directory explorer mcp

Note: This package is published as tokenscope but the repository name remains directory-explorer-mcp for historical reasons.

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for token-aware directory exploration and analysis, designed for Large Language Models (LLMs).

Overview

TokenScope provides intelligent directory structure analysis and token-aware file content exploration. It helps LLMs like Claude understand codebases and directory structures by:

1. Scanning directory structures with token-efficient summaries
2. Extracting and analyzing file contents with token awareness
3. Finding important files for codebase understanding
4. Generating reports with relevant information

Features

• Token-Aware Directory Scanning
• Explores directories recursively with configurable depth
• Provides intelligent summaries for large directories

• Respects .gitignore files and custom ignore patterns

• File Content Analysis

• Smart extraction of file contents that respects token limits
• Special handling for JSON and other structured files

• File selection prioritization based on importance

• Token Usage Statistics

• Estimates tokens required to process directories
• Breaks down token usage by file extension

• Identifies token-heavy files

• Comprehensive Reporting

• Generates markdown reports with directory structure
• Includes token usage statistics
• Shows samples of important files

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10 or higher
• uv (recommended for easy dependency management)

1. Main Installation (PyPI)

This is the recommended method for most users who just want to use TokenScope:

# Install from PyPI using uv (recommended)
uv pip install tokenscope

Running TokenScope

The --base-path argument is mandatory for security reasons. It restricts all file operations to the specified directory.

# Run using the installed package
uv run --with tokenscope tokenscope --base-path /path/to/allowed/directory

Configuring in Claude Desktop

1. Locate Claude Desktop's configuration file (typically in ~/.config/claude/config.json)

2. Add TokenScope to the mcpServers section:

"mcpServers": {
  "TokenScope": {
    "command": "uv",
    "args": [
      "run",
      "--with",
      "tokenscope",
      "tokenscope",
      "--base-path",
      "/your/secure/base/path"
    ]
  }
}

1. Replace /your/secure/base/path with the directory you want to restrict operations to

2. Save the configuration file and restart Claude Desktop

2. Development Installation (from GitHub)

For contributors or users who want to modify the code:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/cdgaete/directory-explorer-mcp.git
cd directory-explorer-mcp

# Install development dependencies with uv
uv pip install -e ".[dev]"

Running in Development Mode

# Run the server directly with uv
uv run --with fastmcp --with tiktoken server.py --base-path /path/to/allowed/directory

Configuring Development Version in Claude Desktop

1. Locate Claude Desktop's configuration file

2. Add TokenScope to the mcpServers section with development paths:

"mcpServers": {
  "TokenScope (Dev)": {
    "command": "uv",
    "args": [
      "run",
      "--with",
      "fastmcp",
      "--with",
      "tiktoken",
      "/path/to/your/directory-explorer-mcp/server.py",
      "--base-path",
      "/your/secure/base/path"
    ]
  }
}

1. Replace /path/to/your/directory-explorer-mcp/server.py with the actual path to the server.py file
2. Replace /your/secure/base/path with your secure directory

Security Features

The --base-path argument is mandatory for security reasons:

• All file operations are validated to ensure they're within the specified directory
• Attempts to access or modify files outside the base path will be rejected
• The base path is set once when starting the server and cannot be changed without restart

Example Prompts

Here are some examples of how to use TokenScope with Claude:

Please scan my project directory at /path/to/project and tell me about its structure, focusing on the most important files.

Analyze the token usage in my project directory at /path/to/project and tell me how many tokens would be needed to process the entire codebase with an LLM.

Generate a comprehensive directory report about my project at /path/to/project, including structure, token statistics, and samples of the most important files.

Available Tools

The server provides the following MCP tools:

scan_directory_structure

Scans a directory and returns its structure in a token-efficient way.

extract_file_content

Extracts the content of a specific file, respecting token limits and format.

search_files_by_pattern

Searches for files matching specified patterns within a directory structure.

analyze_token_usage

Analyzes token usage for a directory or file to estimate LLM processing requirements.

copy_file_to_destination

Copy a file from source path to destination path.

generate_directory_report

Generates a comprehensive markdown report about a directory with token statistics.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Built with FastMCP
• This same concept was implemented originally in repoai
• Inspired by the need to efficiently analyze codebases with LLMs