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

Related MCP server: MCP MD2PDF Server

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

1. Fork the repository

2. Create a feature branch

3. Make your changes

4. Add tests if applicable

5. 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