Text Diff (Python) MCP server

This MCP server implements text difference functionality using Python's difflib library. It allows you to compare two text strings and obtain their differences in Unified diff format, making it useful for tasks like code comparison, document versioning, or text analysis.

Installation

To use the MCP server for text differences, you have two installation options:

Quick Installation

The fastest way to install is using uvx:

uvx mcp-server-diff-python

Manual Installation

For more control, you can clone the repository and set it up manually:

git clone https://github.com/tatn/mcp-server-diff-python.git
cd mcp-server-diff-python
uv sync
uv build

Configuration

Setting Up with Claude Desktop

To use this server with Claude Desktop, you need to add configuration to your Claude Desktop config file:

On MacOS: Edit ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

On Windows: Edit %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Configuration Options

Method 1: Using uvx (Recommended)

"mcpServers": {
  "mcp-server-diff-python": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": [
      "mcp-server-diff-python"
    ]
  }
}

Method 2: Using a local installation

"mcpServers": {
  "mcp-server-diff-python": {
    "command": "uv",
    "args": [
      "--directory",
      "path\\to\\mcp-server-diff-python",
      "run",
      "mcp-server-diff-python"
    ]
  }
}

Using the Diff Server

Available Tool

The server provides a single tool:

• get-unified-diff: Generates differences between two texts in Unified diff format

Tool Arguments

To use the get-unified-diff tool, you need to provide:

• string_a: The source text for comparison (required)
• string_b: The target text to compare against (required)

The tool will return a string containing the differences in Unified diff format.

Example Usage

When using Claude with this MCP server configured, you can ask Claude to compare texts:

1. "Please show me the differences between these two code snippets..."
2. "Compare these two paragraphs and highlight the changes..."
3. "What changed between version A and version B of this text?"

Claude will use the diff tool to generate a clear comparison showing what was added, removed, or changed between the texts.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "mcp-server-diff-python" '{"command":"uvx","args":["mcp-server-diff-python"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp-server-diff-python": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-server-diff-python"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp-server-diff-python": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-server-diff-python"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect