Desktop Commander is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives an AI client terminal control, filesystem access, and search-and-replace file editing on the machine where it runs. It extends the MCP Filesystem Server with command execution, process management, and diff-based edits, and it runs on the host client's subscription rather than on API tokens. Claude Desktop is the primary client, and the same server configuration works in Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code with GitHub Copilot, Cline, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, and any other MCP-compatible client. A Remote MCP service lets ChatGPT and Claude web drive it while commands still execute locally.
The terminal tools start processes, detect when they are ready for input, send follow-up commands to interactive sessions such as SSH, database shells, or REPLs, and page through output by offset and length. Code runs in memory in Python, Node.js, or R without writing files, which covers ad-hoc analysis of CSV, JSON, and Excel data. Filesystem tools read and write text, Excel, PDF, and DOCX files, list directories recursively with a depth limit, search file names and contents with ripgrep, and read from the end of a file with a negative offset.
The edit_block tool applies targeted search-and-replace blocks with a fuzzy-match fallback, character-level diffs of the closest match, and a parameter for replacing several occurrences. In Claude Desktop, a file preview widget renders Markdown with an editor, images, syntax-highlighted code, HTML, directory trees, and extracted PDF, Excel, and DOCX content. Tool calls are logged locally with a bounded history for debugging and context recovery. Guardrails cover an allowed-directories list, a command blocklist, and symlink traversal prevention, and they are not a sandbox: directory restrictions and command blocking can be bypassed through symlinks, command substitution, absolute paths, or code execution, so Docker is the isolation option.
Features
- Terminal control: starts programs, detects readiness for input, sends commands to running sessions (SSH, databases, dev servers), lists and kills processes, with timeouts and background execution
- In-memory code execution: runs Python, Node.js, or R code without saving files, used for CSV, JSON, and Excel analysis
- Filesystem tools: read, write, move, and list files and directories, with recursive listing at a configurable depth and negative-offset reads from the end of a file
- Office and PDF files: reads, writes, edits, and searches Excel, reads PDFs and creates them from Markdown, and reads, creates, and edits DOCX documents
- Search: streaming ripgrep-based search of file names and contents, Excel content included, with paginated results
- edit_block: search-and-replace blocks with a fuzzy-match fallback, character-level diffs, and multiple-occurrence replacement
- URL reading: read_file fetches text and images from URLs as well as local files
- File preview UI: in Claude Desktop, rendered Markdown with an editor, inline images, code, HTML, interactive directory trees, and PDF, Excel, and DOCX content
- Remote MCP: ChatGPT, Claude web, and other services drive the local server over an authenticated channel while commands execute on the user's machine
- Multi-client: one standard MCP configuration for Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code and GitHub Copilot, Cline, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, and other clients
- Local tool-call history: arguments and bounded outputs logged on the machine, with recent calls retrievable for debugging and context recovery
- Guardrails and isolation: allowed directories, a command blocklist, symlink traversal prevention, and optional Docker isolation, not a sandbox
