
This MCP is not yet compatible with Highlight’s one-click setup. However, you can still use it with Highlight by following these steps:
- Download and install Highlight from highlightai.com/download
- Navigate to the plugins tab and select "Add Custom Plugin"
-
Configure the plugin with the settings below
Plugin Name
Mcp File ToolsCommand (node, npx, python, etc.)Please refer to the README for specific instructions on how to obtain API keys or other required environment variables.
- Enable "Start Automatically" if you want the plugin to start when Highlight launches
From the repository
Install via the Claude Code plugin (/plugin marketplace add dimitar-grigorov/mcp-file-tools and /plugin install mcp-file-tools) or download the binary manually and register it with allowed directories. Once installed, simply ask Claude to perform file operations, such as "List all .pas files in this directory" or "Read config.ini and detect its encoding." The server is automatically scoped to the workspace when using the plugin; manual installs require specifying directories in the args array.
Claude Desktop / Cursor
Paste into your MCP client config file to install this server.
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp file tools": {
"file-tools": {
"command": "C:\\Users\\YOUR_NAME\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\mcp-file-tools\\mcp-file-tools.exe",
"args": [
"D:\\Projects"
]
}
}
}
}McpServers
{
"file-tools": {
"command": "C:\\Users\\YOUR_NAME\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\mcp-file-tools\\mcp-file-tools.exe",
"args": [
"D:\\Projects"
]
}
}MCP File Tools
Claude sees Настройки — not ???? or Íàñòðîéêè.
MCP server for file operations with non-UTF-8 encoding support. Auto-detects and converts 24 encodings (Cyrillic, Windows-125x, ISO-8859, KOI8, UTF-16, GBK/GB18030) so AI assistants can read and write legacy files without corrupting data.
Perfect for: Delphi/Pascal projects, legacy VB6 apps, old PHP/HTML sites, config files with non-UTF-8 text.
What It Does
Provides 21 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
Supported encodings (22 total):
- Unicode: UTF-8, UTF-16 LE, UTF-16 BE (with BOM detection for UTF-16 and UTF-32)
- Cyrillic: Windows-1251, KOI8-R, KOI8-U, CP866, ISO-8859-5
- Western European: Windows-1252, ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15
- Central European: Windows-1250, ISO-8859-2
- Greek: Windows-1253, ISO-8859-7
- Turkish: Windows-1254, ISO-8859-9
- Other: Hebrew (1255), Arabic (1256), Baltic (1257), Vietnamese (1258), Thai (874)
See TOOLS.md for detailed parameters and examples.
Security: All operations restricted to allowed directories only.
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
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. It needs nothing beyond Claude Code itself; the
launcher runs on Node, which Claude Code already uses, so it works the same on
Windows, macOS, and Linux.
The plugin only accesses your current workspace. To grant access to directories
outside it, 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
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.
| Platform | Release asset | Suggested path |
|----------|---------------|----------------|
| Windows x64 | mcp-file-tools_windows_amd64.exe | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\mcp-file-tools\mcp-file-tools.exe |
| Linux x64 | mcp-file-tools_linux_amd64 | ~/.local/bin/mcp-file-tools |
| macOS ARM64 | mcp-file-tools_darwin_arm64 | ~/.local/bin/mcp-file-tools |
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)
```bash
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