💻 终端与进程控制：Desktop Commander支持执行终端命令，并提供实时输出流。用户可以设置超时时间，在后台运行命令，并管理长时间运行的任务会话。此外，它还允许列出和终止正在运行的进程，并提供详细信息。

⚙️ 配置管理：该服务器允许获取或设置服务器设置，如默认Shell、被阻止的命令、允许访问的目录以及是否启用遥测等。用户可以应用更改，而无需重启服务器。

📁 文件系统操作：Desktop Commander支持读取和写入文件，并可以按行进行限制。用户可以追加或覆盖文件内容，创建和列出目录，移动或重命名文件和文件夹，以及获取文件和目录的元数据。此外，还支持按名称搜索文件（不区分大小写）。

⌨️ 代码和文本编辑：该工具能够执行精确的文本替换，例如更改配置值。用户可以重写整个文件以进行重大更新，并在多个文件中搜索和替换模式。它使用vscode-ripgrep进行快速递归文本/代码搜索。

📝 审计日志记录：所有操作都会被记录，包括时间戳和参数。日志会自动轮换，大小限制为10MB，以避免混乱。

The Desktop Commander MCP Server is a powerful tool that brings all your development operations into one chat interface. Built on top of the MCP Filesystem Server, it allows you to search, edit, and manage files, run terminal commands, and control processes directly from your desktop using the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Following are the core capabilities of the Desktop Commander MCP server:

Terminal & Process Control

Execute terminal commands with live output streaming
Set timeouts and run commands in the background
Manage sessions for long-running tasks
List and kill running processes with detailed info

Configuration Management

Get or set server settings like:

defaultShell (e.g., bash, zsh)
blockedCommands (e.g., rm, shutdown)
allowedDirectories for file access
telemetryEnabled

Apply changes without restarting the server

Filesystem Operations

Read and write files with line-based limits
Append or overwrite file content
Create and list directories
Move or rename files and folders
Get file and directory metadata
Search files by name (case-insensitive)

Code & Text Editing

Perform precise text replacements (e.g., change config values)
Rewrite entire files for major updates
Search and replace patterns across multiple files
Use vscode-ripgrep for fast recursive text/code search

Audit Logging

All actions are logged with timestamps and arguments
Logs auto-rotate at 10MB to avoid clutter

In this tutorial, we will be connecting Claude desktop with the MCP server and perform some tasks.

Step 1: Setting up dependencies

Node JS

We need npx to run the Desktop Commander server, which comes with Node.js.

Download the latest version of Node.js from nodejs.orgRun the installer.Leave all settings as default and complete the installation

Claude Desktop

Download Claude using https://claude.ai/download.

Step 2: Configuring the MCP Server

Next, configure Claude to connect to your MCP server. Open the claude_desktop_config.json file located in the Claude installation directory using any text editor. If the file doesn’t exist, you can create it manually. Once opened, enter the following code:

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

Step 3: Running the server

Once the MCP configuration is complete, your server should appear in Claude. The Desktop Commander server is a powerful interface, offering 18 tools for tasks like file management, terminal execution, process control, and more.

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