mcp-pdf

PDF MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides AI assistants with comprehensive PDF manipulation capabilities. This server enables natural language interactions with PDF documents through powerful editing, form filling, page manipulation, and security tools.

🚀 Quick Install

For Claude Desktop Users

Quick Setup (NPX - No Installation Required):

• Add to Claude Desktop config (see Installation section below)
• Restart Claude Desktop
• Start using PDF tools!

Or Install Globally:

npm install -g mcp-pdf
# Then configure Claude Desktop (see Installation section)

For Cursor IDE Users

• Configure Cursor MCP settings (see Installation section below)
• Restart Cursor IDE
• PDF tools will be available in chat!

✨ Tip: Use NPX method - no installation required! The package downloads automatically when needed.

✨ Features

📄 Document Operations

• Open PDFs - Load and read PDF files with session management
• Create PDFs - Generate new blank PDF documents
• Save PDFs - Save modified PDFs to file system
• Get Info - Retrieve metadata, page count, size, encryption status

📝 Form Operations

• List Form Fields - Discover all form fields with types and values
• Fill Form Field - Populate a single form field (text, checkbox, radio, dropdown)
• Fill Form Fields - Fill multiple form fields at once with a single operation
• Get Form Values - Export all form data
• Flatten Forms - Make form fields non-editable

✏️ Editing Operations

• Add Text - Insert text at specific coordinates with styling
• Add Images - Embed images into PDF pages
• Add Annotations - Create comments, highlights, and notes
• Add Watermarks - Apply text or image watermarks to all pages
• Modify Metadata - Update title, author, subject, keywords

📑 Page Operations

• List Pages - Get page dimensions and information
• Merge PDFs - Combine multiple PDF documents
• Split PDFs - Split PDF into separate files (one per page)
• Rotate Pages - Rotate specific pages
• Delete Pages - Remove pages from PDF
• Extract Pages - Extract pages to new PDF file

✍️ Signature Operations

• Visual Signatures - Add image-based signatures
• Signature Fields - Create signature fields in forms
• Digital Signatures - Apply digital signatures with certificates (requires implementation)
• Verify Signatures - Check existing digital signatures

🔒 Security Operations

• Encrypt PDFs - Add password protection (limited support)
• Set Permissions - Control printing, copying, editing permissions
• Get Security Info - Check encryption and permission status

📤 Export Operations

• Extract Text - Extract all text content (requires additional implementation)
• Extract Images - Extract embedded images (requires additional implementation)
• Export Form Data - Export form data to JSON or CSV
• Compress PDFs - Optimize PDF file size

🛠️ Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or higher) - Download Node.js
• Cursor IDE or Claude Desktop installed

📱 Installation for Cursor IDE

Cursor IDE supports MCP servers through its configuration. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Install Node.js

Ensure Node.js (v18 or higher) is installed:

node --version  # Should be v18.0.0 or higher

Step 2: Configure Cursor IDE

• Open Cursor Settings:

  • Press Cmd+, (macOS) or Ctrl+, (Windows/Linux) to open settings
  • Or go to Cursor → Settings → Features → Model Context Protocol

• Add MCP Server Configuration:

  The configuration file location depends on your OS:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/globalStorage/mcp.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\globalStorage\mcp.json
  • Linux: ~/.config/Cursor/User/globalStorage/mcp.json

• Edit the Configuration File:

  Create or edit the mcp.json file and add:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "mcp-pdf": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "mcp-pdf"]
      }
    }
  }
  

  Alternative (if using global installation):

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "mcp-pdf": {
        "command": "pdf-mcp"
      }
    }
  }
  

• Restart Cursor IDE:

  • Completely quit Cursor (not just close the window)
  • Reopen Cursor to apply the changes

• Verify Installation:

  • Open a chat in Cursor
  • The PDF tools should now be available in the MCP tools menu

🖥️ Installation for Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop uses a configuration file to connect to MCP servers.

Step 1: Install Node.js

Ensure Node.js (v18 or higher) is installed:

node --version  # Should be v18.0.0 or higher

Step 2: Install the Package (Optional but Recommended)

Option A: Use NPX (No Installation Required)

# No installation needed - npx will download and run automatically

Option B: Install Globally

npm install -g mcp-pdf

Step 3: Configure Claude Desktop

• Locate the Configuration File:

  The configuration file location depends on your OS:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
  • Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

• Create or Edit the Configuration File:

  If the file doesn't exist, create it. Then add or update the mcpServers section:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "mcp-pdf": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "mcp-pdf"]
      }
    }
  }
  

  If you installed globally, use:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "mcp-pdf": {
        "command": "pdf-mcp"
      }
    }
  }
  

  If you have multiple MCP servers, merge them:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "mcp-pdf": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "mcp-pdf"]
      },
      "other-server": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "other-package"]
      }
    }
  }
  

• Restart Claude Desktop:

  • Completely quit Claude Desktop (not just close the window)
  • Reopen Claude Desktop to apply the changes

• Verify Installation:

  • Open Claude Desktop
  • Start a conversation
  • The PDF tools should be available - try asking: "What PDF tools are available?"

Quick Setup Script (macOS/Linux)

You can use this command to quickly add the configuration:

# For Claude Desktop (macOS)
mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude
cat > ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json << 'EOF'
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-pdf": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-pdf"]
    }
  }
}
EOF

🔧 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. MCP server not appearing:

• Verify Node.js is installed: node --version
• Check the configuration file syntax (must be valid JSON)
• Ensure you completely restarted the application (quit and reopen)
• Check application logs for errors

2. "Command not found" errors:

• If using global installation, ensure npm global bin is in your PATH
• Try using npx method instead (no installation required)
• Verify the package name: mcp-pdf (not pdf-mcp)

3. Configuration file not found:

• Create the directory if it doesn't exist
• Ensure you're using the correct path for your OS
• Check file permissions

4. Tools not working:

• Verify the MCP server is running (check application logs)
• Ensure you're using absolute paths for PDF files
• Check that PDF files exist and are readable

Verify Installation

Test the installation:

# Test CLI (if installed globally)
pdf-mcp --version

# Test with npx
npx mcp-pdf --version

📦 Alternative Installation Methods

Install from source:

git clone https://github.com/nitaiaharoni1/pdf-mcp.git
cd pdf-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm start

🎯 Available Tools

The PDF MCP server provides 30+ powerful tools for PDF manipulation:

Document Tools

• open_pdf - Open and read PDF file information
• create_pdf - Create new blank PDF or from template
• save_pdf - Save PDF to file system
• close_pdf - Close PDF and cleanup resources
• get_pdf_info - Get metadata, page count, size, encryption status

Form Tools

• list_form_fields - List all form fields with types and values
• fill_form_field - Fill a specific form field (text, checkbox, radio, dropdown)
• fill_form_fields - Fill multiple form fields at once (batch operation)
• get_form_values - Get all current form values
• flatten_form - Flatten form to make fields non-editable

Editing Tools

• add_text - Add text to PDF at coordinates with styling
• add_image - Insert image into PDF
• add_annotation - Add comments, highlights, notes
• add_watermark - Add text or image watermark
• modify_metadata - Update title, author, subject, keywords

Page Tools

• get_pages - List all pages with dimensions
• merge_pdfs - Combine multiple PDFs
• split_pdf - Split PDF into separate files
• rotate_page - Rotate specific pages
• delete_pages - Remove pages from PDF
• extract_pages - Extract pages to new PDF

Signature Tools

• add_visual_signature - Add image-based signature
• create_signature_field - Create signature field in form
• sign_pdf_digital - Apply digital signature with certificate
• verify_signature - Verify existing digital signatures

Security Tools

• encrypt_pdf - Add password protection and permissions
• decrypt_pdf - Remove password protection
• set_permissions - Set printing, copying, editing permissions
• get_security_info - Check encryption and permissions

Export Tools

• extract_text - Extract all text content
• extract_images - Extract embedded images
• export_form_data - Export form data to JSON/CSV
• compress_pdf - Optimize PDF file size

🖥️ CLI Commands

The pdf-mcp package provides several command-line tools:

Setup Commands

• pdf-mcp init [directory] - Initialize PDF working directory

  pdf-mcp init ~/my-pdfs
  pdf-mcp init  # Uses default: ~/pdf-mcp
  

Management Commands

• pdf-mcp status - Show current configuration and active sessions

  pdf-mcp status
  

Testing Commands

• pdf-mcp test [pdf_path] - Test PDF operations with a sample PDF

  pdf-mcp test /path/to/sample.pdf
  

Information Commands

• pdf-mcp --help/-h - Show help information
• pdf-mcp --version/-v - Show version information

💡 Usage Examples

Basic PDF Operations

"Open the PDF at /path/to/document.pdf"
"Create a new PDF document"
"Save the PDF to /path/to/output.pdf"
"Get information about the current PDF"

Form Operations

"List all form fields in this PDF"
"Fill the 'name' field with 'John Doe'"
"Fill multiple form fields: name='John Doe', email='[e-mail]', agree=true"
"Get all form values"
"Flatten the form to make it non-editable"

Editing Operations

"Add text 'DRAFT' at coordinates 100, 100 on page 1"
"Add an image from /path/to/image.png to page 1"
"Add a watermark 'CONFIDENTIAL' to all pages"
"Update the PDF title to 'My Document'"

Page Operations

"List all pages with their dimensions"
"Merge /path/to/file1.pdf and /path/to/file2.pdf"
"Split this PDF into separate files"
"Rotate page 2 by 90 degrees"
"Delete pages 3 and 4"
"Extract pages 1-5 to a new PDF"

Signature Operations

"Add a visual signature from /path/to/signature.png to page 1"
"Create a signature field named 'signature' on page 1"

Export Operations

"Export form data to /path/to/output.json as JSON"
"Export form data to /path/to/output.csv as CSV"
"Compress this PDF and save to /path/to/compressed.pdf"

🔧 Configuration

Environment Variables

• PDF_WORKING_DIR - Working directory for PDF operations (default: ~/pdf-mcp)
• TEMP_DIR - Temporary directory for PDF operations (default: /tmp/pdf-mcp)

File Paths

All file paths must be absolute paths. Relative paths are not supported for security reasons.

Session Management

PDF documents are managed through sessions. Each opened or created PDF gets a unique session ID that is used for subsequent operations. Sessions are automatically cleaned up after 1 hour of inactivity.

🧪 Testing

The PDF MCP server includes testing capabilities:

# Test PDF operations
pdf-mcp test /path/to/sample.pdf

# Run unit tests (if available)
npm test

🏗️ Development

Local Development Setup

• Clone the repository:

  git clone https://github.com/nitaiaharoni1/pdf-mcp.git
  cd pdf-mcp
  

• Install dependencies:

  npm install
  

• Build the project:

  npm run build
  

• Test locally:

  npm run dev
  

📋 Technical Details

Primary Library

• pdf-lib - Comprehensive PDF operations (forms, editing, page manipulation)

Storage

• Local file system only with absolute path support

Session Management

• Maintains open PDF documents in memory with unique IDs
• Automatic cleanup of inactive sessions

Error Handling

• Graceful handling of corrupted PDFs
• Permission error handling
• Unsupported feature detection

Limitations

• Digital Signatures: Requires additional implementation with node-forge
• Text Extraction: Requires pdfjs-dist or similar library
• Image Extraction: Requires PDF parsing library
• Encryption: pdf-lib has limited encryption support

📄 License

MIT License - See the LICENSE file for complete terms and conditions.

🙋‍♂️ Support

• GitHub Issues: Report bugs or request features
• Documentation: This README and inline code documentation
• Community: Contributions and discussions welcome!

Made with ❤️ for the AI and PDF processing community