MCP Directory

How to add Safe Docx to Claude Desktop

Local MCP server for surgical, formatting-preserving edits to existing Word (.docx) and OpenDocument (.odt) files. Paste the config into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json and restart Claude Desktop.

Last updated June 14, 2026 · 32★ · stdio · no auth

Claude Desktop config for Safe Docx

npx -y @usejunior/safe-docx
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "safe-docx": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@usejunior/safe-docx"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Setup steps

  1. 1Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config (this opens ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json).
  2. 2Paste the Safe Docx config below under the top-level "mcpServers" key.
  3. 3Fill in any placeholder secrets (API keys, paths) in the snippet.
  4. 4Save the file, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.
  5. 5Open a chat and confirm Safe Docx's tools appear under the 🔌 tools menu.

Before you start

  • Node.js (run via npx)
  • An MCP client such as Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Gemini CLI

What Safe Docx can do in Claude Desktop

read_file

Read an existing .docx/.odt file in a token-efficient format (e.g. toon), returning paragraphs with stable 12-char hex paragraph IDs.

grep

Search a document for a pattern and return the matching paragraph(s) and their IDs.

replace_text

Surgically replace old_string with new_string in a targeted paragraph, preserving formatting; accepts an instruction for tracked-change attribution.

insert_paragraph

Insert a new paragraph into an existing document while preserving structure and formatting.

add_comment

Add a comment to a document (works on both .docx and .odt).

get_comments

Retrieve existing comments from a document.

save

Save the edited document to a local path; supports clean and tracked-changes outputs (save_format: clean, tracked, or both).

compare_documents

Compare two documents (or a live editing session against its original) and write a tracked-changes redline — DOCX, or a native ODF redline for .odt that round-trips in LibreOffice.

Security

Runs entirely on your local machine; no document content is sent to external servers. Word template files (.dotx) are rejected — convert to a normal .docx first. No rendering, layout, or pagination guarantees; documents are validated structurally and against ECMA-376, not pixel-by-pixel.

Safe Docx + Claude Desktop FAQ

Where is the Claude Desktop config file?

Claude Desktop reads MCP servers from ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Paste the Safe Docx config there under the "mcpServers" key and restart the client.

Is Safe Docx safe to use with Claude Desktop?

Runs entirely on your local machine; no document content is sent to external servers. Word template files (.dotx) are rejected — convert to a normal .docx first. No rendering, layout, or pagination guarantees; documents are validated structurally and against ECMA-376, not pixel-by-pixel.

Does this preserve formatting during edits?

Yes — that is a core design goal. The tool surface is built around surgical operations (replace_text, insert_paragraph, layout controls) that preserve document structure and formatting semantics as much as possible.

Does this require .NET, Python, or LibreOffice in normal runtime usage?

No. Supported runtime usage is JavaScript/TypeScript with jszip and @xmldom/xmldom.

Can this generate documents from scratch?

The @usejunior/docx-core library ships generateDocx(spec) for declarative generation, but the MCP server does not yet expose a generate_document tool. Brownfield editing of existing documents is the primary focus.

View repo Full Safe Docx page