Toolofficial publisher

text_editor (Anthropic)

Tool : A precise action the AI can call · requires anthropic-api

View, create, and replace text in files, client-side.

The bash companion for clean file editing; confine it to the project folder.

Docs

Overall score

6.6 /10

Security: one caveat, see the card

Utility

7.0

Reliability

6.0

Security

One caveat

Ease

5 min · Technical

Security reflects where data goes, requested permissions and incidents on record at the verification date. It is not a guarantee of zero risk: check the deployment mode and the connections you enable.

What it does, concretely

When asking Claude to fix or improve code, it usually responds with textual suggestions that you must apply yourself. The text_editor tool changes that: it lets Claude act directly on files, reading them, modifying them, and creating new ones, without manual intervention between each step.

Concretely, the tool exposes four commands that Claude can call via the API: view to read a file or list a directory, str_replace to replace a precise portion of text, create to create a new file with given content, and insert to add text at a specific line. Your application executes each command client-side and returns the result to Claude, which then chains the necessary actions.

This tool is aimed at developers building agents or coding assistants via the Anthropic API. Typical use cases include bug fixing, refactoring, adding documentation, and generating unit tests from existing code.

It is not suited for general public use without a dedicated interface: integration requires writing code to handle the call loop and results. Users looking for a ready-to-use coding assistant should look for environments that already integrate this tool.

What it offers

·Reading files or entire directories via the view command, with the option to target a specific line range.
·Surgical text replacement with str_replace, which requires an exact match including whitespace and indentation.
·Creating new files with full content via the create command.
·Inserting text at a precise line in an existing file using the insert command.
·max_characters parameter to truncate display of large files and control token consumption (available from version text_editor_20250728 onwards).
·Integration into multi-step flows: Claude automatically chains reading, analysis, and modification without manual intervention between calls.

Our tips

Include line numbers in the content returned to Claude during a view call: they are essential for view_range and insert_line commands to work correctly.
Use the max_characters parameter to limit the amount of text returned for large files and avoid excessive token consumption; this parameter is only available with version text_editor_20250728 or later.
For str_replace, copy the old_str string exactly as it appears in the file, including spaces and indentation: any difference will cause the replacement to fail.
Combine this tool with the bash tool for complete tasks: text_editor handles file modifications, bash runs and tests the modified code.
Restrict the file scope exposed to Claude to only the relevant project folder, to reduce the risk of unwanted modifications to other parts of the system.

Watch out

The str_replace command requires an exact match of the text to replace: a single space or indentation difference is enough to cause the operation to fail silently or return an error.
The tool runs client-side, meaning your application is the one actually reading and writing files: poor management of the exposed scope can lead to unwanted modifications outside the project folder.

In practice

Price: Free
Commercial use: Commercial use: yes
Available on: api
Host: anthropic-api
FR interface: No

Security and data

Rating: Security: one caveat, see the card
Capabilities: readswritesexecutesnetwork
Your data: Data stays local
Maintenance: Active

Links and repository checked on 25 October 2026 · added on 1 January 2025

How to install text_editor (Anthropic)

1. Obtain an Anthropic API key at platform.claude.com. 2. Install the Anthropic Python or TypeScript SDK in your project. 3. In your client.messages.create call, add the tool with type "text_editor_20250728" and name "str_replace_based_edit_tool". 4. Optionally add the max_characters parameter to limit the size of files read. 5. Implement the client-side loop: intercept each tool_use, execute the command on the local file system, and return the result in a tool_result. 6. Restrict accessible files to the project folder only to avoid unwanted modifications.

tools=[{"type":"text_editor_20250728","name":"str_replace_based_edit_tool"}]

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