`read_local_files`¶

Read a file from the project (or anywhere the configured filesystem MCP server can see) and answer questions about its contents — the canonical example of an MCP-backed stdlib skill.

When to use¶

The user asks about a file by name or path: "What does pyproject.toml declare?", "Summarise the licence section of README".
The router emits read_local_files when the request is filesystem-shaped and a configured filesystem server is available.

When NOT to use¶

For free-form code search across the project — that's web_research or grep-style ops, not single-file reads.
For files inside .reyn/ that the OS already reads via default file.read permissions — no MCP detour needed.
For binary files; the underlying tool is read_text_file.

Required setup¶

Setup checklist¶

MCP filesystem server — add mcp.servers.filesystem to reyn.yaml (see block below).
Permission pre-approval — add mcp.filesystem: allow to the permissions: block in reyn.yaml. Without this, Reyn prompts interactively on every MCP call; in headless / non-TTY environments (CI, piped stdin, dogfood scripts) the prompt cannot be answered and every call returns permission_denied, causing the skill to exit empty.
See cookbook/configs/with-mcp.yaml for a complete working example — copy it to your project root and rename to reyn.yaml.

A filesystem MCP server MUST be configured in reyn.yaml under that exact name. Paste the block below into your existing reyn.yaml (both mcp and permissions sections are required):

permissions:
  mcp.filesystem: allow   # required for headless / non-TTY execution

mcp:
  servers:
    filesystem:
      type: stdio
      command: npx
      args: ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "."]

See How-to: use an MCP server for the full setup walkthrough, including installing the [mcp] extra.

Phases¶

Phase	Purpose
`read_and_respond`	Entry phase. Resolves the requested path, emits an `mcp` op against `filesystem`, formats the response. May finish with `file_content_response`, or transition for follow-up.

The phase declares permissions.mcp: [filesystem] in its frontmatter.

Final output: `file_content_response`¶

Field	Type	Purpose
`path`	string	The path that was read (as resolved by the server)
`content`	string	File contents, or the answer derived from them
`summary`	string (optional)	One-paragraph synopsis when the user asked for a summary rather than raw text

Examples¶

Sample prompts that route here:

"Read README.md and tell me what reyn is."
"What licences are mentioned in LICENSE?"
"Summarise the philosophy section of docs/concepts/principles.md."

Sample prompts that DO NOT route here:

"Find all TODO comments in the repo." → broader search; not a single-file read.
"What's in .reyn/events.jsonl?" → handled by default file.read, no MCP.

Source¶

src/reyn/stdlib/skills/read_local_files/

read_local_files¶