Claude Desktop Commander connectorWhat Claude can do in your Desktop Commander account.
The Claude Desktop Commander connector exposes 26 tools. 13 read your machine, 10 write files, start or stop programs, and 3 are not clearly classified. Here: what Claude can touch on your computer, where the guardrails stop, and what gets logged.
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Why you would give Claude your files and terminal
Claude stops being a chat window that tells you what to type and starts doing it on your machine. You describe the task, and Claude reads the files, edits them, runs a program and reads its output. That is a lot of reach, which is why this page spends as long on the guardrails as on the features.
Get through a messy folder. You inherit a project nobody documented. list_directory maps the folders, start_search finds files by name or content, and read_multiple_files lets Claude read several at once before explaining how the pieces fit.
Make a precise change. A config value is wrong in three places. edit_block applies targeted replacements in text files, or cell updates in Excel files, instead of rewriting the whole document with write_file.
Run something and watch it. start_process launches a program, interact_with_process sends it commands and read_process_output reads what comes back, so Claude can test a script and report on it.
What to know first. The publisher says outright that its safety settings are not a sandbox: directory limits and blocked commands can be bypassed, and terminal commands ignore the allowed-folder list entirely. Every tool call is logged locally with its arguments, unredacted. It runs only in Claude Desktop. And nothing happens on its own: no tool fires when a file changes. For jobs that run on a schedule or an event, look at automation tools instead, a different job; our Integrations hub covers that side.
Five words before you start
The vocabulary you will meet while installing Desktop Commander in Claude.
- Connector
- The link you set up once between Claude and something you already have, here your own computer, so Claude can work there while answering.
- Tool
- One named action a connector opens to Claude. Claude picks the ones it needs by itself; the directory lists all of them by name.
- Authorization
- The step where you grant Claude the access it will use. You give it once, per person, and you can take it back the same way.
- Approval
- The confirmation Claude waits for before it goes through with something that changes your files or system, shown in the chat.
- MCP
- The shared standard connectors are built on: it is what lets an assistant like Claude talk to an outside tool, here one on your own machine.
Plug Desktop Commander into Claude in three steps
- 01
Find Desktop Commander in Claude
In Claude Desktop's settings, open Customize, then Connectors, and look for Desktop Commander in the list. On a Team or Enterprise workspace, an Owner or Primary Owner has to enable it before members can use it.
- 02
Start the connection
Click Connect on its row and follow the steps the extension shows. If something breaks later, Disconnect it and connect it again rather than editing files by hand.
- 03
Read what you are granting
Read the access screen before you confirm. It describes what the tool will be able to reach, and that is what sets the scope. Take it literally: here the scope is your files and your terminal.
The 26 tools, grouped by what they do
Desktop Commander gives Claude 26 tools: 13 that read your account, 10 that change something in it, and 3 no official source describes.
Thirteen read, ten change files or processes, three stay unclassified. Names stay exactly as Claude shows them, in English.
- 13 read
- 10 write
- 3 not documented
What Claude reads (13)
13 toolsThirteen tools that look at files, settings, searches and running programs without changing them.
get_config
Returns the full server configuration as JSON: blocked commands, default shell, allowed folders, line limits for reading and saving, and whether telemetry is on.
read_file
Opens a file from your disk, a URL, an Excel workbook or a PDF, page by page or line by line so large files stay manageable.
read_multiple_files
Loads multiple files in one go, so Claude can compare or cross-check them instead of opening each in turn.
list_directory
Gives a detailed, recursive listing of files and subfolders, two levels deep unless you ask for more.
start_search
Launches a streaming search for files by name or by content, including the content of Excel sheets.
get_more_search_results
Fetches the next page of results from a search already running, with an offset so nothing is skipped.
list_searches
Shows every search session currently running, each one still active at the moment you ask.
get_file_info
Returns detailed metadata about a file or folder, including sheet details for Excel workbooks.
read_process_output
Collects what a running program has printed so far, so Claude can tell you whether it succeeded or where it failed.
list_sessions
Lists all the terminal sessions that are currently active on the machine.
list_processes
Shows every program running on the machine, with detailed information for each one.
get_usage_stats
Reports usage statistics of Desktop Commander for your own insight, nothing more.
get_recent_tool_calls
Retrieves the recent history of tool calls with their arguments and outputs, meant for debugging and picking up context.
What Claude changes (10)
10 toolsTen tools that write files, change settings, or start and stop programs. No source describes a confirmation specific to any of them: the general rule below applies.
set_config_value
Approval: see the ruleChanges one setting by key, such as the allowed folders, the blocked commands, the default shell, the line limits or telemetry.
write_file
Approval: see the ruleSaves content to a file, either replacing what is there or appending to it, and handles Excel files too.
write_pdf
Approval: see the ruleProduces a new PDF from Markdown, or alters an existing one by inserting or deleting pages, with styling and graphics support.
create_directory
Approval: see the ruleAdds a new directory on your disk, or confirms one already exists so later steps can rely on it.
move_file
Approval: see the ruleRelocates or renames files and directories on your machine.
edit_block
Approval: see the ruleApplies targeted text replacements in a file, or updates a range of cells in an Excel file, without rewriting the rest.
start_process
Approval: see the ruleLaunches a program on your computer and detects when it is ready for input, which opens the door to running scripts, servers or shells.
interact_with_process
Approval: see the ruleSends commands to a program that is already running and gets its responses back, like typing into it yourself.
force_terminate
Approval: see the ruleForcibly ends a running terminal session, whatever it was doing at that moment.
kill_process
Approval: see the ruleStops a running program identified by its process number.
Not classified (3)
3 toolsOne has no description in any source; two are described by the publisher without a clear read or write effect on your data.
stop_search
The publisher's one-line description says it ends an active search gracefully. No source states a read or write effect on your files, so this page leaves it unclassified instead of guessing. The general approval rule further down covers it anyway, like every other tool.
give_feedback_to_desktop_commander
Described by the publisher as opening a feedback form in your browser addressed to the Desktop Commander team. No source says whether anything from your machine is passed along, so it stays unclassified here. The general approval rule described further down applies to it.
get_prompts
No source describes this tool at all. The directory sheet only gives its name, with no description next to it, so this page cannot say whether it reads or changes anything on your machine. Whatever it turns out to do, the general approval rule below covers it.
What Claude asks you before it acts
By default, Claude stops and asks for your go-ahead before each action it takes for you. On a tool that can write files and run programs, that default is your main line of defense.
On Team and Enterprise, workspace owners decide whether a member can let some actions through without being asked again. They can also cap what a connector may do for the whole organization, keeping reads open and closing writes, and nobody bypasses that from their own account. Claude works with the rights of your user account on the machine and nothing more. The official per-tool label (read-only versus write and delete) only appears in a connected account's settings.
Which plans it works on
Of the 819 sheets in the official directory, 0 shows plan availability. The connector-by-connector answer is not published anywhere: it is a real gap in the catalog.
The general rule is published. Remote connectors are open to all users on Claude, Cowork, Claude Desktop and mobile, while desktop extensions like this one install in Claude Desktop. On Team and Enterprise, an Owner or Primary Owner opens the connector for the organization before members can connect. For the current state, check this connector's sheet in the official directory.
Where this connector stops
A connector is not an automation. Claude calls these tools while it answers you: nothing starts when a file lands in a folder or a process crashes.
Only the publisher documents this connector; no Claude help page covers it. The partner badge in the directory is not a security audit, and Anthropic says on every sheet that it does not choose the tools a publisher exposes or vouch for how they behave. That matters more here than almost anywhere, since this extension reaches your terminal. For stronger isolation, the publisher points to its Docker installation. Every directory connector has its own page with us, for example the Claude affinity connector.
Need help connecting Desktop Commander to Claude?
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