Text Editor MCP Server

An open source implementation of the Claude built-in text editor tool

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What is the Text Editor MCP server?

Text Editor MCP server exists for a simple reason — assistants are far more useful when they can act on Text Editor directly instead of describing what you should do. An open source implementation of the Claude built-in text editor tool.

What you get

This package implements an equivalent tool to the built-in Claude text editor tool versions:

  • Identical API to Claude's Text Editor — Implements the exact same interface as Claude's built-in text editor tool
  • MCP Server Implementation — Follows the Model Context Protocol standard for AI tool integration
  • File Operations —
  • View file contents with optional line range specification
  • Create new files
  • Replace text in existing files

What the assistant can call

Once Text Editor is connected, these are the calls the assistant has available:

  • View — The View tool exposed by this server
  • Create — The Create tool exposed by this server
  • Insert — The Insert tool exposed by this server
  • Prerequisites — The Prerequisites tool exposed by this server
  • Setup — The Setup tool exposed by this server
  • Scripts — The Scripts tool exposed by this server
  • Testing — The Testing tool exposed by this server

Setting it up

npx on npm is all you need. Most clients run it directly, so configuration is a few lines and a restart.

Configuration and credentials

  • Node.js 18+ - pnpm

Choosing this one

Plenty of developer tooling servers cover similar ground. The differences that matter in practice are scope of access and how much setup stands between you and a working tool call. Text Editor's toolset — View, Create, Insert and 4 more — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by bhouston; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.

We check each listing at SyncDev against the project's documentation before it goes live — if something here drifts out of date, it is a bug worth reporting.

Before you rely on it

  • It runs with your machine's permissions. That is convenient and also the reason to think about what you point it at before you approve a tool call.
  • MCP clients confirm each tool call by default. Leave that on until you have watched what the text editor mcp server does with a few real requests.

Available tools

ToolWhat it does
ViewThe View tool exposed by this server.
CreateThe Create tool exposed by this server.
InsertThe Insert tool exposed by this server.
PrerequisitesThe Prerequisites tool exposed by this server.
SetupThe Setup tool exposed by this server.
ScriptsThe Scripts tool exposed by this server.
TestingThe Testing tool exposed by this server.

How to install the Text Editor MCP server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "textEditor": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-server-text-editor"]
    }
  }
}

Configuration as documented by the project. Restart the client after saving.

Configuration

  • Node.js 18+ - pnpm

Example prompts to try

  • Use Text Editor to View.
  • Use Text Editor to Create.
  • Use Text Editor to Insert.

Frequently asked questions

It connects Text Editor to MCP-compatible AI assistants such as Claude and Cursor, exposing 7 tools (View, Create, Insert, and more) that the assistant can call on your behalf. Instead of copying data back and forth by hand, the assistant works with Text Editor directly.