juergenkoller-software/distill-mcp

**Let Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client rename files for you — automatically, based on content.**
This is the official Model Context Protocol bridge for **Distill** — a native macOS app that uses AI (Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama, or Apple Intelligence) to read your files and rename them with descriptive, consistent names. No more IMG_4521.jpg or Scan_003.pdf — get 250401 Invoice Telekom.pdf instead.
> **You need the Distill app installed and running.** This MCP server is a stdio→HTTP bridge — the actual file analysis happens in the app. Get Distill at store.juergenkoller.software/apps/distill.
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What you can do
> "Claude, look at the 47 PDFs in ~/Downloads, rename them based on content, but show me the suggestions first."
The MCP server exposes **9 tools**:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| rename_files | Analyze file content with AI and rename with descriptive names |
| suggest_names | Suggest new names without renaming (preview mode) |
| revert_rename | Undo a previous rename |
| get_rename_history | Show the rename history (timestamps, before/after, AI provider used) |
| watch_folder | Add a folder to auto-monitoring (new files get renamed in the background) |
| app_status | Current state, AI provider, credits left, watched folders |
| set_provider | Switch AI provider — Claude, OpenAI GPT-4o, Gemini, Ollama (local), Apple Intelligence |
| get_rules | Show naming rules (date format, casing, categories, custom templates) |
| set_rules | Update naming rules |
Distill reads PDFs, images (via OCR), Office documents, emails, HTML, RTF, and media files. It extracts date, category, description, sender, and amounts — then builds filenames using your configurable rules.
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Installation
Prerequisites
1. **macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later**
2. **Distill app installed and running** — get it here (free, pay-per-use credits start at €1.99 / 100 renames)
3. **Swift 5.9+** (Xcode 15+) if building from source
Build from source
Pre-built binary
Grab the latest DistillMCP from Releases.
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Configuration
Claude Desktop
Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:
Find DISTILL_TOKEN in **Distill → Settings → API & MCP**.
Claude Code
Cursor / other MCP clients
Same pattern — DistillMCP is a stdio MCP server, configured via the two env vars above.
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How it works
The bridge reads JSON-RPC 2.0 requests from stdin, forwards them to Distill's local HTTP server at 127.0.0.1:22200/mcp, and writes responses back to stdout. All AI calls (Claude/OpenAI/Gemini/Ollama/Apple Intelligence), file reading (OCR, PDF extraction, Office parsing), credit tracking, and naming logic happen inside the Distill app.
This split lets the wire format stay open-source (audit it, sandbox it, run it through any MCP runtime) while the heavy lifting stays in the app.
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Environment variables
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| DISTILL_PORT | 22200 | Port of Distill's local HTTP server |