Aperture

Local filesystem access for claude.ai browser users. Aperture runs a local MCP bridge with secure public tunnel, giving Claude desktop app-like file access without installation.

What It Does

The Claude Desktop app can read and write your local files through MCP filesystem tools. If you use claude.ai in a browser tab, you don't get those tools by default.

Aperture fixes that by running a local bridge on your computer and exposing it to claude.ai via a secure public tunnel. No Desktop app required.

Python MCP SSH Tunnel HTTPS Flask

Active Development

How It Works

claude.ai (browser) → HTTPS → Serveo tunnel → Aperture MCP server → Your filesystem

Three components run on your machine:

aperture.py — HTTP bridge on localhost:8765, handles filesystem operations
aperture-mcp-server.py — MCP SSE server on localhost:10000, translates MCP protocol to bridge calls
Serveo tunnel — SSH-based tunnel, gives claude.ai a public HTTPS URL to reach your machine

Claude gets seven filesystem tools: read_file, write_file, list_directory, create_directory, move_file, get_file_info, list_allowed_directories.

Security: localhost-only bridge, session tokens, explicit directory allowlist. You control exactly what Claude can access.

Quick Start

Installation is automated and takes 2-3 minutes:

bash install-aperture.sh

The installer handles everything: dependency checks, Python packages, directory setup, subdomain configuration, and optional systemd autostart.

After installation, use aperture-start.sh to manage the service:

aperture-start.sh — Start (reads config from ~/.aperture.conf)
aperture-start.sh --status — Check status and get connector URL
aperture-start.sh --stop — Stop all processes

Repository → Full Documentation →