Filesystem extension: Frequent timeout or outright failures since claude desktop 1.1.1520

[alanbork]

Describe the bug
For the last three days I have been having frequent timeouts where any sort of filesystem extension activity results in either a delay of minutes before it resolves or the claude desktop app just gives up entirely and deletes the last few chat messages. I also get frequent messages where the edits that it attempts to make are failed. Nothing has changed in my setup and it worked great for the last two weeks before this.

Logs

2026-02-01T15:29:43.550Z [Filesystem] [info] Initializing server... { metadata: undefined }
2026-02-01T15:29:43.607Z [Filesystem] [info] Using built-in Node.js for MCP server: Filesystem { metadata: undefined }
2026-02-01T15:29:43.636Z [Filesystem] [info] Server started and connected successfully { metadata: undefined }
2026-02-01T15:29:43.870Z [Filesystem] [info] Message from client: {"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-06-18","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"claude-ai","version":"0.1.0"}},"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":0} { metadata: undefined }
2026-02-01T15:30:03.229Z [Filesystem] [info] Message from server: {"result":{"protocolVersion":"2025-06-18","capabilities":{"tools":{}},"serverInfo":{"name":"secure-filesystem-server","version":"0.2.0"}},"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":0} { metadata: undefined }
2026-02-01T15:30:03.231Z [Filesystem] [info] Message from client: {"method":"notifications/initialized","jsonrpc":"2.0"} { metadata: undefined }
2026-02-01T15:30:03.232Z [Filesystem] [info] Message from client: {"method":"tools/list","params":{},"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1} { metadata: undefined }
2026-02-01T15:30:03.241Z [Filesystem] [info] Message from server: {"result":{"tools":[{"name":"read_file","description":"Read the complete contents of a file as text. DEPRECATED: Use read_text_file instead.","inputSchema":{"type":"object","properties":{"path":{"type":"string"},"tail":{"type":"number","description":"If pr...[7463 chars truncated]...ies within these allowed directories are also accessible. Use this to understand which directories and their nested paths are available before trying to access files.","inputSchema":{"type":"object","properties":{},"required":[]}}]},"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1} { metadata: undefined }
2026-02-01T15:32:27.000Z [Filesystem] [info] Message from client: {"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"write_file","arguments":{"path":"C:\prj\claude\JIGSAW_GAME_DESIGN_BACKUP.md","content":"# Jigsaw Puzzle Game - Design Document\nStatus: Phase 2 Complete | Updated: 2025-02-01\n\n## Project Overview\n\nA stand...[15203 chars truncated]...uzzle.html?image=${encodeURIComponent(imageFile)}&level=${level}&multiplier=${multiplier}`;\n// Result: puzzle.html?image=images%2Falpine%20meadow---ytiles%3D10%20bcolor%3D00000%20wcolor%3Daa0000.jpg&level=1&multiplier=1.0\n```\n"}},"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2} { metadata: undefined }
2026-02-01T15:32:27.047Z [Filesystem] [info] Message from server: {"result":{"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Successfully wrote to C:\prj\claude\JIGSAW_GAME_DESIGN_BACKUP.md"}]},"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2} { metadata: undefined }

[alanbork]

This is an example where it worked but was very very slow to proceed.

[timourAzami]

I have similar issues from today - FileSystem is broken. If re-enabled it responds probably 1-2 times and after that is not accessible by Claude Desktop. Server disconnect messages can be found in mcp-server-Filesystem.log.

[ericalba]

Additional Confirmation - macOS Projects User

Environment:

• macOS 26.2
• Claude Desktop: 1.1.1520 (48ced7)
• filesystem-local MCP server
• Using Claude Desktop Projects

Timeline:

• Sessions 162-165 (last 4 sessions): Progressive degradation
• Session 163: Brief success after reinstall, then mid-session failure
• Session 165 (today): Non-functional from start

Symptoms:

• "No result received from client-side tool execution"
• Initially missing ALLOWED_DIRECTORIES (fixed)
• After config fix: Works briefly, then fails in new conversations
• Particularly impacts Projects feature

Pattern:
Intermittent → permanent failure, even with correct configuration

Workaround:
Using create_file() + present_files() with manual file operations

Confirms widespread MCP filesystem issues as of Feb 1, 2026.

[dvriezen1]

I have the same issue on both Mac and PC

[mindflux007-maker]

Windows 11. Same issue since Friday. I have tried all suggest fixes and all fail

[FunTimeCoding]

Same issue, macOS, Claude Desktop, looks like this:

[Martin-OSX]

Same issue (on Windows 11). Failure of the filesystem updates has also led to Claude forgetting actions - so code changes are made but Claude has no memory of making them.

[Harakty]

Windows 11 App affected. Claude rarely is able to complete tasks.

[olaservo]

Hi @alanbork and others chiming in on this issue - could you confirm whether you're installing the server from the Desktop Extension menu or some other way? And what version of the server is installed? Want to make sure we're ending this to the right place, since the extension version isn't supported by this repo, but I believe it shares some code.

[alanbork]

For me personally, the filesystem extension is installed via the extension menu in calude desktop. it shows 0.2. EG this bit of UI.

[FunTimeCoding]

@alanbork I've edited ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

❯ podman image ls | grep filesystem
docker.io/mcp/filesystem latest 5769c3f4347e 7 months ago 174 MB

and am running it like this:

    "filesystem": {
      "command": "/opt/podman/bin/podman",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--interactive",
        "--rm",
        "--name",
        "filesystem-mcp-desktop",
        "--mount",
        "type=bind,src=/Users/shiin/src/go-library,dst=/projects/go-library",
        "docker.io/mcp/filesystem:latest",
        "/projects"
      ]
    }

[jferg-workwave]

I've also been plagued by this for the past couple of days (using the Desktop Filesystem Extension on MacOS) - I just updated to desktop 1.1.1890 and it seems to have fixed things, at least for the moment.