Roots

What it does

Roots let the client inform the server about which filesystem directories or URIs it should operate within. When a client provides roots via roots/list, the server knows the boundaries of the user's workspace. This prevents servers from accessing files outside the intended scope and enables file-aware features. Roots are informational: the server should respect them but the protocol does not enforce it.

How it works

Example implementation

const roots = await client.listRoots();
// roots = [{ uri: "file:///Users/dev/project", name: "My Project" }]

// Server uses roots to scope file operations
async function readFile(path: string) {
  if (!roots.some(r => path.startsWith(r.uri))) throw new Error("Outside workspace");
  return fs.readFile(path);
}