macOS Tools MCP Server

A comprehensive MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for macOS that provides advanced system monitoring and file search capabilities.

Table of Contents

• Features
  • System Performance Monitor
  • Enhanced File Search
• Installation
  • Prerequisites
  • Setup
  • Permissions
• Usage
  • Starting the Server
  • Claude Desktop Configuration
• Available Tools
  • system_performance
  • enhanced_search
• Architecture
  • Project Structure
  • Key Features
• Troubleshooting
• Testing the Server
  • Quick Test Prompts
  • Comprehensive Test Suite
• Security Considerations
• Contributing
• License
• Future Enhancements

Features

🖥️ System Performance Monitor

• Real-time Monitoring: Track CPU, memory, disk I/O, and network statistics
• Process Analysis: View top resource-consuming processes with detailed metrics
• Historical Tracking: Store and analyze performance data over time using SQLite
• Optimization Suggestions: Get intelligent recommendations to improve system performance

🔍 Enhanced File Search

• Deep Content Search: Search within file contents using regex or plain text
• Spotlight Integration: Leverage macOS Spotlight for fast metadata searches
• Tag Management: Create, search, and manage custom file tags using extended attributes
• Advanced Features: Fuzzy matching, boolean operators, and file type filtering

Installation

Prerequisites

• macOS 10.15 or later
• Node.js 18.0.0 or later
• npm or yarn package manager

Setup

Option 1: NPM Install (Recommended)

The easiest way to use this MCP server is through npm/npx:

# No installation needed, just add to Claude Desktop config
# See Claude Desktop Configuration section below

Option 2: From Source

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/tornikegomareli/macos-tools-mcp-server.git
cd macos-tools-mcp-server

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Build the project:

npm run build

4. Make the script executable:

chmod +x dist/index.js

Permissions

For full functionality, the server requires certain permissions:

1. Full Disk Access (recommended for file search):

   • System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Privacy → Full Disk Access
   • Add Terminal or your IDE

2. Developer Tools (for process monitoring):

   • Install Xcode Command Line Tools if not already installed:

   xcode-select --install

Usage

Starting the Server

Run the MCP server:

npm start

Or use it directly:

node dist/index.js

Claude Desktop Configuration

To use this MCP server with Claude Desktop:

1. Open your Claude Desktop configuration file:

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

2. Add the macOS Tools server to your configuration:

Using NPM (Recommended)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "macos-tools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@tgomareli/macos-tools-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Using Local Installation

If you cloned and built from source:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "macos-tools": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/path/to/macos-tools-mcp-server/dist/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

4. If you already have other MCP servers configured, add the macos-tools configuration to the existing mcpServers object:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "existing-server": {
      // ... existing configuration
    },
    "macos-tools": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/Users/tornikegomareli/Development/macos-tools-mcp/dist/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

5. Save the configuration file and restart Claude Desktop.

6. You should now see the macOS Tools server available in Claude Desktop with two tools:

   • system_performance - Monitor system resources
   • enhanced_search - Advanced file search and tagging

Available Tools

system_performance

Monitor and analyze system performance metrics.

Parameters:

• action (required): "current" | "history" | "processes" | "optimize"
• timeRange (optional): Time range for historical data ("1h", "24h", "7d")
• metric (optional): Specific metric to analyze ("cpu", "memory", "disk", "network", "all")

Examples:

// Get current system metrics
await callTool("system_performance", {
  action: "current",
  metric: "all"
});

// View performance history
await callTool("system_performance", {
  action: "history",
  timeRange: "24h",
  metric: "memory"
});

// List top processes by CPU usage
await callTool("system_performance", {
  action: "processes",
  metric: "cpu"
});

// Get optimization suggestions
await callTool("system_performance", {
  action: "optimize"
});

enhanced_search

Advanced file search with content analysis and tagging capabilities.

Parameters:

• action (required): "search" | "tag" | "untag"
• query (optional): Search query (supports regex)
• searchType (optional): "content" | "filename" | "tags" | "regex"
• fileTypes (optional): Array of file extensions to include
• path (optional): Root directory for search
• maxResults (optional): Maximum number of results
• tags (optional): Array of tags to search for or apply

Examples:

// Search for TODO comments in code files
await callTool("enhanced_search", {
  action: "search",
  query: "TODO|FIXME",
  searchType: "regex",
  fileTypes: ["js", "ts", "py"],
  path: "~/Projects"
});

// Tag important files
await callTool("enhanced_search", {
  action: "tag",
  path: "~/Documents/important.pdf",
  tags: ["urgent", "project-x"]
});

// Search by tags
await callTool("enhanced_search", {
  action: "search",
  searchType: "tags",
  tags: ["urgent"],
  path: "~/Documents"
});

// Search file contents
await callTool("enhanced_search", {
  action: "search",
  query: "apiKey",
  searchType: "content",
  fileTypes: ["json", "env"],
  path: "~/Projects",
  maxResults: 50
});

Architecture

Project Structure

macos-tools-mcp/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts              # MCP server entry point
│   ├── tools/
│   │   ├── performance-monitor.ts
│   │   ├── spotlight-enhanced.ts
│   │   └── types.ts
│   └── utils/
│       ├── system-info.ts    # macOS system calls
│       ├── file-search.ts    # File search utilities
│       └── cache.ts          # Performance caching
├── dist/                     # Compiled JavaScript
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
└── README.md

Key Features

1. Native macOS Integration

   • Uses native commands (ps, mdfind, xattr) for optimal performance
   • Leverages Spotlight index for fast searches
   • Supports macOS extended attributes for tagging

2. Performance Optimization

   • Multi-level caching system
   • Debounced operations
   • Rate limiting for system calls
   • Streaming for large files

3. Data Persistence

   • SQLite database for performance history
   • Configurable data retention
   • Efficient time-series queries

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Permission Denied Errors

   • Ensure the terminal has Full Disk Access
   • Some operations may require sudo (temperature monitoring)

2. Spotlight Not Finding Files

   • Check if Spotlight indexing is enabled
   • Verify the search path is not excluded from Spotlight

3. High CPU Usage

   • Adjust cache TTL values in cache.ts
   • Limit search depth and file types
   • Use more specific search queries

Debug Mode

Enable debug logging by setting the environment variable:

DEBUG=macos-tools-mcp node dist/index.js

Security Considerations

• All shell commands are properly escaped to prevent injection
• File paths are validated and normalized
• Sensitive directories can be excluded via configuration
• Rate limiting prevents resource exhaustion

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Commit your changes
4. Push to the branch
5. Create a Pull Request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

Testing the Server

Once you've configured the server in Claude Desktop, you can use these prompts to test all functionality:

Quick Test Prompts

1. Basic Performance Check:

   Show me my current system performance metrics

2. Process Analysis:

   What are the top 5 CPU-consuming processes on my system?

3. File Search:

   Search for TODO comments in JavaScript files in my current directory

4. System Optimization:

   Analyze my system and suggest performance optimizations

Comprehensive Test Suite

Use this comprehensive prompt to test all features:

I want to test the macOS Tools MCP server. Please help me:

1. **System Performance Testing**:
   - Show me the current system performance metrics (CPU, memory, disk, network)
   - Display the top 5 processes consuming the most CPU
   - Show me memory usage history for the last hour
   - Analyze my system and provide optimization suggestions
   - Get the top memory-consuming processes

2. **File Search Testing**:
   - Search for all JavaScript and TypeScript files containing "TODO" or "FIXME" comments in my home directory
   - Find all files with "test" in their filename in the current project directory
   - Search for files containing the word "password" in configuration files (.json, .env, .yml)
   - Use regex to find all email addresses in text files
   - Search for files modified in the last 24 hours

3. **Tag Management Testing**:
   - Tag this file with "important" and "reviewed": /Users/tornikegomareli/Development/macos-tools-mcp/README.md
   - Search for all files tagged with "important"
   - Remove the "reviewed" tag from the README file
   - Tag all TypeScript files in the src directory with "source-code"

4. **Combined Operations**:
   - Monitor system performance while performing a large file search
   - Find resource-intensive processes and then search for their log files
   - Show current disk usage and search for large files (> 100MB)

5. **Edge Cases**:
   - Search in a non-existent directory
   - Try to tag a file I don't have permission to modify
   - Request performance data for an invalid time range
   - Search with an invalid regex pattern

Expected Behaviors

• Performance Monitor: Should return real-time metrics, process lists, historical data, and optimization suggestions
• File Search: Should find files by content, name, or tags, with support for regex patterns
• Tag Operations: Should successfully add/remove tags and search by them
• Error Handling: Should gracefully handle permission errors, invalid paths, and malformed queries

Future Enhancements

• [ ] GPU monitoring support
• [ ] Network connection analysis
• [ ] Application-specific performance tracking
• [ ] Cloud backup for performance data
• [ ] Machine learning-based optimization suggestions
• [ ] Integration with Time Machine for file version search