Mastering Desktop Commander MCP Server: Your Ultimate Development Companion

Overview of Desktop Commander MCP Server

The Desktop Commander MCP Server consolidates your development tasks into a single chat interface. Built upon the MCP Filesystem Server, it empowers developers to search, edit, and manage files, execute terminal commands, and control processes right from the desktop using the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Core Features

Terminal & Process Control

You can execute terminal commands with live output streaming, set command timeouts, and run commands in the background. It supports managing sessions for long-running tasks and provides the ability to list and terminate running processes with detailed information.

Configuration Management

The server allows you to get or set various settings such as the default shell (bash, zsh), blocked commands (e.g., rm, shutdown), allowed directories for file access, and telemetry options. Importantly, changes can be applied without needing to restart the server.

Filesystem Operations

Operations include reading and writing files with line-based limits, appending or overwriting file content, creating and listing directories, moving or renaming files and folders, retrieving metadata, and searching files by name with case-insensitivity.

Code & Text Editing

Perform precise text replacements, rewrite entire files for major updates, and search and replace patterns across multiple files. The server integrates vscode-ripgrep for fast recursive text and code search.

Audit Logging

All actions on the server are logged with timestamps and arguments, and logs are auto-rotated at 10MB to prevent clutter.

Getting Started with Claude Desktop and MCP Server

Step 1: Setting up Dependencies

• Node.js: npx is required to run the Desktop Commander server, which comes bundled with Node.js. Download and install the latest version from nodejs.org, keeping default settings.
• Claude Desktop: Download Claude from https://claude.ai/download.

Step 2: Configuring the MCP Server

Configure Claude to connect to your MCP server by editing or creating claude_desktop_config.json in the Claude installation directory. Insert the following configuration:

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

Step 3: Running the Server

After configuration, the Desktop Commander server will appear in Claude, offering 18 different tools for file management, terminal execution, process control, and more.

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