python-mcp

Files.com MCP Server

Files.com MCP allows your AI model, like ChatGPT or Claude, to use Files.com.

Files.com is the cloud-native, next-gen MFT, SFTP, and secure file-sharing platform that replaces brittle legacy servers with one always-on, secure fabric. Automate mission-critical file flows—across any cloud, protocol, or partner—while supporting human collaboration and eliminating manual work.

With universal SFTP, AS2, HTTPS, and 50+ native connectors backed by military-grade encryption, Files.com unifies governance, visibility, and compliance in a single pane of glass.

Introduction

The Files.com MCP server lets an LLM client such as Claude or ChatGPT act inside your Files.com site: upload and download files, query folders and file metadata, create and manage users, and run automations. It works with the permissions of the API key you give it, and its actions are logged like those of any other API client.

What MCP Is

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a standard interface through which a Large Language Model calls real APIs as part of its work. An MCP server hands the model a set of tools, and each Files.com tool is an authenticated operation in your site. With the server connected, the model can:

• Transfer files between cloud and on-premises systems
• Query folders and file metadata
• Create and manage users
• Automate workflows such as archiving or sharing

Common Use Cases

Assistants for operations teams. An internal chatbot fetches or archives files on request.

Automated workflows. An agent reacts to an incoming support request, then retrieves or uploads the files the case needs.

Developer copilots. A development-focused LLM creates users, provisions folders, or reads files while debugging.

Two Ways To Run It

The server ships as the files-com-mcp Python package, which runs locally inside your LLM client; Installation covers the setup and Using With Claude is a complete example. Files.com also operates a hosted MCP server, so an agent can connect without running the package; the Files.com AI integrations documentation describes it.

Install uv, register uvx files-com-mcp as an MCP server in your LLM client, and give it a Files.com API key in the FILES_COM_API_KEY environment variable.

https://pypi.org/project/files-com-mcp/

Installation

The Files.com MCP server is the files-com-mcp package on PyPI. Every LLM client registers MCP servers in its own way and documents the steps; most follow the same shape as Claude Desktop, so Using With Claude is the example to start from when your client is not covered here.

Requirements

The examples run the server with uvx, which is part of uv. It runs a Python tool in an isolated environment of its own, so there is nothing to install or configure by hand beyond uv itself. Install uv first.

Registering The Server

Where your client asks for the command that starts an MCP server, give it uvx with files-com-mcp as the argument, as on the right. uvx fetches the package the first time and starts the server on every launch.

Authentication

The server authenticates to Files.com with an API key, read from the FILES_COM_API_KEY environment variable that your client passes to it. The model can do exactly what the key's user can do, so create a key for this purpose with the permissions the agent needs and no more.

The Hosted Server

Files.com also operates a hosted MCP server. An agent connects to it directly, with nothing to run locally; the Files.com AI integrations documentation covers it.

uvx files-com-mcp

FILES_COM_API_KEY=your-api-key uvx files-com-mcp

Using With Claude

Claude Desktop reads its MCP servers from claude_desktop_config.json. Add the entry on the right under mcpServers, replace the FILES_COM_API_KEY value with a Files.com API key, and restart Claude Desktop. The MCP quickstart shows where the file lives on each operating system, walking through the same steps for another server.

The entry starts the server with uvx, so uv has to be installed first; see Installation.

Once Claude has restarted, the Files.com tools appear in its tool list. Tools lists them by category and explains why it pays to enable only the ones a task needs.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Files.com": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "files-com-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "FILES_COM_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools

The Files.com MCP server exposes the tools below, grouped by category: files, folders, sharing, users, logs, automations and the other Files.com resources. Each tool is one operation in your site, run with the permissions of the API key the server holds.

Keep The Toolset Focused

A model picks the right tool more reliably from a short list. If the LLM uses Files.com tools inconsistently, it is most likely choosing among too many. Most clients let you enable and disable an MCP server's tools one by one; enable only the ones the agent's task needs.

Automations

File System

Integrations

Logging

Sharing / Share Links

User Accounts

Authentication

The Files.com MCP uses API key authentication.

Authenticate with an API Key

Authenticating with an API key is the recommended authentication method for most scenarios, and is the method used in the examples on this site.

To use an API Key, first generate an API key from the web interface or via the API or an SDK.

Note that when using a user-specific API key, if the user is an administrator, you will have full access to the entire API. If the user is not an administrator, you will only be able to access files that user can access, and no access will be granted to site administration functions in the API.

Don't forget to replace the placeholder, YOUR_API_KEY, with your actual API key.

Sort and Filter

Several of the Files.com API resources have list operations that return multiple instances of the resource. The List operations can be sorted and filtered.

Sorting

To sort the returned data, pass in the sort_by method argument.

Each resource supports a unique set of valid sort fields and can only be sorted by one field at a time.

Special note about the List Folder Endpoint

For historical reasons, and to maintain compatibility with a variety of other cloud-based MFT and EFSS services, Folders will always be listed before Files when listing a Folder. This applies regardless of the sorting parameters you provide. These will be used, after the initial sort application of Folders before Files.

Filtering

Filters apply selection criteria to the underlying query that returns the results. They can be applied individually or combined with other filters, and the resulting data can be sorted by a single field.

Each resource supports a unique set of valid filter fields, filter combinations, and combinations of filters and sort fields.

Filter Types

Paths

Working with paths in Files.com involves several important considerations. Understanding how path comparisons are applied helps developers ensure consistency and accuracy across all interactions with the platform.

Capitalization

Files.com compares paths in a case-insensitive manner. This means path segments are treated as equivalent regardless of letter casing.

For example, all of the following resolve to the same internal path:

This behavior applies across:

• API requests
• Folder and file lookup operations
• Automations and workflows

See also: Case Sensitivity Documentation

Slashes

All path parameters in Files.com (API, SDKs, CLI, automations, integrations) must omit leading and trailing slashes. Paths are always treated as absolute and slash-delimited, so only internal / separators are used and never at the start or end of the string.

Path Slash Examples

Unicode Normalization

Files.com normalizes all paths using Unicode NFC (Normalization Form C) before comparison. This ensures consistency across different representations of the same characters.

For example, the following two paths are treated as equivalent after NFC normalization:

• All input must be UTF‑8 encoded.
• Precomposed and decomposed characters are unified.
• This affects search, deduplication, and comparisons across SDKs.

Workspaces

A Workspace is a lightweight way to organize related resources inside a single Files.com Site.

Customers commonly group resources by project, department, client, or region. Workspaces provide a built-in structure for that grouping, so the UI can operate within a clear "workspace context" and admins can delegate management for a subset of resources without requiring full site-level isolation.

Every Site has an implicit Default workspace (ID 0). Resources that are not explicitly assigned to a named workspace are considered part of the Default workspace.

Using Workspaces with the REST API

To use Workspaces with the REST API, send the following request header:

X-Files-Workspace-Id: <workspace_id>

This changes path mapping and "what you're looking at."

When the X-Files-Workspace-Id header is provided:

• List, show, update, and delete operations are constrained to that workspace for workspace-scoped models.
• Create operations default workspace_id to the scoped workspace when not explicitly provided.
• Attempts to provide a mismatching workspace_id are rejected with not-authorized/insufficient-permission-for-params.

This header only works for sitewide keys, or keys related to users with permissions to more than one workspace.

Foreign Language Support

The Files.com MCP will soon be updated to support localized responses by using a configuration method. When available, it can be used to guide the API in selecting a preferred language for applicable response content.

Language support currently applies to select human-facing fields only, such as notification messages and error descriptions.

If the specified language is not supported or the value is omitted, the API defaults to English.

Errors

Mock Server

Files.com publishes a Files.com API server, which is useful for testing your use of the Files.com SDKs and other direct integrations against the Files.com API in an integration test environment.

It is a Ruby app that operates as a minimal server for the purpose of testing basic network operations and JSON encoding for your SDK or API client. It does not maintain state and it does not deeply inspect your submissions for correctness.

Eventually we will add more features intended for integration testing, such as the ability to intentionally provoke errors.

Download the server as a Docker image via Docker Hub.

The Source Code is also available on GitHub.

A README is available on the GitHub link.

Development

While our MCP works well out-of-the-box, some power users find value in modifying MCP code to suit their unique needs. For those power users, it is recommended to use STDIO mode. Upload and Download tools rely on the file system where the MCP is running.

To test LLM tools we recommend a popular command-line program called inspector. This will start a WebUI on a local port, the output of the command will give you the link to the inspector GUI. Ex: http://127.0.0.1:6274

Development - STDIO

FILES_COM_API_KEY="dummyKey" npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv run -m files_com_mcp

Development - SSE

uv run -m files_com_mcp --mode server --port 12345

When calling the SSE server, include x-filesapi-key: <your-api-key> as an HTTP header. You can still set FILES_COM_API_KEY as a fallback when a header is not provided.

Launch the inspector

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

Development Claude Config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Files.com": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/folder-containing-files_com_mcp",
        "run",
        "-m",
        "files_com_mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "FILES_COM_API_KEY": "CHangeME"
      }
    }
  }
}

MCP Registry Metadata

mcp-name: com.files/python-mcp