Description

The directory_tree tool returns structured content (array of content blocks) while Claude Code's MCP client expects a plain string for the content field. This causes a validation error when using the tool.

Error Message

MCP error -32602: Output validation error: Invalid structured content for tool directory_tree: [
  {
    "expected": "string",
    "code": "invalid_type",
    "path": [
      "content"
    ],
    "message": "Invalid input: expected string, received array"
  }
]

Reproduction

1. Configure filesystem MCP server in Claude Code
2. Call directory_tree tool with any valid path
3. Observe validation error

Analysis

• list_directory returns: {"content": "string here"} ✅ works
• directory_tree returns: {"content": [{"type": "text", "text": "..."}]} ❌ fails validation

Tested versions:

• 2025.11.25 (latest) - fails
• 2025.8.21 - fails
• 2025.7.29 - fails
• 2025.1.14 - fails
• 0.6.2 - tool doesn't exist

All date-based versions return the array format for directory_tree.

Expected Behavior

Either:

1. directory_tree should return string content like list_directory does
2. Or Claude Code's validation schema should be updated to accept structured content arrays

Environment

• OS: Linux (WSL2)
• Node: via npx
• Claude Code: latest
• @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem: 2025.11.25