File System MCP Server Workflow
This workflow establishes a file system server based on the MCP protocol, supporting both remote and local file management operations, including directory listing, file reading and writing, directory creation, and file searching. Through strict parameter validation, it ensures that clients can only pass file names and paths, thereby avoiding command injection risks and enhancing server security. This system is suitable for developers, operations personnel, and enterprise IT teams, providing a simplified solution for remote file management and supporting various application scenarios and automation needs.
Workflow Name
File System MCP Server Workflow
Key Features and Highlights
This workflow builds a file system server based on the MCP (Model Context Protocol), enabling remote or local file system operations via an MCP client. Supported operations include directory listing, file reading, file writing, directory creation, and file searching. It cleverly restricts clients to only pass file names and path parameters, preventing arbitrary command execution and ensuring server security. The workflow integrates multiple command execution tools and custom sub-workflows to achieve efficient management and manipulation of the Linux file system.
Core Problems Addressed
Traditional remote file management often requires complex configurations or poses security risks. This workflow leverages the MCP protocol to enable remote file system management, simplifying connection and operation processes while enforcing strict parameter validation to prevent command injection risks, thereby ensuring server security and operational control.
Use Cases
- Remote server file management and maintenance
- Integration with automation scripts or tools for file operations
- Rapid access and modification of server files in DevOps environments
- Intelligent file retrieval and content analysis combined with AI assistants
- Controlled access to enterprise internal file systems
Main Workflow Steps
- Trigger Activation: Receive requests from MCP clients via the MCP Server Trigger node.
- Operation Determination: Use a Switch node to identify the request type (file read or file write).
- Directory Management: Utilize the Execute Command tool to perform directory listing, creation, and search functions.
- File Read/Write: Invoke two custom sub-workflows to respectively handle file content reading and writing, ensuring a one-to-one correspondence between file names and contents.
- Security Control: Restrict clients to only pass file names and path parameters, prohibit arbitrary command execution, and guarantee security.
Involved Systems or Services
- MCP protocol and MCP Server Trigger node
- Linux file system (default base directory: /home/node/)
- n8n built-in Execute Command tool and custom sub-workflows
- MCP clients (e.g., Claude Desktop) with integrated support
Target Users and Value
- Developers and Operations Personnel: Simplify remote file management and automation workflows to improve efficiency.
- AI Integration Engineers: Facilitate combining file system operations with AI assistant dialogues for intelligent file querying and processing.
- Enterprise IT Teams: Provide a secure and controllable remote file access solution supporting diverse business scenarios.
- Automation Enthusiasts: Quickly build MCP-based file management automation workflows with flexible extensibility.
This workflow demonstrates how to build a secure, flexible, and efficient file system MCP server using n8n, enabling intelligent local or remote server file management. It offers robust support for both routine maintenance and complex automation needs. It is recommended to enable MCP Server authentication before production deployment to ensure system security. For detailed usage and customization instructions, please refer to the workflow annotations and official documentation links.