MCP Server for FTP Access

This Model Context Protocol (MCP) server provides tools for interacting with FTP servers. It allows Claude.app to list directories, download and upload files, create directories, and delete files/directories on FTP servers.

Features

• List Directory Contents: View files and folders on the FTP server
• Download Files: Retrieve file content from the FTP server
• Upload Files: Create new files or update existing ones
• Create Directories: Make new folders on the FTP server
• Delete Files/Directories: Remove files or directories

Installation

Installing via Smithery

To install mcp-server-ftp for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @alxspiker/mcp-server-ftp --client claude

Prerequisites

• Node.js 16 or higher
• Claude for Desktop (or other MCP-compatible client)

Building from Source

Linux/macOS

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/alxspiker/mcp-server-ftp.git
cd mcp-server-ftp

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

Windows

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/alxspiker/mcp-server-ftp.git
cd mcp-server-ftp

# Run the Windows build helper script
build-windows.bat

The build-windows.bat script handles dependency installation and building on Windows systems, with fallback options if the TypeScript compiler has issues.

Configuration

To use this server with Claude for Desktop, add it to your configuration file:

MacOS/Linux

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ftp-server": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-server-ftp/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "FTP_HOST": "ftp.example.com",
        "FTP_PORT": "21",
        "FTP_USER": "your-username",
        "FTP_PASSWORD": "your-password",
        "FTP_SECURE": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windows

Edit %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ftp-server": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:\\path\\to\\mcp-server-ftp\\build\\index.js"],
      "env": {
        "FTP_HOST": "ftp.example.com",
        "FTP_PORT": "21",
        "FTP_USER": "your-username",
        "FTP_PASSWORD": "your-password",
        "FTP_SECURE": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting Windows Build Issues

If you encounter build issues on Windows:

1. Use the provided build-windows.bat script which handles common build issues
2. Make sure Node.js and npm are properly installed
3. Try running the TypeScript compiler directly: npx tsc
4. If you still have issues, you can use the pre-compiled files in the build directory by running:

   node path\to\mcp-server-ftp\build\index.js
   

Configuration Options

Environment Variable	Description	Default
FTP_HOST	FTP server hostname or IP address	localhost
FTP_PORT	FTP server port	21
FTP_USER	FTP username (supports encryption)	anonymous
FTP_PASSWORD	FTP password (supports encryption)	(empty string)
FTP_SECURE	Use secure FTP (FTPS), ignored when FTP_PROTOCOL=sftp	false
FTP_PROTOCOL	Protocol to use: ftp or sftp	ftp
FTP_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH	Path to SSH private key for SFTP (e.g. ~/.ssh/id_ed25519)	(auto-detect)
FTP_PASSPHRASE	Passphrase for the SSH private key (supports encryption)	(empty string)
FTP_ENCRYPTION_KEY	64-character hex AES-256 key for decrypting credentials	(disabled)

SSH / SFTP Support

In addition to plain FTP and FTPS, the server supports SFTP — the SSH File Transfer Protocol — which runs over an encrypted SSH connection and is unrelated to FTPS.

Set FTP_PROTOCOL=sftp to switch the server into SFTP mode. The default port changes to 22.

Authentication

SFTP supports two authentication methods, chosen automatically:

• Private key — if a key is found (see below), it is used for authentication. FTP_PASSPHRASE is used to decrypt the key if it is passphrase-protected.
• Password — if no key is found, FTP_PASSWORD is used for password authentication.

Key discovery

The server looks for a private key in this order:

1. The path in FTP_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH (if set)
2. ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
3. ~/.ssh/id_rsa
4. ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa

Configuration example

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ftp-server": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-server-ftp/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "FTP_HOST": "sftp.example.com",
        "FTP_PORT": "22",
        "FTP_PROTOCOL": "sftp",
        "FTP_USER": "your-username",
        "FTP_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH": "~/.ssh/id_ed25519",
        "FTP_PASSPHRASE": "your-key-passphrase"
      }
    }
  }
}

FTP_PASSPHRASE and FTP_USER both support the enc: encrypted format — see Credential Encryption.

Credential Encryption

Storing plaintext passwords in your Claude config file is a security risk. The server supports AES-256-GCM encryption for FTP_USER and FTP_PASSWORD so the config only ever contains ciphertext.

1. Generate an encryption key

node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('hex'))"

Keep this key secret — treat it like a master password.

2. Encrypt a credential value

npm run build
FTP_ENCRYPTION_KEY=<your-64-char-hex-key> npm run encrypt-env -- <plaintext-value>

The output is a self-contained encrypted string in the format enc:<iv_hex>:<tag_hex>:<ciphertext_hex>.

3. Use the encrypted values in your config

Set FTP_ENCRYPTION_KEY alongside the encrypted credentials. Values that do not start with enc: are treated as plaintext, so you can encrypt selectively.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ftp-server": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-server-ftp/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "FTP_HOST": "ftp.example.com",
        "FTP_PORT": "21",
        "FTP_USER": "enc:aabbcc...:ddeeff...:112233...",
        "FTP_PASSWORD": "enc:aabbcc...:ddeeff...:112233...",
        "FTP_SECURE": "false",
        "FTP_ENCRYPTION_KEY": "<your-64-char-hex-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Usage

After configuring and restarting Claude for Desktop, you can use natural language to perform FTP operations:

• "List the files in the /public directory on my FTP server"
• "Download the file /data/report.txt from the FTP server"
• "Upload this text as a file called notes.txt to the FTP server"
• "Create a new directory called 'backups' on the FTP server"
• "Delete the file obsolete.txt from the FTP server"
• "Remove the empty directory /old-project from the FTP server"

Available Tools

Tool Name	Description
list-directory	List contents of an FTP directory
download-file	Download a file from the FTP server
upload-file	Upload a file to the FTP server
create-directory	Create a new directory on the FTP server
delete-file	Delete a file from the FTP server
delete-directory	Delete a directory from the FTP server

Security Considerations

• Use the Credential Encryption feature to avoid storing plaintext passwords in your config file.
• Prefer SFTP (FTP_PROTOCOL=sftp) over plain FTP or FTPS where possible — it uses SSH and does not require certificate management.
• Consider using FTPS (secure FTP) by setting FTP_SECURE=true if your server supports it but SFTP is unavailable.
• The server creates temporary files for uploads and downloads in your system's temp directory.

License

MIT