pdf-mcp

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI agents to read, search, and extract content from PDF files. Built with Python and PyMuPDF, with SQLite-based caching for persistence across server restarts.

mcp-name: io.github.jztan/pdf-mcp

Features

• 8 specialized tools for different PDF operations
• SQLite caching — persistent cache survives server restarts (essential for STDIO transport)
• Paginated reading — read large PDFs in manageable chunks
• Full-text search — FTS5 index with BM25 ranking and Porter stemming
• Semantic search — find pages by meaning using local embeddings (no external API)
• Image extraction — per-page images returned as PNG file paths alongside text
• Table extraction — per-page tables with header and row data, detected via visible borders
• URL support — read PDFs from HTTP/HTTPS URLs

Installation

pip install pdf-mcp

For semantic search (adds fastembed and numpy, ~67 MB model download on first use):

pip install 'pdf-mcp[semantic]'

Quick Start

claude mcp add pdf-mcp -- pdf-mcp

Or add to ~/.claude.json:

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

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

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

Config file location:

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

Restart Claude Desktop after updating the config.

Requires VS Code 1.102+ with GitHub Copilot.

CLI:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"pdf-mcp","command":"pdf-mcp"}'

Command Palette:

1. Open Command Palette (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P)
2. Run MCP: Open User Configuration (global) or MCP: Open Workspace Folder Configuration (project-specific)
3. Add the configuration:
   json

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

4. Save. VS Code will automatically load the server.

Manual: Create .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

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

codex mcp add pdf-mcp -- pdf-mcp

Or configure manually in ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.pdf-mcp]
command = "pdf-mcp"

Create or edit .kiro/settings/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-mcp": {
      "command": "pdf-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

Save and restart Kiro.

Most MCP clients use a standard configuration format:

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

With uvx (for isolated environments):

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

Verify Installation

pdf-mcp --help

Tools

pdf_info — Get Document Information

Returns page count, metadata, file size, and estimated token count. Call this first to understand a document before reading it. Includes toc_entry_count and inline TOC entries when the document has ≤50 bookmarks; larger TOCs (e.g. slide decks) return toc_truncated: true — use pdf_get_toc to retrieve the full outline.

"Read the PDF at /path/to/document.pdf"

pdf_read_pages — Read Specific Pages

Read selected pages to manage context size. Each page dict includes text, images/image_count, and tables/table_count. Tables are extracted as structured data (header + rows) and inlined directly in the page response — no separate tool call needed. Table detection requires visible borders in the PDF.

"Read pages 1-10 of the PDF"
"Read pages 15, 20, and 25-30"

pdf_read_all — Read Entire Document

Read a complete document in one call. Subject to a safety limit on page count.

"Read the entire PDF (it's only 10 pages)"

pdf_search — Search Within PDF

Find relevant pages before loading content. Uses a SQLite FTS5 index with Porter stemming and BM25 relevance ranking — results are ordered by relevance, not page number. Morphological variants are matched automatically (e.g. searching "managing" finds pages containing "management"). Falls back to a linear scan on SQLite builds without FTS5 support.

"Search for 'quarterly revenue' in the PDF"

pdf_semantic_search — Search by Meaning

Find pages by conceptual similarity rather than exact keywords. Searching "revenue growth" matches pages about "sales increase" or "financial performance" even without literal keyword overlap. Uses BAAI/bge-small-en-v1.5 embeddings (384-dim, local ONNX Runtime — no external API, no GPU required).

Embeddings are generated once per page and cached in SQLite. The first call for a document takes ~8–15 s on CPU; subsequent queries are instant.

Requires: pip install 'pdf-mcp[semantic]'

"Find pages about revenue growth in the PDF"
"Which pages discuss supply chain risks?"

pdf_get_toc — Get Table of Contents

"Show me the table of contents"

pdf_cache_stats — View Cache Statistics

"Show PDF cache statistics"

pdf_cache_clear — Clear Cache

"Clear expired PDF cache entries"

Example Workflow

For a large document (e.g., a 200-page annual report):

User: "Summarize the risk factors in this annual report"

Agent workflow:
1. pdf_info("report.pdf")
   → 200 pages, TOC shows "Risk Factors" on page 89

2. pdf_search("report.pdf", "risk factors")
   → Relevant pages: 89-110

3. pdf_read_pages("report.pdf", "89-100")
   → First batch

4. pdf_read_pages("report.pdf", "101-110")
   → Second batch

5. Synthesize answer from chunks

Caching

The server uses SQLite for persistent caching. This is necessary because MCP servers using STDIO transport are spawned as a new process for each conversation.

Cache location: ~/.cache/pdf-mcp/cache.db

What's cached:

Cache invalidation:

• Automatic when file modification time changes
• Manual via the pdf_cache_clear tool
• TTL: 24 hours (configurable)

Configuration

Environment variables:

# Cache directory (default: ~/.cache/pdf-mcp)
PDF_MCP_CACHE_DIR=/path/to/cache

# Cache TTL in hours (default: 24)
PDF_MCP_CACHE_TTL=48

Development

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

# Install with dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest tests/ -v

# Type checking
mypy src/

# Linting
flake8 src/ tests/

# Formatting
black src/ tests/

Why pdf-mcp?

Roadmap

See ROADMAP.md for planned features and release history.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please submit a pull request.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Links

• pdf-mcp on PyPI
• pdf-mcp on GitHub
• How I Built pdf-mcp — The problem with large PDFs in AI agents and a working solution
• MCP Server Security: 8 Vulnerabilities — What we found when we audited an MCP server for security holes
• How Claude Code Actually Reads PDFs — How chunked reading, FTS5, and SQLite caching work together
• Semantic vs Keyword Search for AI Agents — Benchmarks and a dual-search routing pattern: FTS5 for exact identifiers, embeddings for natural language