OpenTools makes it easy to discover and use tools via Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Let’s walk through adding the filesystem server to Claude Desktop. This lets Claude to read and write files on your local filesystem (with your permission).

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

To verify your installations, run this in your terminal:

npm --version

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Setup Instructions

Next, open Claude’s menu bar settings (not the in-app settings) and select “Settings…”:

Click on “Developer” in the lefthand bar of the Settings pane, and then click on “Get Started”:

Run this terminal command to install the filesystem server:

npx opentools i filesystem-ref

This will take you through a series of questions where you specify which filepaths Claude is allowed to access. Once you’ve done that, OpenTools will restart your Claude application. This time you should see a new hammer icon in the bottom right corner of the input box:

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Using the Filesystem Tool

That’s it! Try asking Claude about files in your allowed directories. Here are some examples:

  • Can you write a poem and save it to my desktop?
  • What are some work-related files in my downloads folder?
  • Can you take all the images on my desktop and move them to a new folder called “Images”?

If you find filesystem-ref useful, try many more tools like it in the OpenTools registry.