Storacha MCP Storage Server - Decentralized storage for AI systems
Storacha MCP Storage Server - Decentralized storage for AI systems. Exposed over MCP by the mcp storage server mcp server, that capability becomes something an assistant can invoke while it works, not something you go and do afterwards.
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for Storacha hot storage, allowing AI applications to store and retrieve files through a standardized interface. It enables trustless, decentralized data exchange using IPFS and CIDs, ensuring data sovereignty, verifiability, and seamless integration with agent frameworks & AI systems.
The server ships on npm as @web3-storage/w3cli, so your MCP client can launch it on demand — there is no separate build step. Add the server block to your client's configuration, restart it, and the tools register themselves.
Everything the assistant can do here goes through one of these:
upload — Upload a file to the Storacha Network. The file must be provided as a base64 encoded string with a filename that includes the extension for MIME typeretrieve — Retrieve a file from the Storacha Network. Supported filepath formats: CID/filename, /ipfs/CID/filename, or ipfs://CID/filenameidentity — Returns the DIDKey of the Storacha Agent loaded from the private key storage configurationYou will need 3 environment variables: MCP_TRANSPORT_MODE, PRIVATE_KEY, DELEGATION. The server will not start without them, which is usually why the tools fail to appear on a first run. Keep credentials in your client's env block or a secrets manager rather than in a file you might commit.
This sits in the file and storage access group, where several servers overlap in what they claim to do but differ sharply once you actually set them up. MCP Storage Server's toolset — upload, retrieve, identity — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by storacha; 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We check each listing at SyncDev against the project's documentation before it goes live — if something here drifts out of date, it is a bug worth reporting.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| upload | Upload a file to the Storacha Network. The file must be provided as a base64 encoded string with a filename that includes the extension for MIME type detection. |
| retrieve | Retrieve a file from the Storacha Network. Supported filepath formats: CID/filename, /ipfs/CID/filename, or ipfs://CID/filename. |
| identity | Returns the DIDKey of the Storacha Agent loaded from the private key storage configuration. |
{
"mcpServers": {
"storage-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@web3-storage/w3cli"],
"env": {
"MCP_TRANSPORT_MODE": "your-value",
"PRIVATE_KEY": "your-value",
"DELEGATION": "your-value"
}
}
}
}Add to claude_desktop_config.json, then restart Claude Desktop.
| Variable | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| MCP_TRANSPORT_MODE | Configuration value read at startup. | Optional |
| PRIVATE_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
| DELEGATION | Configuration value read at startup. | Optional |
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