@lifeng688/document-converter-mcp

A local-first MCP server for converting documents between Markdown, PDF, DOCX, and HTML, with environment diagnostics and workspace-level configuration.

English: This project focuses on AI-friendly document conversion, not pixel-perfect layout reconstruction.

中文: 本项目重点是 AI 友好的文档转换，而不是像素级版式还原。

Features

• 7 conversion tools: Markdown <-> PDF, Markdown <-> DOCX, Markdown <-> HTML, PDF -> Markdown

• doctor tool: Diagnose local environment (Node.js, Pandoc, Python, MarkItDown, PDF engines)

• Configuration file: .document-converter.json for workspace-level defaults

• Dual engine support: Pandoc (primary) + MarkItDown (enhanced PDF/DOCX extraction)

• Safe file access: Workspace-isolated path validation, sensitive file blocking, no-overwrite-by-default

• Secure command execution: Spawn-based, no shell injection, structured errors with timeouts

• AI-friendly output: Optional cleanForLLM flag for cleaner Markdown

• Batch processing: Convert entire directories with concurrency control, dry run, include/exclude filters

• PDF style options: Margin, section numbering, syntax highlighting, metadata

• HTML style options: Themes, embedded CSS, self-contained output, syntax highlighting

• DOCX image extraction: Extract embedded images with metadata reporting

• PDF sidecar recovery: Accurate Markdown restoration from PDFs generated with preserveSource: true

• Structured results: Consistent JSON response format across all tools

Related MCP server: markitdown-mcp

Supported Formats

Installation

Prerequisites

1. Node.js >= 18.0.0

2. Pandoc >= 3.0

3. Python 3 >= 3.8 (optional, for MarkItDown)

PDF Engine (required for Markdown -> PDF)

Pandoc can convert Markdown to PDF, but it requires an external PDF engine.

Chinese documents: Use pdfEngine: "xelatex" with a TeX Live / MiKTeX installation that includes the ctex package.

• Windows: cjkMainFont: "Microsoft YaHei"

• macOS: cjkMainFont: "Songti SC"

• Linux: cjkMainFont: "Noto Sans CJK SC"

Install Pandoc

macOS:

brew install pandoc

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y pandoc

Windows: Download from https://pandoc.org/installing.html

Verify:

pandoc --version

Install MarkItDown (optional, recommended for PDF -> Markdown)

pip install markitdown

Verify:

python3 -c "import markitdown; print('ok')"

PDF support requires optional dependencies:

# For PDF extraction only:
python -m pip install -U "markitdown[pdf]"

# For DOCX extraction:
python -m pip install -U "markitdown[docx]"

# For all optional converters (PDF, EPUB, HTML, DOCX, etc.):
python -m pip install -U "markitdown[all]"

markitdown installed does not guarantee PDF or DOCX support is available.

Install the Server

npm install -g @lifeng688/document-converter-mcp

Or use directly via npx:

npx @lifeng688/document-converter-mcp

For development, clone the repo and build locally:

git clone https://github.com/guanweiqiang/document-convert-mcp.git
cd document-convert-mcp
npm install
npm run build

MCP Client Configuration

Install the package globally first:

npm install -g @lifeng688/document-converter-mcp

Claude Desktop

Edit your Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS, or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "document-converter": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@lifeng688/document-converter-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "DOC_CONVERTER_WORKSPACE": "E:/MCPWorkDir"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or if installed globally, use the local path:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "document-converter": {
      "command": "document-converter-mcp",
      "env": {
        "DOC_CONVERTER_WORKSPACE": "E:/MCPWorkDir"
      }
    }
  }
}

Sample configs are in examples/:

• mcp.json -- MCP Inspector config

• claude-desktop-config.json -- Claude Desktop config

Configuration File

Place .document-converter.json in your workspace root to set defaults for all tools.

Example:

{
  "defaults": {
    "pdfEngine": "xelatex",
    "cjkMainFont": "Microsoft YaHei",
    "pageSize": "A4",
    "theme": "github",
    "cleanForLLM": true,
    "overwrite": false
  },
  "batch": {
    "maxConcurrency": 2,
    "continueOnError": true
  },
  "security": {
    "maxFileSizeMB": 50
  }
}

Precedence:

tool args > .document-converter.json > built-in defaults

Notes:

• The config file is read from the workspace root only (not nested directories).

• Config values cannot bypass pathGuard -- paths must still be within the workspace.

• overwrite defaults to false in the config for safety; do not set it to true unless intentional.

• For Chinese/CJK PDF generation, recommended config:

  • Windows: "pdfEngine": "xelatex", "cjkMainFont": "Microsoft YaHei"

  • macOS: "pdfEngine": "xelatex", "cjkMainFont": "Songti SC"

  • Linux: "pdfEngine": "xelatex", "cjkMainFont": "Noto Sans CJK SC"

Tools

1. doctor

Check the local environment for document-converter-mcp dependencies.

This tool never fails due to missing dependencies -- missing tools appear as false in the output with warnings.

Checks:

• Node.js version

• Workspace path, existence, writability

• Pandoc availability and version

• Python availability

• MarkItDown availability and PDF support

• PDF engines: pdflatex, xelatex, lualatex, wkhtmltopdf, weasyprint, typst

• Recommendations for missing dependencies

Example output:

{
  "success": true,
  "summary": "Environment check completed.",
  "data": {
    "node": { "available": true, "version": "v22.18.0" },
    "workspace": { "path": "E:/MCPWorkDir", "exists": true, "writable": true },
    "pandoc": { "available": true, "version": "pandoc 3.8.2" },
    "python": { "available": true, "command": "python" },
    "markitdown": { "available": true, "pdfSupport": true },
    "pdfEngines": {
      "pdflatex": true,
      "xelatex": true,
      "lualatex": true,
      "wkhtmltopdf": false,
      "weasyprint": false,
      "typst": false
    },
    "recommendations": []
  },
  "warnings": [],
  "error": null
}

2. markdown_to_pdf

Convert Markdown to PDF using Pandoc.

Note: Pandoc requires an external PDF engine (LaTeX distribution or alternative) to generate PDFs.

中文文档：pdflatex 不支持中文 Unicode 字符。中文 Markdown 转 PDF 请使用 pdfEngine: "xelatex"（推荐）并设置 cjkMainFont。

Sidecar files (when preserveSource=true):

• document.pdf.source.md -- Original Markdown content

• document.pdf.meta.json -- Conversion metadata

3. markdown_to_docx

Convert Markdown to DOCX using Pandoc.

4. docx_to_markdown

Convert DOCX to Markdown using Pandoc or MarkItDown.

Image extraction:

When extractImages=true, the response includes:

{
  "imageCount": 2,
  "imageDir": "out/document_media",
  "images": [
    {
      "filename": "media/image1.png",
      "sizeBytes": 12345
    }
  ]
}

Even if no images are found:

{
  "imageCount": 0,
  "imageDir": "out/document_media",
  "images": []
}

Supported image extensions: .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .webp, .svg, .bmp, .tif, .tiff.

Path safety: imageDir is validated against path traversal. Values like ../outside-media will be rejected with an error containing "Access denied" and "workspace".

5. pdf_to_markdown

Extract text from PDF to Markdown.

Warning: This is content extraction, not layout reconstruction. Scanned PDFs, complex tables, two-column papers, and mathematical formulas may not convert reliably. For scanned PDFs, OCR is required (not included).

PDF 转 Markdown 是内容提取，不是版式或语义结构还原。

普通 PDF 通常不保存 Markdown 语义。标题、表格、代码块、列表、阅读顺序都可能无法可靠恢复。

Sidecar recovery:

If the PDF was generated by this server with preserveSource: true, the original Markdown is available as sidecar files (document.pdf.source.md, document.pdf.meta.json). The default preferSourceSidecar: true will automatically find and return it.

Quality report:

Sidecar recovery mode:

{
  "quality": {
    "mode": "source-sidecar",
    "layoutPreserved": true,
    "headingsReliable": true,
    "tablesReliable": true,
    "codeBlocksReliable": true,
    "readingOrderReliable": true
  }
}

Plain text extraction mode:

{
  "quality": {
    "mode": "text-extraction",
    "layoutPreserved": false,
    "headingsReliable": false,
    "tablesReliable": false,
    "codeBlocksReliable": false,
    "readingOrderReliable": false
  }
}

6. markdown_to_html

Convert Markdown to HTML using Pandoc.

theme=github is ideal for README-style documentation. embedCss=true embeds CSS directly into the HTML. selfContained=true produces a single HTML file with all resources inline.

7. batch_convert

Convert all matching files in a directory from one format to another.

Dry run example:

{
  "inputDir": "docs/source",
  "outputDir": "docs/published",
  "from": "md",
  "to": "pdf",
  "dryRun": true
}

Returns a plan with plannedCount but does not write any files.

Return structure:

{
  "success": true,
  "summary": "Batch conversion completed: 4 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped.",
  "total": 4,
  "plannedCount": 4,
  "skippedCount": 0,
  "successCount": 4,
  "failedCount": 0,
  "durationMs": 1201,
  "results": [...]
}

Usage Examples

Run doctor

Tool: doctor
Args: {}

Create .document-converter.json

{
  "defaults": {
    "pdfEngine": "xelatex",
    "cjkMainFont": "Microsoft YaHei",
    "overwrite": false
  }
}

Markdown to Chinese PDF using config

With .document-converter.json setting pdfEngine: "xelatex" and cjkMainFont: "Microsoft YaHei":

Tool: markdown_to_pdf
Args: {
  "inputPath": "docs/chinese-report.md",
  "title": "季度报告",
  "toc": true,
  "pageSize": "A4",
  "preserveSource": true,
  "overwrite": true
}

Markdown to PDF with preserveSource

Tool: markdown_to_pdf
Args: {
  "inputPath": "docs/report.md",
  "outputPath": "docs/report.pdf",
  "preserveSource": true,
  "overwrite": true
}

Generates docs/report.pdf.source.md and docs/report.pdf.meta.json for accurate recovery.

PDF to Markdown using source sidecar

Tool: pdf_to_markdown
Args: {
  "inputPath": "docs/report.pdf",
  "preferSourceSidecar": true
}

Automatically finds and returns the original Markdown from the sidecar file.

Markdown to HTML with GitHub theme

Tool: markdown_to_html
Args: {
  "inputPath": "docs/readme.md",
  "theme": "github",
  "standalone": true,
  "selfContained": true
}

Batch convert with dry run

Tool: batch_convert
Args: {
  "inputDir": "docs/articles",
  "outputDir": "docs/html",
  "from": "md",
  "to": "html",
  "dryRun": true
}

Batch convert with include/exclude

Tool: batch_convert
Args: {
  "inputDir": "docs/articles",
  "outputDir": "docs/published",
  "from": "md",
  "to": "pdf",
  "recursive": true,
  "include": ["report-*.md"],
  "exclude": ["draft-*", "internal-*"],
  "maxConcurrency": 2,
  "continueOnError": true,
  "overwrite": true
}

DOCX to Markdown with image extraction

Tool: docx_to_markdown
Args: {
  "inputPath": "docs/presentation.docx",
  "extractImages": true,
  "imageDir": "docs/presentation_media",
  "overwrite": true
}

Returns imageCount, imageDir, and images array in the response.

Security

This server implements strict security measures:

• Workspace isolation: All file access is confined to a configured workspace directory (DOC_CONVERTER_WORKSPACE env var)

• Path traversal prevention: .. sequences and absolute path escapes are blocked

• Sensitive file blocking: .env, .ssh/, .npmrc, etc. are never accessible

• File size limits: Input files over 50 MB are rejected by default (configurable via config file)

• No shell injection: All commands use spawn() with argument arrays

• No overwrite by default: Existing files are protected unless explicitly allowed

• Config file cannot bypass pathGuard: Configuration defaults respect the same path safety rules as tool arguments

See docs/security.md for full details.

Recommended Workflows

Good

• Markdown -> PDF -- High-quality PDF output with Pandoc

• Markdown -> DOCX -- High-quality Word output

• Markdown -> HTML -- High-quality HTML output

• DOCX -> Markdown -- Good text extraction with image metadata

• PDF -> Markdown -- For text extraction only. Use preferSourceSidecar: true for PDFs generated by this server.

Not recommended

• Markdown -> PDF -> Markdown for structure recovery

  • PDFs do not preserve Markdown semantics (headings, tables, code blocks, lists, reading order)

  • The round-trip will lose structural information

  • Use preserveSource: true instead when generating the PDF

推荐工作流

推荐

• Markdown -> PDF -- 高质量的 PDF 输出

• Markdown -> DOCX -- 高质量的 Word 输出

• Markdown -> HTML -- 高质量的 HTML 输出

• DOCX -> Markdown -- 良好的文本提取和图片元数据

• PDF -> Markdown -- 仅用于内容提取。对本服务生成的 PDF 请使用 preferSourceSidecar: true 精确恢复。

不推荐

• Markdown -> PDF -> Markdown 用于结构恢复

  • PDF 不保存 Markdown 语义（标题、表格、代码块、列表、阅读顺序）

  • 往返转换将丢失结构信息

  • 生成 PDF 时请使用 preserveSource: true

Conversion Quality

This project focuses on AI-friendly document conversion, not pixel-perfect layout reconstruction.

See docs/conversion-quality.md for format-specific quality notes and engine comparisons.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build TypeScript
npm run build

# Run in development mode (hot reload)
npm run dev

# Type check without emitting
npm run typecheck

License

MIT