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.

Install

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

Restart Claude Code (/exit then claude). Run /mcp to verify -- multi-edit should show connected.

See docs/installation.md for Claude Desktop, project-level config, and other options.

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 }
  ]
}

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 }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

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

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

License

PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0

Free for personal and non-commercial use. For commercial licensing, contact support@essentialai.uk.

Built by Essential AI Solutions