MCP Server for FTP Access

July 21, 2026 · View on GitHub

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)

Installing via npm

The server is published as mcp-server-ftp, so no clone or build is needed — reference it directly in your Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ftp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-server-ftp"],
      "env": {
        "FTP_HOST": "ftp.example.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

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

# Install dependencies and build
npm install
npm run build

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:

Make sure Node.js (18.14 or newer) and npm are properly installed
Try running the TypeScript compiler directly: npx tsc
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 — store in OS keychain, not here	(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:

The path in FTP_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH (if set)
~/.ssh/id_ed25519
~/.ssh/id_rsa
~/.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, FTP_PASSWORD, and FTP_PASSPHRASE so the config only ever contains ciphertext.

The encryption key itself (FTP_ENCRYPTION_KEY) must never be stored in the same config file as the encrypted credentials — that would defeat the purpose. Store it in the OS keychain, or global environment variable instead (see below).

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. Store the key in the OS keychain (recommended)

After building the project, run the one-time setup script:

npm run build
npm run store-key -- <your-64-char-hex-key>

This writes the key into the OS keychain (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, or Linux Secret Service). The server loads it automatically on start-up — no FTP_ENCRYPTION_KEY in the config file required.

Option B: global environment variable

If you prefer not to use the keychain, export the key from your shell profile (~/.zshrc, ~/.bash_profile, etc.):

export FTP_ENCRYPTION_KEY=<your-64-char-hex-key>

This keeps the key out of the per-server config file while still making it available to the server process.

3. Encrypt a credential value

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

If you already stored the key in the keychain or your shell profile, the variable is picked up automatically:

npm run encrypt-env -- <plaintext-value>

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

4. Use the encrypted values in your config

Place only the encrypted credentials in the config. Do not add FTP_ENCRYPTION_KEY here — the server retrieves it from the keychain or your shell environment.

{
  "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"
      }
    }
  }
}

Values that do not start with enc: are treated as plaintext, so you can encrypt selectively.

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 (binary files are returned base64-encoded)
`upload-file`	Upload a file to the FTP server (pass `encoding: "base64"` for binary content)
`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
`rename-file`	Rename or move a file or directory on the FTP server
`edit-file`	Replace an exact string in a text file without re-uploading the whole file content
`append-file`	Append content to a file (creates it if missing)

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