Ziplark

What is Ziplark?

Ziplark is a free, fast, cross-platform archiver that provides a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server (JSON‑RPC over stdio) as one of its three interfaces. The MCP server lets LLMs inspect, extract, and create archives using the same Rust engine as the desktop app and CLI. The server exposes read tools always (list, info, test) and write tools (extract, create) when the --allow-write flag is passed.

How to use Ziplark?

Build the MCP server from source with cargo build --release -p ziplark-mcp or install the pre‑built CLI package (which also includes ziplark-mcp) via Homebrew on macOS or Scoop on Windows. Register it in your MCP client’s configuration by pointing to the ziplark-mcp binary and optionally adding --allow-write to enable archive creation and extraction.

Key features of Ziplark

• Reads/extracts ZIP, RAR (incl. RAR5), 7z, tar, ISO 9660, and common compressed‑tar variants.
• Creates ZIP (AES‑256), 7z (AES‑256), tar, and single‑stream compressed files.
• Single zip‑slip guard protects every extraction path.
• One Rust engine drives GUI, CLI, and MCP server identically.
• MCP server provides read tools always; write tools require explicit opt‑in.
• Size‑optimized builds and no bundled Chromium for the desktop app.

Use cases of Ziplark

• Ask an LLM to inspect the contents of an archive without leaving the chat.
• Have an AI assistant extract a specific file from a remote archive using the MCP server.
• Automatically create compressed backups by instructing an agent with the MCP create tool.
• Validate archive integrity via the ziplark_test tool before further processing.
• Integrate archive management into coding workflows where an AI agent needs to handle downloads.

FAQ from Ziplark

What archive formats does Ziplark support?

Ziplark reads and extracts ZIP (including ZipCrypto), 7z, RAR/RAR5, tar, all common compressed‑tar variants (tar.gz, .bz2, .xz, .zst, .lz4), single‑stream gz/bz2/xz/zst/lz4, and ISO 9660 disc images. It can create ZIP (AES‑256), 7z, tar, and all the compressed‑single‑stream variants. RAR and ISO are extract‑only.

How do I enable write tools in the MCP server?

Pass the --allow-write argument when starting ziplark-mcp. Without it, only read tools (list, info, test) are available.

What are the runtime requirements?

The MCP server is a single Rust binary. No external dependencies or system libraries beyond the OS are required. It runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Is Ziplark free and open source?

Yes, the core engine, CLI, GUI, and MCP server are released under the MIT license. The RAR extraction component uses the UnRAR library, which is under its own license (not MIT) and may not be used to re‑create RAR compression.

Which transport and authentication does the MCP server use?

The MCP server communicates via JSON‑RPC over standard input/output (stdio) only. It does not implement network transports or authentication; the client controls access by deciding whether to include the --allow-write flag.