TYPO3 fileadmin from chat: check usage, rename, reorganise, import

Every TYPO3 fileadmin collects files called IMG_4711.JPG or tent_view_final_final.jpg, and nobody knows which ones are still in use. With TYPO3 MCP your AI assistant checks where each file is used and gives files clear names. It moves the unused ones to a review folder and imports a file from a URL. We ran all four on our demo install, then put every step back. MCP, the Model Context Protocol, lets an assistant such as Claude work inside TYPO3 through tools that AI Foundation provides for free. One rule comes first: file changes act at once, with no dry run and no undo.

Start with a question, not a change: Which images and PDFs in our Mustermann Outdoor folders and in user_upload have messy names, and which of them are not used on any page? The assistant listed the folders and found five messy names. Then it checked usage in two places:

• File fields. An image on a page is a file reference. Two of the five files had one: IMG_4711.JPG on the E-Bikes hero, in English and German, and DSC00123__2_.jpg on the Ridge 2 hero.
• Links in text. A PDF is often linked from a text, not attached. Garantiebedingungen_v3_FINAL.pdf had no file reference, but the Manuals and downloads text links it.

So only two files were really unused: tent_view_final_final.jpg and Wasserhahn_alt.jpg. A check of file fields alone would have called the warranty PDF unused. Ask for both checks, every time.

The second request: Rename IMG_4711.JPG and DSC00123__2_.jpg to names that say what they show. They must stay on their pages. The assistant used file_rename twice, with e-bikes-hero.jpg and ridge-2-tent-hero.jpg as new names. Then it checked:

1. The page still shows the image. TYPO3 keeps the file's record and its ID when a file is renamed. The reference on the E-Bikes page still points at it. The page answered as before.
2. The file's own URL changed. The new URL answered, the old one answered 404. A link to the old file name in a newsletter or on another site breaks.

The third request moved the two unused images into a new folder, to-review-unused, with directory_create and file_move. A review folder is the safer choice than a delete: someone can still say we need that one before anything is gone.

The fourth request: Import our Ridge 2 press photo from this URL into the products folder as ridge-2-press-photo.jpg. The assistant used file_upload_from_url. TYPO3 downloaded the file on the server and answered with three useful facts:

• The file's ID in TYPO3, ready to place on a page.
• A next step: the file is stored, but on no page yet.
• A checksum. Ours matched ridge-2-alpine-lake.jpg, a file already in the folder. The import was a duplicate, and nothing warned about it. Compare the checksum before you place a new file.

Files, file metadata, redirects, scheduler tasks and cache clears act at once. A file change is not part of a TYPO3 draft workspace, and records_undo does not reach it. So the way back is the opposite operation, and it is your job to note it before each step. We did that on our demo:

• The renames went back to the old names.
• The moves went back to user_upload.
• The import went to the demo's recycler folder, as did the empty review folder.

Afterwards the old file URLs answered again and the E-Bikes page showed its image as before. We show you each check on our demo, so you see what to look at on yours.

What the assistant cannot do for you

• It cannot undo a file change. The opposite operation is the way back; note it first.
• It does not set redirects for renamed files. Old links to a file break.
• It sees only the usage you ask for. Ask for file fields and links in text.
• It cannot decide what to keep. An unused file can still be needed. That is your call.

The video for this episode asks for the usage check and the rename in Claude on our demo install, then shows the renamed file in the TYPO3 file list and the E-Bikes page with its image on the website. Shown in Claude; other MCP assistants work too.

This job uses AI Foundation's core tools, which are free and open source, no licence key, no registration. AI Assistant, AI Accessibility, AI Chatbot and AI Search add their own MCP tools for writing, translation, alt text, chatbots and search. Each needs its own licence. Together with AI Foundation they bring 100+ MCP tools.

What your assistant reads, it sends to its vendor, as with any chat. Keep that in mind before you let it read pages that are not public yet.

The other post of this episode copies a campaign page with all its subpages, and shows where the copy still needs you. Episode 7 sets pages to go live and expire on a date and follows an editor through a working day with MCP. Episode 3 changed one phone number in many places, and episode 5 introduced draft workspaces, which hold page changes but not file changes. If you are new to the series, start with TYPO3 MCP use cases: what you can hand to an AI assistant, on one map.

The series comes from T3Planet by NITSAN Technologies, a TYPO3 Association Gold Member with more than 15 years of TYPO3 work. Its episodes are written by Jürgen, our AI Consultant for TYPO3. Every episode runs its job on our demo install before it is published.

All episodes of MCP in Practice for TYPO3