FileCodeBox

What it does

FileCodeBox is a self-hosted web app for passing files and snippets of text between people: you upload something, get a short pickup code, and whoever has the code fetches it, much like collecting a parcel from a locker. Shares expire after a set time, after a set number of pickups, or never, and the files can sit on local disk, S3, OneDrive, WebDAV or OpenDAL storage. It is built on FastAPI with a Vue front end and SQLite.

The app carries its own MCP endpoint at /mcp on the same port as the web interface (12345 in the documented Docker setup), speaking Streamable HTTP. There is nothing separate to install: once the app is running, an MCP client is pointed at that address. Two tools are offered, share_text and share_file, and each returns the new share's pickup code, a link and a ready-made Markdown link, so an assistant can hand a user a file or a long piece of text without pasting it into the chat.

The MCP side only creates shares. In version 2.8.3's apps/base/mcp.py the endpoint accepts POST only, keeps no session state, and caps text shares at 222 KB; files arrive as Base64 inside the request, whose body is limited to about four thirds of the app's upload size limit (10 MB by default in core/settings.py) and never more than 64 MB.

What it needs

A running FileCodeBox instance, usually started with the project's Docker image (lanol/filecodebox, docker run with -p 12345:12345 and a data volume), then initialised once in the browser at http://localhost:12345. The MCP client must support remote Streamable HTTP servers. If guest uploads are switched off or MCP token checking is turned on in the admin settings, the client also needs the admin token as an Authorization: Bearer header.

Limits

Only two tools, and both create shares: an assistant cannot list, fetch, open or delete shares through MCP. share_file takes the file as a Base64 string in the call, so the file must already be in the assistant's hands, and large files make large requests. Text shares stop at 222 KB, and file shares are bound by the instance's upload size limit (10 MB by default), file type checks and per-IP upload rate limit. expire_style accepts day, hour, minute, forever or count, and expire_value must be above 0. The endpoint answers POST only and rejects cross-site browser requests.

Who it suits

Suits people who already run FileCodeBox, or want a self-hosted drop box, and would like an assistant to hand over generated files or long text as a pickup code or link. Because it writes to your own instance and storage, nothing goes to a third-party service. It is not a general file-system server: it cannot read back or manage what was shared, so pick a file-system or storage server when the assistant needs to read files or browse a store.