# Nutrient DWS MCP Server
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</a>
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server)
**Give AI agents the power to process, sign, and transform documents.**
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects AI assistants to the [Nutrient Document Web Service (DWS) Processor API](https://www.nutrient.io/api) — enabling document creation, editing, conversion, digital signing, OCR, redaction, and more through natural language.
## What You Can Do
Once configured, you (or your AI agent) can process documents through natural language:
**You:** *"Merge report-q1.pdf and report-q2.pdf into a single document"*
**AI:** *"Done! I've merged both reports into combined-report.pdf (24 pages total)."*
**You:** *"Redact all social security numbers and email addresses from application.pdf"*
**AI:** *"I found and redacted 5 SSNs and 3 email addresses. The redacted version is saved as application-redacted.pdf."*
**You:** *"Digitally sign this contract with a visible signature on page 3"*
**AI:** *"I've applied a PAdES-compliant digital signature to contract.pdf. The signed document is saved as contract-signed.pdf."*
**You:** *"Convert this PDF to markdown"*
**AI:** *"Here's the markdown content extracted from your document..."*
**You:** *"OCR this scanned document in German and extract the text"*
**AI:** *"I've processed the scan with German OCR. Here's the extracted text..."*
## Quick Start
### 1. Get a Nutrient API Key
Sign up for free at [nutrient.io/api](https://dashboard.nutrient.io/sign_up/).
### 2. Configure Your AI Client
Choose your platform and add the configuration:
<details>
<summary><strong>Claude Desktop</strong></summary>
Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config, then add:
**macOS:** `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
**Windows:** `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`
```jsonc
{
"mcpServers": {
"nutrient-dws": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"NUTRIENT_DWS_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
"SANDBOX_PATH": "/your/sandbox/directory"
// "C:\\your\\sandbox\\directory" for Windows
}
}
}
}
```
</details>
<details>
<summary><strong>Cursor</strong></summary>
Create `.cursor/mcp.json` in your project root:
```jsonc
{
"mcpServers": {
"nutrient-dws": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"NUTRIENT_DWS_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
"SANDBOX_PATH": "/your/project/documents"
// "C:\\your\\project\\documents" for Windows
}
}
}
}
```
</details>
<details>
<summary><strong>Windsurf</strong></summary>
Add to `~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json`:
```jsonc
{
"mcpServers": {
"nutrient-dws": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"NUTRIENT_DWS_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
"SANDBOX_PATH": "/your/sandbox/directory"
// "C:\\your\\sandbox\\directory" for Windows
}
}
}
}
```
</details>
<details>
<summary><strong>VS Code (GitHub Copilot)</strong></summary>
Add to `.vscode/settings.json` in your project:
```json
{
"mcp": {
"servers": {
"nutrient-dws": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"NUTRIENT_DWS_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
"SANDBOX_PATH": "${workspaceFolder}"
}
}
}
}
}
```
</details>
<details>
<summary><strong>Other MCP Clients</strong></summary>
Any MCP-compatible client can connect using stdio transport:
```bash
NUTRIENT_DWS_API_KEY=your_key SANDBOX_PATH=/your/path npx @nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server
```
</details>
### 3. Restart Your AI Client
Restart the application to pick up the new MCP server configuration.
### 4. Start Processing Documents
Drop documents into your sandbox directory and start giving instructions!
## Available Tools
| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| **document_processor** | All-in-one document processing: merge PDFs, convert formats, apply OCR, watermark, rotate, redact, flatten annotations, extract text/tables/key-value pairs, and more |
| **document_signer** | Digitally sign PDFs with PAdES-compliant CMS or CAdES signatures, with customizable visible/invisible signature appearances |
| **sandbox_file_tree** | Browse files in the sandbox directory (when sandbox mode is enabled) |
| **directory_tree** | Browse directory contents (when sandbox mode is disabled) |
### Document Processor Capabilities
| Feature | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| Document Creation | Merge PDFs, Office docs (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX), and images into a single document |
| Format Conversion | PDF ↔ DOCX, images (PNG, JPEG, WebP), PDF/A, PDF/UA, HTML, Markdown |
| Editing | Watermark (text/image), rotate pages, flatten annotations |
| Security | Redact sensitive data (SSNs, credit cards, emails, etc.), password protection, permission control |
| Data Extraction | Extract text, tables, or key-value pairs as structured JSON |
| OCR | Multi-language optical character recognition for scanned documents |
| Optimization | Compress and linearize PDFs without quality loss |
| Annotations | Import XFDF annotations, flatten annotations |
| Digital Signing | PAdES-compliant CMS and CAdES digital signatures (via document_signer tool) |
## Use with AI Agent Frameworks
This MCP server works with any platform that supports the Model Context Protocol:
- **[Claude Desktop](https://claude.ai/download)** — Direct MCP integration
- **[Cursor](https://cursor.com)** — AI-powered IDE with MCP support
- **[Windsurf](https://codeium.com/windsurf)** — AI-powered IDE with MCP support
- **[VS Code + Copilot](https://code.visualstudio.com/)** — GitHub Copilot MCP integration
- **[LangChain](https://langchain.com)** / **[LangGraph](https://langchain.com/langgraph)** — Via MCP tool adapters
- **[OpenAI Agents SDK](https://github.com/openai/openai-agents-python)** — Via MCP server integration
- **Custom agents** — Any MCP-compatible system
## Why Nutrient?
### The Read-Write Gap
AI can read and understand documents — but most tools stop there. Nutrient gives AI agents the ability to actually **manipulate** documents: merge, redact, sign, watermark, convert formats, extract structured data, and more.
- **Beyond PDF reading** — Not just text extraction. Full document creation, editing, and transformation.
- **Production-grade** — Trusted by thousands of companies for mission-critical document processing.
- **Standards-compliant** — PAdES digital signatures, PDF/A archiving, PDF/UA accessibility.
- **Cloud-native** — No infrastructure to manage. Send documents to the API, get results back.
- **Comprehensive redaction** — Built-in presets for SSNs, credit cards, phone numbers, emails, dates, and more.
- **Multi-format** — Process PDFs, Office documents, images, HTML, and Markdown.
## Configuration
### Sandbox Mode (Recommended)
The server supports sandbox mode that restricts file operations to a specific directory. Set the `SANDBOX_PATH` environment variable to enable it:
```bash
export SANDBOX_PATH=/path/to/sandbox/directory
npx @nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server
```
When sandbox mode is enabled:
- Relative paths resolve relative to the sandbox directory
- All input file paths are validated to ensure they reside in the sandbox
- Processed files are saved within the sandbox
> **Note:** If no sandbox directory is specified, the server operates without file path restrictions. Sandbox mode is strongly recommended for security.
### Output Location
Processed files are saved to a location determined by the AI. To guide output placement, use natural language (e.g., "save the result to `output/result.pdf`") or create an `output` directory in your sandbox.
### Environment Variables
| Variable | Required | Description |
|----------|----------|-------------|
| `NUTRIENT_DWS_API_KEY` | Yes | Your Nutrient DWS API key ([get one free](https://dashboard.nutrient.io/sign_up/)) |
| `SANDBOX_PATH` | Recommended | Directory to restrict file operations to |
## Troubleshooting
**Server not appearing in Claude Desktop?**
- Ensure Node.js 18+ is installed (`node --version`)
- Check the config file path is correct for your OS
- Restart Claude Desktop completely (check Task Manager/Activity Monitor)
**"API key invalid" errors?**
- Verify your API key at [dashboard.nutrient.io](https://dashboard.nutrient.io)
- Ensure the key is set correctly in the `env` section (no extra spaces)
**Files not found?**
- Check that `SANDBOX_PATH` points to an existing directory
- Ensure your documents are inside the sandbox directory
- Use the `sandbox_file_tree` tool to verify visible files
## Contributing
Please see the contribution guidelines in [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md).
## License
MIT License — see [LICENSE](LICENSE) for details.
