MCP server
by bhouston
Edit, view, and create text files with persistent state using our server, featuring tools like Adobe Acrobat DC PDF edit
Provides line-based text file editing with partial file access and concurrency control. Optimized for LLM tools to minimize token usage when reading and modifying files.
Text Editor is a community-built MCP server published by bhouston that provides AI assistants with tools and capabilities via the Model Context Protocol. Edit, view, and create text files with persistent state using our server, featuring tools like Adobe Acrobat DC PDF edit It is categorized under file systems, developer tools. This server exposes 1 tool that AI clients can invoke during conversations and coding sessions.
You can install Text Editor in your AI client of choice. Use the install panel on this page to get one-click setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and other MCP-compatible clients. This server runs locally on your machine via the stdio transport.
MIT
Text Editor is released under the MIT license. This is a permissive open-source license, meaning you can freely use, modify, and distribute the software.
Read, analyze, and understand files in your project
Example
Summarize README, analyze code structure, find TODO comments across codebase
Navigate large codebases 5x faster, understand projects quickly
Create, move, rename, and organize files based on natural language instructions
Example
Organize downloads by file type, rename files following convention, batch process images
Save hours on manual file organization
Search files for patterns, extract data, find information across directories
Example
Find all config files with API keys, extract emails from documents, search logs for errors
Find information instantly instead of manual grep/find
Share your MCP server with the developer community
Text Editor is among the better-indexed MCP projects we tried; the explainx.ai summary tracks the official description.
I recommend Text Editor for teams standardizing on MCP; the explainx.ai page compares cleanly with sibling servers.
Text Editor reduced integration guesswork — categories and install configs on the listing matched the upstream repo.
We wired Text Editor into a staging workspace; the listing’s GitHub and npm pointers saved time versus hunting across READMEs.
We evaluated Text Editor against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.
Useful MCP listing: Text Editor is the kind of server we cite when onboarding engineers to host + tool permissions.
Text Editor has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.
Strong directory entry: Text Editor surfaces stars and publisher context so we could sanity-check maintenance before adopting.
According to our notes, Text Editor benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.
Text Editor reduced integration guesswork — categories and install configs on the listing matched the upstream repo.
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An open-source implementation of the Claude built-in text editor tool as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. This package provides the same functionality as Claude's built-in text editor tool, allowing you to view, edit, and create text files through a standardized API.
This package implements an equivalent tool to the built-in Claude text editor tool versions:
text_editor_20241022 (Claude 3.5 Sonnet)text_editor_20250124 (Claude 3.7 Sonnet)But using the tool name 'text_editor' to avoid name conflicts with built-in Claude tools.
# Install from npm
npm install mcp-server-text-editor
# Or with pnpm
pnpm add mcp-server-text-editor
# Using npx
npx -y mcp-server-text-editor
# Or if installed globally
mcp-server-text-editor
{
"mcpServers": {
"textEditor": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "mcp-server-text-editor"]
}
}
}
View the contents of a file or directory.
{
"command": "view",
"path": "/path/to/file.js",
"view_range": [1, 10] // Optional: Show lines 1-10 only
}
Create a new file with the specified content.
{
"command": "create",
"path": "/path/to/file.js",
"file_text": "console.log('Hello, world!');"
}
Replace text in a file.
{
"command": "str_replace",
"path": "/path/to/file.js",
"old_str": "console.log('Hello, world!');",
"new_str": "console.log('Hello, Claude!');"
}
Insert text at a specific line.
{
"command": "insert",
"path": "/path/to/file.js",
"insert_line": 5,
"new_str": "// This line was inserted by Claude"
}
Revert the last edit made to a file.
{
"command": "undo_edit",
"path": "/path/to/file.js"
}
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/bhouston/mcp-server-text-editor.git
cd mcp-server-text-editor
# Install dependencies
pnpm install
# Build the project
pnpm build
pnpm build: Build the TypeScript projectpnpm lint: Run ESLint with auto-fixingpnpm format: Format code with Prettierpnpm clean: Remove build artifactspnpm clean:all: Remove build artifacts and node_modulespnpm test: Run testspnpm test:coverage: Run tests with coverage reportThis project uses Vitest for testing.
To run the tests:
# Run all tests
pnpm test
# Run tests with coverage report
pnpm test:coverage
The test coverage report will be generated in the coverage directory.
MIT
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')git push origin feature/amazing-feature)Generate boilerplate files, apply templates, create project structures
Example
Create React component with tests and styles, generate OpenAPI spec, scaffold new project
Eliminate repetitive file creation work
Prerequisites
Time Estimate
10-20 minutes including configuration
Steps
Troubleshooting
✓ Do
✗ Don't
💡 Pro Tips
Architecture
MCP server provides file I/O operations (read, write, search, metadata) as tools Claude can invoke with natural language instructions.
Protocols
Compatibility
✓ Use when
Use for code analysis, file organization, content search, template generation, and automating repetitive file operations. Best for local development workflows.
✗ Avoid when
Avoid for system-critical files, sensitive credentials, production environments, or when file integrity is paramount. Don't use on files you can't afford to lose.