Labsco
wonderwhy-er logo

Desktop Commander MCP

★ 6,200

from wonderwhy-er

Run terminal commands, edit files, and manage local desktop workflows through MCP clients like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code.

🔥🔥🔥🔥✓ VerifiedFreeQuick setup
#automation#analytics#database#documents#devops#git#search#maps

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 - while using host client subscriptions instead of API token costs.

🖥️ Try the Desktop Commander App (Beta)

Want a better experience? The Desktop Commander App gives you everything the MCP server does, plus:

  • Use any AI model — Claude, GPT-4.5, Gemini 2.5, or any model you prefer

  • See file changes live — visual file previews as AI edits your files

  • Add custom MCPs and context — extend with your own tools, no config files

  • Coming soon — skills system, dictation, background scheduled tasks, and more

👉 Download the App (macOS & Windows)

** The MCP server below still works great with Claude Desktop and other MCP clients — the app is for those who want a dedicated, polished experience.

Table of Contents

  • Features

  • How to install

  • Getting Started

  • Usage

  • File Preview UI & Markdown Editor

  • Handling Long-Running Commands

  • Work in Progress and TODOs

  • Sponsors and Supporters

  • Website

  • Media

  • Testimonials

  • Frequently Asked Questions

  • Contributing

  • License

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

  • Remote AI Control - Use Desktop Commander from ChatGPT, Claude web, and other AI services via Remote MCP

  • File Preview UI - Visual file previews in Claude Desktop with rendered markdown, inline images, expandable content, built-in markdown editor, and quick "Open in folder" access

  • 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/Excel files

  • Native Excel file support - Read, write, edit, and search Excel files (.xlsx, .xls, .xlsm) without external tools

  • PDF support - Read PDFs with text extraction, create new PDFs from markdown, modify existing PDFs

  • DOCX support - Read, create, edit, and search Word documents (.docx) with surgical XML editing and markdown-to-DOCX conversion

  • 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

  • Process output pagination - Read terminal output with offset/length controls to prevent context overflow

  • Server configuration management:

  • Get/set configuration values

  • Update multiple settings at once

  • Dynamic configuration changes without server restart

  • Full filesystem operations:

  • Read/write files (text, Excel, PDF, DOCX)

  • Create/list directories

  • Recursive directory listing with configurable depth and context overflow protection for large folders

  • Move files/directories

  • Search files and content (including Excel content)

  • 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

  • Security hardening:

  • Symlink traversal prevention on file operations

  • Command blocklist with bypass protection

  • Docker isolation for full sandboxing

  • See SECURITY.md for details

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

File Preview UI & Markdown Editor

Desktop Commander includes a rich file preview widget in Claude Desktop that renders files visually as AI works with them.

Supported file types

  • Markdown — rendered preview with a built-in editor

  • Images — inline display (PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, etc.)

  • Code files — syntax-highlighted source view

  • HTML — rendered preview with toggle to source view

  • Directories — interactive tree with expand/collapse and lazy loading

  • PDF, Excel, DOCX — native content extraction and display

Markdown Editor

When viewing a .md file in Claude Desktop, you can edit it directly inside the preview panel — no need to open a separate app.

How to use:

  • Ask Claude to read or create a markdown file

  • Expand the file preview to fullscreen using the ⤢ Expand button

  • The editor activates automatically in fullscreen mode

  • Edit your content with a live preview toggle, copy, undo, and save controls

  • Changes are saved back to disk; collapse to return to inline view

Editor features:

  • Live edit / preview toggle — switch between raw markdown and rendered output

  • Auto-save to disk with save status indicator

  • Undo support to revert unsaved changes

  • Copy button to grab the full markdown source

  • Open in editor — launch your default markdown app directly from the panel

  • Partial-file awareness — loads and merges surrounding lines when the file was only partially read

  • Text selection context — select text in preview mode and the AI can reference your selection

Directory Browser

When Claude runs list_directory, the result opens as an interactive file tree inside the preview panel — not just raw text output.

Features:

  • Expandable tree — folders expand and collapse on click; top-level contents shown immediately

  • Lazy loading — subfolders load on demand to keep the initial view fast

  • Large directory handling — directories with many items show a ⚠ click to load all button instead of overwhelming the view

  • Open in Finder/Explorer — each folder has a quick-open button to reveal it in your file manager

  • Click to preview — clicking any file in the tree opens it in the file preview panel directly

  • Back navigation — after opening a file from the tree, a ← Back button returns you to the directory view

Other preview features

  • Expand / collapse — toggle between compact summary row and full panel

  • Open in folder — reveal the file in Finder/Explorer with one click

  • Load more lines — incrementally load content above or below a partial read window

  • Text selection — highlight text in any preview; the AI can see and reference your selection

Fuzzy Search Log Analysis (npm scripts)

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

Copy & paste — that's it
# 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.

Command Line Options

Desktop Commander supports several command line options for customizing behavior:

Disable Onboarding

By default, Desktop Commander shows helpful onboarding prompts to new users (those with fewer than 10 tool calls). You can disable this behavior:

Copy & paste — that's it
# Disable onboarding for this session
node dist/index.js --no-onboarding

# Or if using npm scripts
npm run start:no-onboarding

# For npx installations, modify your claude_desktop_config.json:
{
 "mcpServers": {
 "desktop-commander": {
 "command": "npx",
 "args": [
 "-y",
 "@wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander@latest",
 "--no-onboarding"
 ]
 }
 }
}

When onboarding is automatically disabled:

  • When the MCP client name is set to "desktop-commander"

  • When using the --no-onboarding flag

  • After users have used onboarding prompts or made 10+ tool calls

Debug information: The server will log when onboarding is disabled: "Onboarding disabled via --no-onboarding flag"

Using Different Shells

You can specify which shell to use for command execution:

Copy & paste — that's it
// 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:

Copy & paste — that's it
# 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

Support Desktop Commander

📢 SUPPORT THIS PROJECT

Desktop Commander MCP is free and open source, but needs your support to thrive!

Our philosophy is simple: we don't want you to pay for it if you're not successful. But if Desktop Commander contributes to your success, please consider contributing to ours.

Ways to support:

❤️ Supporters Hall of Fame

Generous supporters are featured here. Thank you for helping make this project possible!

Jon Richards**

** Matija Stepanic**

Why your support matters Your support allows us to:

  • Continue active development and maintenance

  • Add new features and integrations

  • Improve compatibility across platforms

  • Provide better documentation and examples

  • Build a stronger community around the project

Website

Visit our official website at https://desktopcommander.app/ for the latest information, documentation, and updates.

Media

Learn more about this project through these resources:

Article

Claude with MCPs replaced Cursor & Windsurf. How did that happen? - A detailed exploration of how Claude with Model Context Protocol capabilities is changing developer workflows.

Video

Claude Desktop Commander Video Tutorial - Watch how to set up and use the Commander effectively.

Publication at AnalyticsIndiaMag

This Developer Ditched Windsurf, Cursor Using Claude with MCPs

Community

Join our Discord server to get help, share feedback, and connect with other users.

Testimonials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly3bed99Dy8&lc=UgyyBt6_ShdDX_rIOad4AaABAg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly3bed99Dy8&lc=UgztdHvDMqTb9jiqnf54AaABAg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly3bed99Dy8&lc=UgyQFTmYLJ4VBwIlmql4AaABAg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly3bed99Dy8&lc=Ugy4-exy166_Ma7TH-h4AaABAg

https://medium.com/@pharmx/you-sir-are-my-hero-62cff5836a3e

If you find this project useful, please consider giving it a ⭐ star on GitHub! This helps others discover the project and encourages further development.

We welcome contributions from the community! Whether you've found a bug, have a feature request, or want to contribute code, here's how you can help:

  • Found a bug? Open an issue at github.com/wonderwhy-er/DesktopCommanderMCP/issues

  • Have a feature idea? Submit a feature request in the issues section

  • Want to contribute code? Fork the repository, create a branch, and submit a pull request

  • Questions or discussions? Start a discussion in the GitHub Discussions tab

All contributions, big or small, are greatly appreciated!

If you find this tool valuable for your workflow, please consider supporting the project.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some common questions. For a more comprehensive FAQ, see our detailed FAQ document.

What is Desktop Commander?

It's an MCP tool that enables Claude Desktop to access your file system and terminal, turning Claude into a versatile assistant for coding, automation, codebase exploration, and more.

How is this different from Cursor/Windsurf?

Unlike IDE-focused tools, Claude Desktop Commander provides a solution-centric approach that works with your entire OS, not just within a coding environment. Claude reads files in full rather than chunking them, can work across multiple projects simultaneously, and executes changes in one go rather than requiring constant review.

Do I need to pay for API credits?

No. This tool works with Claude Desktop's standard Pro subscription ($20/month), not with API calls, so you won't incur additional costs beyond the subscription fee.

Does Desktop Commander automatically update?

Yes, when installed through npx or Smithery, Desktop Commander automatically updates to the latest version when you restart Claude. No manual update process is needed.

What are the most common use cases?

  • Exploring and understanding complex codebases

  • Generating diagrams and documentation

  • Automating tasks across your system

  • Working with multiple projects simultaneously

  • Making surgical code changes with precise control

I'm having trouble installing or using the tool. Where can I get help?

Join our Discord server for community support, check the GitHub issues for known problems, or review the full FAQ for troubleshooting tips. You can also visit our website FAQ section for a more user-friendly experience. If you encounter a new issue, please consider opening a GitHub issue with details about your problem.

How do I report security vulnerabilities?

Please create a GitHub Issue with detailed information about any security vulnerabilities you discover. See our Security Policy for complete guidelines on responsible disclosure.

Data Collection & Privacy

Desktop Commander collects limited, pseudonymous telemetry to improve the tool. We do not collect file contents, file paths, or command arguments.

Opt-out: Ask Claude to "disable Desktop Commander telemetry" or set "telemetryEnabled": false in your config.

For complete details, see our Privacy Policy.

Verifications

License

MIT