PDF-Tools MCP Server

PDF-Tools MCP Server v1.0.0

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for PDF generation and manipulation. This server provides tools to generate PDF documents from HTML, text, and Markdown content.

Features

HTML to PDF: Convert HTML content to PDF using Puppeteer
Text to PDF: Generate PDF from plain text using PDFKit
Markdown to PDF: Convert Markdown content to styled PDF
Cross-platform: Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux
Dynamic paths: Automatically uses user's home directory
Secure: Validates output paths to allowed directories

Installation

Prerequisites

Node.js 18 or higher
npm or yarn

Clone and Install

git clone https://github.com/Theorhd/Pdftools-mcp.git
cd Pdftools-mcp
npm install

Build

npm run build

Usage

As MCP Server

Add to your MCP client configuration (e.g., Jan):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-creator": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["path/to/pdftools-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {},
      "type": "stdio",
      "active": true
    }
  }
}

Standalone

npm start

Tools

generate_pdf_from_html

Generate a PDF from HTML content using Puppeteer.

Parameters:

html_content (string, required): HTML content to convert
output_filename (string, required): Output PDF filename
output_dir (string, optional): Output directory (defaults to Downloads)
options (object, optional): PDF generation options
- format (string): Page format (default: A4)
- margin (object): Page margins

Example:

{
  "html_content": "<h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a test PDF.</p>",
  "output_filename": "test.pdf",
  "options": {
    "format": "A4",
    "margin": {
      "top": "1cm",
      "right": "1cm",
      "bottom": "1cm",
      "left": "1cm"
    }
  }
}

generate_pdf_from_text

Generate a PDF from plain text using PDFKit.

Parameters:

text_content (string, required): Text content to convert
output_filename (string, required): Output PDF filename
output_dir (string, optional): Output directory (defaults to Downloads)
options (object, optional): PDF formatting options
- fontSize (number): Font size (default: 12)
- font (string): Font family (default: Helvetica)
- margins (object): Page margins

Example:

{
  "text_content": "Hello World!\n\nThis is a test PDF generated from plain text.",
  "output_filename": "text-example.pdf",
  "options": {
    "fontSize": 14,
    "font": "Helvetica",
    "margins": {
      "top": 50,
      "left": 50,
      "right": 50,
      "bottom": 50
    }
  }
}

generate_pdf_from_markdown

Generate a PDF from Markdown content with automatic HTML conversion.

Parameters:

markdown_content (string, required): Markdown content to convert
output_filename (string, required): Output PDF filename
output_dir (string, optional): Output directory (defaults to Downloads)

Example:

{
  "markdown_content": "# Hello World\n\nThis is a **bold** text and this is *italic*.\n\n## Subheading\n\n- List item 1\n- List item 2\n\n`code example`",
  "output_filename": "markdown-example.pdf"
}

Security

The server validates all output paths to ensure files are only written to allowed directories:

User's Downloads folder
User's Documents folder
User's Desktop folder

Any attempt to write outside these directories will result in an error.

Development

Scripts

npm run build: Compile TypeScript to JavaScript
npm start: Run the compiled server
npm run dev: Run in development mode with tsx
npm test: Run tests

Project Structure

pdftools-mcp/
├── src/
├── dist/           # Compiled JavaScript
├── index.ts        # Main server file
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
└── README.md

Dependencies

@modelcontextprotocol/sdk: MCP protocol implementation
puppeteer: HTML to PDF conversion
pdfkit: PDF generation from text
typescript: TypeScript compiler

Contributing

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch
Make your changes
Add tests if applicable
Submit a pull request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Puppeteer fails to launch:

Ensure you have the required system dependencies
On Linux: sudo apt-get install -y gconf-service libasound2 libatk1.0-0 libc6 libcairo2 libcups2 libdbus-1-3 libexpat1 libfontconfig1 libgcc1 libgconf-2-4 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libglib2.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libnspr4 libpango-1.0-0 libpangocairo-1.0-0 libstdc++6 libx11-6 libx11-xcb1 libxcb1 libxcomposite1 libxcursor1 libxdamage1 libxext6 libxfixes3 libxi6 libxrandr2 libxrender1 libxss1 libxtst6 ca-certificates fonts-liberation libappindicator1 libnss3 lsb-release xdg-utils wget

Permission errors:

Ensure the output directory exists and is writable
Check that the user has permissions to write to the target directory

Module not found errors:

Run npm install to ensure all dependencies are installed
Rebuild the project with npm run build

Support

For issues and questions:

Create an issue on GitHub
Check existing issues for solutions
Review the troubleshooting section above

PDF-Tools MCP Server