@essentialai/mcp-multi-edit

Multi Edit MCP Server

An MCP server that gives Claude the ability to perform multiple find-and-replace operations in a single tool call with guaranteed atomicity -- all edits succeed or none apply.

Built by Essential AI Solutions for Claude Code and Claude Desktop.

Why Multi Edit?

Claude's built-in Edit tool handles one find-and-replace per call. When renaming a variable across a file or refactoring multiple files, that means dozens of individual tool calls -- each consuming context tokens and adding latency.

Multi Edit batches them into a single call:

Without multi_edit:      105 tool calls   |   15,750 tokens
With multi_edit:          21 tool calls   |    7,850 tokens   (-80% calls, -50% tokens)
With multi_edit_files:     6 tool calls   |    4,550 tokens   (-94% calls, -71% tokens)

Benchmarks run on realistic scenarios (bulk rename, logging migration, cross-file refactor). See benchmarks/results/BENCHMARK-REPORT.md for full details.

Quick Start

Claude Code

Add .mcp.json to your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Multi Edit from Essential AI Solutions (essentialai.uk)": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@essentialai/mcp-multi-edit"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Code. Then add the included CLAUDE.md to your project root so Claude automatically prefers multi_edit over the built-in Edit tool:

## Editing Files

When making multiple edits to the same file or across multiple files,
prefer using the `multi_edit` and `multi_edit_files` MCP tools over
the built-in Edit tool. These batch edits atomically in a single call.

That's it -- Claude will now use multi_edit whenever it's the right tool for the job.

Display name: Claude Code uses the key name in mcpServers as the server's display name. You can change the key to any name you prefer.

Alternative: One-liner via CLI:

claude mcp add --transport stdio multi-edit -- npx -y @essentialai/mcp-multi-edit

Note: The CLI only accepts simple names (letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores). For the full branded display name, use the .mcp.json approach above.

Claude Desktop

Add to your config file (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Multi Edit from Essential AI Solutions (essentialai.uk)": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@essentialai/mcp-multi-edit"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop.

Full installation guide: docs/installation.md

Tools

multi_edit -- Single file, multiple edits

Batch multiple find-and-replace operations on one file. Edits apply sequentially and atomically.

{
  "file_path": "/project/src/app.ts",
  "edits": [
    { "old_string": "const oldName = getValue()", "new_string": "const newName = getValue()" },
    { "old_string": "console.log", "new_string": "logger.info", "replace_all": true }
  ]
}

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
file_path	string	required	Absolute path to the file
edits	array	required	Find-and-replace operations (applied in order)
edits[].old_string	string	required	Text to find (exact match)
edits[].new_string	string	required	Replacement text
edits[].replace_all	boolean	false	Replace all occurrences
dry_run	boolean	false	Preview changes without applying
backup	boolean	true	Create .bak backup before editing

multi_edit_files -- Multiple files, one atomic operation

Coordinate edits across multiple files. If any file fails, all files are rolled back automatically.

{
  "files": [
    {
      "file_path": "/project/src/types.ts",
      "edits": [
        { "old_string": "interface UserData {", "new_string": "interface UserProfile {" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "file_path": "/project/src/api.ts",
      "edits": [
        { "old_string": "UserData", "new_string": "UserProfile", "replace_all": true }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
files	array	required	Array of file edit operations
files[].file_path	string	required	Absolute path to the file
files[].edits	array	required	Edits for this file (same format as above)
dry_run	boolean	false	Preview changes without applying

Full usage guide with examples: docs/usage.md

Features

• Atomic operations -- all edits succeed or none apply, no partial state
• Multi-file rollback -- if any file fails, all previously changed files are restored
• Dry-run preview -- see exactly what would change before committing
• Automatic backups -- .bak files created before every edit (disable with backup: false)
• Structured errors -- machine-readable error codes with recovery hints for automatic retry
• Conflict detection -- warns when old_string matches multiple locations
• Path validation -- absolute path enforcement, symlink resolution, existence checks

Error Codes

Code	Retryable	Description
MATCH_NOT_FOUND	Yes	old_string not found in file
AMBIGUOUS_MATCH	Yes	old_string matches multiple locations
VALIDATION_FAILED	Yes	Invalid input schema
FILE_NOT_FOUND	No	File does not exist
PERMISSION_DENIED	No	Insufficient file permissions
BACKUP_FAILED	No	Could not create backup file

When retryable is true, Claude reads the recovery_hints in the response, adjusts the input, and retries automatically.

Troubleshooting guide: docs/troubleshooting.md

Requirements

• Node.js 20 or later
• Claude Code or Claude Desktop

Development

npm install           # Install dependencies
npm run build         # Compile TypeScript
npm test              # Run 264 tests
npm run test:coverage # Coverage report (90%+)
npm run benchmark     # Run benchmark suite
npm run dev           # Watch mode

Project Structure

src/
  index.ts              # MCP server entry (stdio transport)
  server.ts             # Server factory and tool registration
  tools/
    multi-edit.ts       # multi_edit tool handler
    multi-edit-files.ts # multi_edit_files tool handler
  core/
    editor.ts           # File editing engine (atomic read-modify-write)
    validator.ts        # Zod input validation schemas
    reporter.ts         # Result formatting and diff generation
    errors.ts           # Error classification and envelope creation
  types/
    index.ts            # TypeScript type definitions

Documentation

Document	Description
Installation Guide	All setup options for Claude Code and Claude Desktop
Usage Guide	Detailed tool reference with examples
Troubleshooting	Common issues and solutions
Changelog	Version history
Benchmark Report	Performance measurements

License

PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0

Free for personal and non-commercial use. For commercial licensing, contact [e-mail].

Built by Essential AI Solutions