The Galactic center is host to a population of extraordinary radio filaments, thin linear structures that trace out magnetic field lines running perpendicular to the Galactic plane. Using Murriyang, the 64 m Parkes radio telescope, Lower et al. conducted a search for pulsars centered on the position of a compact source in the bright filament G359.0-0.2. They discovered a millisecond pulsar (MSP), PSR J1744-2946, with a rotational period of 8.4 milli-seconds, that is in a 4.8 hr circular orbit around a lower-mass companion. The pulsar dispersion measure of 673 pc/cm^3 and Faraday rotation measure of 3011 rad/m^2 are the largest of any known MSP. Its radio pulses are moderately scattered due to multipath propagation through the interstellar medium. Using MeerKAT, they localized the pulsar to a point source embedded in a faint radio filament, the “Sunfish”, that is unrelated to G359.0-0.2. Our discovery of the first MSP within one degree of the Galactic center hints at a large population of these objects detectable via high-frequency surveys. The association with a filament points to pulsars as the energy source responsible for illuminating the Galactic center radio filaments.