What is Mcp File Context Server

mcp-file-context-server is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server designed to provide file system context to Large Language Models (LLMs). It enables LLMs to read, search, and analyze code files with advanced caching and real-time file watching capabilities.

Use cases

Use cases include analyzing code quality metrics, searching for specific patterns in code files, monitoring file changes in real-time, and providing context-aware information to LLMs for better code comprehension.

How to use

To use mcp-file-context-server, install it via npm with ‘npm install @modelcontextprotocol/file-context-server’. Start the server using ‘npx file-context-server’. You can utilize various tools such as ‘list_context_files’, ‘read_context’, ‘search_context’, ‘analyze_code’, and ‘cache_stats’ to interact with the server.

Key features

Key features include file operations (reading, listing, real-time watching), code analysis (complexity calculation, dependency extraction, comment analysis), smart caching (LRU strategy, automatic invalidation), and advanced search capabilities (regex matching, context-aware results, multi-pattern support).

Where to use

mcp-file-context-server can be used in software development environments, particularly for projects involving code analysis, documentation generation, and enhancing the capabilities of Large Language Models in understanding code.

File Context Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides file system context to Large Language Models (LLMs). This server enables LLMs to read, search, and analyze code files with advanced caching and real-time file watching capabilities.

Features

• File Operations

  • Read file and directory contents
  • List files with detailed metadata
  • Real-time file watching and cache invalidation
  • Support for multiple file encodings
  • Recursive directory traversal
  • File type filtering

• Code Analysis

  • Cyclomatic complexity calculation
  • Dependency extraction
  • Comment analysis
  • Quality metrics:
    • Duplicate lines detection
    • Long lines detection (>100 characters)
    • Complex function identification
    • Line counts (total, non-empty, comments)

• Smart Caching

  • LRU (Least Recently Used) caching strategy
  • Automatic cache invalidation on file changes
  • Size-aware caching with configurable limits
  • Cache statistics and performance metrics
  • Last read result caching for efficient searches

• Advanced Search

  • Regex pattern matching
  • Context-aware results with configurable surrounding lines
  • File type filtering
  • Multi-pattern search support
  • Cached result searching
  • Exclusion patterns

Installation

Installing via Smithery

To install File Context Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @bsmi021/mcp-file-context-server --client claude

Manual Installation

npm install @modelcontextprotocol/file-context-server

Usage

Starting the Server

npx file-context-server

Available Tools

1. list_context_files

   • Lists files in a directory with detailed metadata

   {
     "path": "./src",
     "recursive": true,
     "includeHidden": false
   }
   

2. read_context

   • Reads file or directory contents with metadata

   {
     "path": "./src/index.ts",
     "encoding": "utf8",
     "maxSize": 1000000,
     "recursive": true,
     "fileTypes": [
       "ts",
       "js"
     ]
   }
   

3. search_context

   • Searches for patterns in files with context

   {
     "pattern": "function.*",
     "path": "./src",
     "options": {
       "recursive": true,
       "contextLines": 2,
       "fileTypes": [
         "ts"
       ]
     }
   }
   

4. analyze_code

   • Analyzes code files for quality metrics

   {
     "path": "./src",
     "recursive": true,
     "metrics": [
       "complexity",
       "dependencies",
       "quality"
     ]
   }
   

5. cache_stats

   • Gets cache statistics and performance metrics

   {
     "detailed": true
   }
   

Error Handling

The server provides detailed error messages with specific error codes:

• FILE_NOT_FOUND: File or directory does not exist
• PERMISSION_DENIED: Access permission issues
• INVALID_PATH: Invalid file path format
• FILE_TOO_LARGE: File exceeds size limit
• ENCODING_ERROR: File encoding issues
• UNKNOWN_ERROR: Unexpected errors

Configuration

Environment variables for customization:

• MAX_CACHE_SIZE: Maximum number of cached entries (default: 1000)
• CACHE_TTL: Cache time-to-live in milliseconds (default: 1 hour)
• MAX_FILE_SIZE: Maximum file size in bytes for reading

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Run tests
npm test

# Start in development mode
npm run dev

License

MIT

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our Contributing Guide for details on our code of conduct and the process for submitting pull requests.

Cross-Platform Path Compatibility

Note: As of April 2025, all file and directory path handling in File Context Server has been updated for improved cross-platform compatibility (Windows, macOS, Linux):

• All glob patterns use POSIX-style paths (forward slashes) internally, ensuring consistent file matching regardless of OS.
• All file system operations (reading, writing, stat, etc.) use normalized absolute paths for reliability.
• If you are developing or extending the server, use path.posix.join for glob patterns and path.normalize for file system access.
• This change prevents issues with path separators and file matching on different operating systems.

No changes are required for end users, but developers should follow these conventions when contributing to the project.