# Installation Guide
## Prerequisites
Before installing pdftotext-mcp, you need to have `pdftotext` available on your system.
### Ubuntu/Debian
```bash
sudo apt update
sudo apt install poppler-utils
```
### macOS
Using Homebrew:
```bash
brew install poppler
```
Using MacPorts:
```bash
sudo port install poppler
```
### Windows
#### Using Chocolatey
```bash
choco install poppler
```
#### Using Scoop
```bash
scoop install poppler
```
#### Manual Installation
1. Download poppler for Windows from: https://github.com/oschwartz10612/poppler-windows/releases
2. Extract to a directory (e.g., `C:\poppler`)
3. Add `C:\poppler\bin` to your PATH environment variable
### Verify Installation
```bash
pdftotext -v
```
You should see version information for pdftotext.
## Installing PDFtotext MCP
### Method 1: Global Installation (Recommended)
```bash
npm install -g pdftotext-mcp
```
This makes `pdftotext-mcp` available globally on your system.
### Method 2: Local Installation
```bash
npm install pdftotext-mcp
```
Run with: `npx pdftotext-mcp`
### Method 3: Development Installation
```bash
git clone https://github.com/jwebb85/pdftotext-mcp.git
cd pdftotext-mcp
npm install
```
## Configuration
### Claude Desktop
1. Locate your configuration file:
- **macOS**: `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
- **Windows**: `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`
- **Linux**: `~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
2. Add the server configuration:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"pdftotext": {
"command": "pdftotext-mcp"
}
}
}
```
3. Restart Claude Desktop
### Other MCP Clients
Use `pdftotext-mcp` as the command in your MCP client configuration.
## Troubleshooting
### Common Issues
#### "command not found: pdftotext-mcp"
- **Solution**: Install globally with `npm install -g pdftotext-mcp`
- Or use the full path to the executable
#### "pdftotext is not available"
- **Solution**: Install poppler-utils (see Prerequisites above)
- Verify with `pdftotext -v`
#### Permission errors
- **Solution**: Ensure you have read permissions for PDF files
- On Unix systems: `chmod 644 yourfile.pdf`
#### MCP connection issues
- **Solution**: Restart your MCP client completely
- Check configuration file syntax
- Verify the command path is correct
### Getting Help
- Check the [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/jwebb85/pdftotext-mcp/issues)
- Review the [troubleshooting section](../README.md#-troubleshooting) in the README
- Open a new issue with detailed error information