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macOS MCP server providing advanced system monitoring and file search capabilities

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macOS Internal Tools MCP Server

A MCP server for macOS that provides advanced system monitoring and file search capabilities.

MCP Server Screenshot macOS Tools Server MCP server

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Table of Contents

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

Requirements

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

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

  2. Developer Tools (for process monitoring):

    • Install Xcode Command Line Tools if not already installed:
    xcode-select --install

How to install

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:

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

  1. Save the configuration file and restart Claude Desktop.

  2. 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

MCP Installer

Or you can use mcp-installer for installing it directly, without opening config files.

Just type in claude

Hey Claude, install the MCP server named macos-tools-mcp

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:

await callTool("system_performance", {
  action: "current",
  metric: "all"
});

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

await callTool("system_performance", {
  action: "processes",
  metric: "cpu"
});

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"
});

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

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

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

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

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
  • Integration with Time Machine for file version search

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