PDF Toolkit MCP

💼 Available for freelance MCP/AI integration work — DM @aryansalian03 or via aryanbv.com

A write-capable PDF toolkit for any MCP client. It provides 22 tools for reading, creating, rendering, transforming, and securing PDFs. That includes rendering pages to images so vision models can read scanned documents, building PDFs from Markdown or structured data, AES-256 encryption, and merge and split operations that keep form fields intact. There are no native dependencies, so it runs locally from a single npx command.

npx -y @aryanbv/pdf-toolkit-mcp

It needs no config files, API keys, Docker, or compiler, and it works offline.

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Overview

Most PDF servers for MCP only read. This one also writes: it creates documents from Markdown or structured data, fills and flattens forms, rearranges page structure, and applies AES-256 encryption, all without a native build toolchain.

A few things worth knowing:

• It reads scans. pdf_render_pages rasterizes pages to images, so a vision-capable model can read scanned or image-only PDFs that have no text layer.
• Merge, split, reorder, and delete preserve AcroForm fields rather than dropping them. Names that collide between inputs are namespaced per source, and every call reports what it preserved, renamed, or dropped.
• Encryption is AES-256 through qpdf, not the legacy RC4 scheme.
• Every engine is WASM or plain JavaScript, so npx works on Node 20 and later across Windows, macOS, and Linux with no node-gyp, canvas binding, or prebuilt binary.
• Errors carry stable codes, stack traces stay internal, off-page placements are rejected instead of silently clipped, and large responses are truncated without breaking JSON.

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Client setup

<details> <summary><strong>Claude Desktop</strong></summary>

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-toolkit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@aryanbv/pdf-toolkit-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

</details> <details> <summary><strong>Claude Code</strong></summary>

claude mcp add pdf-toolkit -- npx -y @aryanbv/pdf-toolkit-mcp

</details> <details> <summary><strong>Cursor</strong></summary>

Add to .cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-toolkit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@aryanbv/pdf-toolkit-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

</details> <details> <summary><strong>VS Code (GitHub Copilot)</strong></summary>

VS Code uses "servers", not "mcpServers". Copying another client's config will fail silently. This also requires the GitHub Copilot extension with Agent mode.

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "pdf-toolkit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@aryanbv/pdf-toolkit-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

</details> <details> <summary><strong>Windsurf</strong></summary>

Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-toolkit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@aryanbv/pdf-toolkit-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

</details>

Once connected, ask for what you want in plain language and the client selects the tool and fills in the arguments. The JSON blocks below show the arguments each tool accepts, for reference.

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Tools

| Category | Tool | Description | | -------------- | -------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Read | pdf_extract_text | Extract text from PDF pages (first 10 by default) | | | pdf_get_metadata | Get title, author, subject, page count, dates, producer, and file size | | | pdf_get_form_fields | List form fields (text, checkbox, dropdown, radiogroup, listbox, button, signature) with names, types, values, and required status | | | pdf_to_markdown | Convert a PDF to reading-order Markdown (column clustering, heading inference, list detection) | | | pdf_search | Find text across pages and return page numbers with surrounding snippets (literal, case-insensitive by default) | | | pdf_compare | Page-by-page text diff between two PDFs | | Manipulate | pdf_merge | Merge multiple PDFs into one (preserves form fields) | | | pdf_split | Extract a page range into a new PDF (preserves form fields) | | | pdf_delete_pages | Delete a page range and keep the rest (preserves form fields) | | | pdf_reorder_pages | Reorder pages in any order, duplicates allowed (preserves form fields) | | | pdf_rotate_pages | Rotate pages by 90, 180, or 270 degrees | | | pdf_flatten | Bake form-field values into static content (removes interactivity) | | | pdf_encrypt | AES-256 password protection with user and owner passwords | | | pdf_add_page_numbers | Add page numbers (configurable position, format, start, and size; rotation-aware) | | | pdf_embed_qr_code | Embed a QR code or barcode (QR, Code128, DataMatrix, EAN-13, PDF417, Aztec; rotation-aware) | | Create | pdf_create | Create a PDF from plain text (page size A4, Letter, or Legal; non-Latin via fontPath) | | | pdf_create_from_markdown | Create a rich PDF from Markdown: headings, tables, lists, code, blockquotes (A4, Letter, or Legal) | | | pdf_create_from_template | Create a PDF from a named template (invoice, report, letter) | | | pdf_fill_form | Fill form fields (text, checkbox, dropdown, radiogroup, listbox; non-Latin via fontPath) | | | pdf_add_watermark | Add a diagonal text watermark to pages | | | pdf_embed_image | Embed a PNG or JPEG image into a page | | Render | pdf_render_pages | Render pages to PNG or JPEG files, or return inline images a vision model can read directly |

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Create PDFs from Markdown

Turn Markdown into a multi-page PDF in a single call. It supports CommonMark and GFM: headings, bold and italic, tables, ordered and bullet lists, fenced code, and blockquotes, rendered with @react-pdf/renderer.

"Create a PDF from this Markdown report."

pdf_create_from_markdown arguments:

{
  "markdown": "# Quarterly Report\n\nRevenue grew **23% YoY**.\n\n| Region | Q1 2025 | Q1 2026 |\n|--------|---------|--------|\n| Americas | $1.2M | $1.5M |\n| EMEA | $800K | $960K |\n\n## Key Wins\n\n1. 12 new enterprise contracts\n2. Churn down to 3.1%",
  "outputPath": "/path/to/report.pdf",
  "pageSize": "Letter"
}

Tables size their columns to content and honor alignment, nested lists indent, and long code lines wrap. Add page numbers afterward with pdf_add_page_numbers.

Templates

Generate documents from structured data using the invoice, report, and letter templates.

"Create an invoice for Riverbend Outfitters."

pdf_create_from_template arguments:

{
  "templateName": "invoice",
  "data": {
    "companyName": "Northpoint Design",
    "clientName": "Riverbend Outfitters",
    "invoiceNumber": "2026-0042",
    "invoiceDate": "2026-04-01",
    "items": [
      { "description": "Website redesign", "quantity": 40, "unitPrice": 150 },
      { "description": "Annual hosting", "quantity": 1, "unitPrice": 299 }
    ],
    "taxRate": 18,
    "currency": "USD",
    "paymentTerms": "Net 30"
  },
  "outputPath": "/path/to/invoice.pdf"
}

The invoice template's optional currency accepts an ISO code or a symbol. WinAnsi-safe symbols ($ € £ ¥) render as glyphs; a code that Helvetica cannot draw, such as INR, KRW, or TRY, falls back to its ISO code label (INR 20.00), so any currency works without error. The pdf-toolkit://templates resource lists every template and the fields it accepts.

Read scanned and image-only PDFs (vision)

Many PDFs are scans with no text layer. pdf_render_pages rasterizes pages so a vision-capable client can read them.

"Read this scanned contract."

Inline mode returns pages as images the model reads directly (up to 5 pages; DPI is auto-capped to protect the context window):

{ "filePath": "/path/to/scanned.pdf", "inline": true }

Or write image files to disk (default 150 DPI, first 50 pages, PNG):

{
  "filePath": "/path/to/scanned.pdf",
  "pages": "1-3",
  "dpi": 200,
  "format": "jpeg",
  "outputDir": "/path/to/output"
}

Convert a PDF to Markdown

"Convert report.pdf to Markdown so I can summarize it."

pdf_to_markdown reconstructs reading order from text positions. It clusters up to two content columns (plus full-width title and footer bands), infers headings from font size, and detects lists. It works best on clean digital PDFs; use pdf_render_pages for scans. Returns the first 10 pages by default.

{ "filePath": "/path/to/report.pdf", "pages": "1-5" }

Search and compare

"Find every mention of 'indemnification' in contract.pdf."

pdf_search arguments:

{
  "filePath": "/path/to/contract.pdf",
  "query": "indemnification",
  "caseSensitive": false
}

Each match comes back with its page number and a surrounding snippet. Matching is a literal, case-insensitive substring by default; set caseSensitive: true for exact case. Regex search is intentionally left out, because an attacker-supplied pattern can trigger catastrophic backtracking (ReDoS) that single-threaded JavaScript cannot reliably interrupt. Safe regex is planned for a later release.

"What changed between v1.pdf and v2.pdf?"

pdf_compare arguments:

{ "filePathA": "/path/to/v1.pdf", "filePathB": "/path/to/v2.pdf" }

It reports a page-by-page text diff (added and removed) and sets identical: true when the text matches. The diff is text only, so purel