GroupDocs.Comparison MCP Server

MCP server that exposes GroupDocs.Comparison as AI-callable tools for Claude, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and other MCP agents.

Installation

One-click installs pre-fill every supported setting: edit the placeholder documents folder after install (output defaults to the same folder); an empty GROUPDOCS_LICENSE_PATH runs in evaluation mode - point it at your license to lift limits.

More clients - ready-made configs for Claude Code, Codex CLI, Visual Studio 2022, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, and JetBrains Rider live in install/generated/.

Requires .NET 10 SDK.

Run directly with dnx (recommended — no install step):

dnx GroupDocs.Comparison.Mcp --yes

Pulls the latest stable release on every invocation. To pin to a specific version (recommended for shared configs and CI), append @<version>:

dnx GroupDocs.Comparison.Mcp@26.7.4 --yes

Or install as a global dotnet tool:

dotnet tool install -g GroupDocs.Comparison.Mcp
groupdocs-comparison-mcp

Or run via Docker:

docker run --rm -i \
  -v $(pwd)/documents:/data \
  ghcr.io/groupdocs-comparison/comparison-net-mcp:latest

Related MCP server: LibreOffice MCP Server

Native prerequisites

The underlying GroupDocs engine uses System.Drawing (GDI+) for some operations. When you run the server natively (via dnx or the global dotnet tool) on Linux or macOS, install the native libgdiplus library first:

Skipping this on Linux/macOS surfaces as DllNotFoundException: libgdiplus in the tool response. The simplest zero-setup option on Linux/macOS is the Docker image.

Available MCP Tools

Example prompts for AI agents

Once the server is wired up to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code Copilot, …), try:

Compare old.pdf and new.pdf and save the marked-up result.

Diff contract-v1.docx against contract-v2.docx and tell me the change count.

What changed between proposal-v1.docx and proposal-v2.docx? Summarize the edits.

Did the prices change between budget-q1.xlsx and budget-q2.xlsx? Which cells?

How many pages does report.pdf have? Who's the author?

Inspect /docs/legal-brief.pdf — what's the file type and page count?

The client picks Compare when the user wants the rendered diff file, AnalyzeChanges when they only want to know what changed (summary / analysis, no file), and GetDocumentInfo for inspection-only questions.

Licensing

The MCP server itself is MIT; the underlying GroupDocs.Comparison engine requires a license for production use. Without one the server runs in evaluation mode:

• Comparison output may carry evaluation watermarks / notices.

• A single server process can open at most 15 documents; further calls fail with an evaluation-cap error until the server restarts.

To lift the limits, point GROUPDOCS_LICENSE_PATH at your GroupDocs.Total.lic:

• Get a free 30-day temporary license

• Purchase a license | Product page

Configuration

Usage with Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "groupdocs-comparison": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "dnx",
      "args": ["GroupDocs.Comparison.Mcp", "--yes"],
      "env": {
        "GROUPDOCS_MCP_STORAGE_PATH": "/path/to/documents"
      }
    }
  }
}

To pin to a specific version, replace "GroupDocs.Comparison.Mcp" with "GroupDocs.Comparison.Mcp@26.7.4" in args. Pinning is recommended for shared / committed configs to avoid surprise upgrades.

Usage with VS Code / GitHub Copilot

NuGet.org generates a ready-to-use mcp.json snippet on the package page. Copy it directly into your .vscode/mcp.json.

Alternatively, add manually to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "storage_path",
      "description": "Base folder for input and output files.",
      "password": false
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "groupdocs-comparison": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "dnx",
      "args": ["GroupDocs.Comparison.Mcp", "--yes"],
      "env": {
        "GROUPDOCS_MCP_STORAGE_PATH": "${input:storage_path}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Same pinning rule as above — swap "GroupDocs.Comparison.Mcp" for "GroupDocs.Comparison.Mcp@26.7.4" to lock to a specific release.

Usage with Docker Compose

cd docker
docker compose up

Edit docker/docker-compose.yml to point volumes at your local documents folder.

Documentation & guides

Step-by-step deployment guides and a published-package integration test suite live in the companion repo GroupDocs.Comparison.Mcp.Tests:

• Install from NuGet — dnx, global tool, pinned vs always-latest

• Run via Docker

• Verify on the MCP registry

• Use with Claude Desktop

• Use with VS Code / GitHub Copilot

• Run the integration tests

That repo also exercises every advertised tool against the published NuGet artifact on Linux, macOS, and Windows in CI — so the snippets above are verified end-to-end on every release.

License

MIT — see LICENSE