MCP File Reader Server

A simple MCP (Model-Control-Protocol) server for Cursor that allows reading files from a dedicated directory.

Setup Instructions

1. Prerequisites

• Python 3.8 or higher
• Cursor app installed
• pip package manager

2. Installation

1. Clone or download this repository
2. Create a virtual environment:

   python3 -m venv venv
   

3. Activate the virtual environment:

   source venv/bin/activate  # On macOS/Linux
   venv\Scripts\activate  # On Windows
   

4. Install the required packages:

   pip install mcp
   

3. Configuration

Configure Cursor

The MCP configuration file needs to be placed in your Cursor application settings directory:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/cursor_mcp_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Cursor\cursor_mcp_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Cursor/cursor_mcp_config.json

This repository already includes a cursor_mcp_config.json file. You may need to update the file paths to match your system.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "file-reader": {
      "command": "/FULL/PATH/TO/YOUR/PROJECT/venv/bin/python",
      "args": [
        "/FULL/PATH/TO/YOUR/PROJECT/mcp-file-reader-example/file_reader_server.py"
      ],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Data Directory

By default, the server uses ~/mcp_data as the directory for storing files. Make sure this directory exists or the server will create it for you.

4. Running the Server

1. Use the provided start script:

   ./start.sh
   

   Or manually run:

   source venv/bin/activate
   python file_reader_server.py
   

2. The server will start and listen for requests from Cursor.

5. Using the Server in Cursor

Once the server is running, you can access it from Cursor by typing:

read test.txt using the file-reader server

or

using mcp file-reader tell me what is in test.txt

Troubleshooting

• Make sure the server is running when you try to access it from Cursor
• Check the server.log file for any error messages
• Verify that your configuration file paths are correct
• Restart Cursor after making changes to the configuration files

Advanced Usage

• The server logs all operations to server.log in the server directory
• You can modify the file_reader_server.py file to add more functionality

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.