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How to give Claude access to files on your Mac with MCP

Updated 25 October 2026 · 3 min read

MCP lets Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor use tools on your Mac. Here is how to add a server by hand, what the official filesystem server can do, what to watch for, and how Orrel connects with one click.

The Model Context Protocol, MCP, is the standard way AI assistants connect to tools. An MCP server offers a list of tools, such as "search files" or "read a PDF", and the assistant calls them when your request needs them. For anything on your own Mac, the server runs locally and the assistant starts it.

Adding a server to Claude Desktop by hand

Claude Desktop reads its local servers from a JSON file. In Claude Desktop, choose Claude › Settings, open the Developer tab and click Edit Config. That opens ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Servers go under mcpServers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/Users/you/Documents"]
    }
  }
}

Save the file, quit Claude Desktop completely with ⌘Q and open it again. A JSON typo stops every server from loading, so check commas and brackets if nothing appears.

Claude Code adds servers from the command line with claude mcp add, and Cursor reads ~/.cursor/mcp.json in the same format as above.

What the filesystem server gives you

The official filesystem server lets the assistant list, read, write, move and search files inside the folders you name. It is a good start, with two gaps for everyday use. It needs Node.js installed. And it sees files as text and names: it cannot read a scanned PDF, search by "last week" or "over 5 MB", or merge PDFs.

What to think about first

• What leaves your Mac. Tools run locally, but their results go into the conversation. Asking for "the total on my latest invoice" sends that invoice's text to the model.
• What can be changed. A server that can write or delete files can do so whenever the assistant decides to. Prefer servers that mark such tools so your client asks before running them.
• Which folders. Give access to what you need, not your whole home folder.

How Orrel does it

Orrel includes an MCP server. Open Settings › Assistants and click to connect Claude Desktop or Cursor; Orrel adds itself to the config, keeps your other servers and saves a backup of the old file. For Claude Code it gives you one command to paste. Nothing else needs installing.

The assistant then has 12 tools:

• Find and read. Search files in plain language through Spotlight, and read the text of PDFs, scans, images, Word files and plain text.
• PDFs. Merge, compress, extract pages and add a password.
• Convert. List and run conversions for images, video, audio and documents.
• Your Mac. List localhost servers and what started them, show system status, stop a process, take a screenshot.

Searching and reading change nothing. Tools that write files or stop processes are marked so your assistant asks before running them. New files are saved beside the originals, never over them, and stopping a process refuses macOS services, other users' processes and the assistant itself.

Things you can ask: "Find the hosting invoice I downloaded last month and tell me the total." "What is running on localhost? Stop anything left over from yesterday." "Merge the three lease PDFs in Downloads, then compress the result."

Where Orrel stops

Orrel's server runs on your Mac and makes no network requests, but the text its tools return is sent to your assistant like anything else in the conversation. It cannot delete files, edit documents or move files around; it reads, creates new files and stops processes. Search covers what Spotlight has indexed in your home folder and Applications. The screenshot tool needs Screen Recording permission for the assistant's app, not Orrel's. And it is a local server, so it works with desktop clients, not with assistants running only in a browser.