Desktop Commander

Desktop Commander turns the Claude desktop app into something close to Claude Code. Claude gets a terminal and full file access, so it can run commands, edit files in place, search across folders and keep processes running in the background. It also reads and writes Excel, Word and PDF files and can run quick Python scripts to crunch data.

It's very popular with people who don't want to live in a terminal but still want Claude to do real work on their computer. Run the setup command once and restart Claude Desktop. It needs Node.js, and there's no account or API key.

Take the power seriously. Its own security notes call it a "privileged" tool: the folder limits and blocked-command list are conveniences, not hard walls, so terminal commands can reach beyond them. Use it on a machine you're comfortable with, or in Docker for real isolation. In Claude Code you mostly don't need it, because Claude Code already has a terminal and file tools.

• Run terminal commands and keep long jobs like dev servers running
• Read, write, search and edit files anywhere you allow
• Open and edit Excel, Word and PDF files directly
• Analyse CSV, JSON or Excel data by running quick Python scripts
• List and stop running programs

Open your terminal in the project folder and run:

claude mcp add --scope user desktop-commander -- npx -y @wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander@latest

Other ways to set it up:

# For Claude Desktop, this sets everything up for you:
npx @wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander@latest setup

Claude Desktop users who want Claude to actually do things on their computer.

• Claude Desktop power users
• Editing Excel and PDF files
• Quick data analysis
• Running scripts and dev servers