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PDF.co MCP Server

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by pdfdotco

pdf_to_html

Convert PDF and scanned documents to HTML format for web access. Supports OCR for scanned text, page selection, and line grouping.

Instructions

Convert PDF and scanned images to HTML format.
Ref: https://developer.pdf.co/api-reference/pdf-to-html.md

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema
NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
urlYesURL to the source file. Supports publicly accessible links including Google Drive, Dropbox, PDF.co Built-In Files Storage. Use 'upload_file' tool to upload local files.
httpusernameNoHTTP auth user name if required to access source url. (Optional)
httppasswordNoHTTP auth password if required to access source url. (Optional)
pagesNoComma-separated page indices (e.g., '0, 1, 2-' or '1, 3-7'). Use '!' for inverted page numbers (e.g., '!0' for last page). Processes all pages if None. (Optional)
unwrapNoUnwrap lines into a single line within table cells when lineGrouping is enabled. Must be true or false. (Optional)
rectNoDefines coordinates for extraction (e.g., '51.8,114.8,235.5,204.0'). (Optional)
langNoLanguage for OCR for scanned documents. Default is 'eng'. See PDF.co docs for supported languages. (Optional, Default: 'eng')eng
line_groupingNoEnables line grouping within table cells when set to '1'. (Optional)0
passwordNoPassword of the PDF file. (Optional)
nameNoFile name for the generated output. (Optional)
api_keyNoPDF.co API key. If not provided, will use X_API_KEY environment variable. (Optional)

Implementation Reference

  • The pdf_to_html async function is the main handler for the tool. It takes URL, pages, unwrap, rect, lang, line_grouping, password, name, and api_key parameters, then delegates to the convert_to helper with endpoint 'pdf/convert/to/html'.
    @mcp.tool()
    async def pdf_to_html(
        url: str = Field(
            description="URL to the source file. Supports publicly accessible links including Google Drive, Dropbox, PDF.co Built-In Files Storage. Use 'upload_file' tool to upload local files."
        ),
        httpusername: str = Field(
            description="HTTP auth user name if required to access source url. (Optional)",
            default="",
        ),
        httppassword: str = Field(
            description="HTTP auth password if required to access source url. (Optional)",
            default="",
        ),
        pages: str = Field(
            description="Comma-separated page indices (e.g., '0, 1, 2-' or '1, 3-7'). Use '!' for inverted page numbers (e.g., '!0' for last page). Processes all pages if None. (Optional)",
            default="",
        ),
        unwrap: bool = Field(
            description="Unwrap lines into a single line within table cells when lineGrouping is enabled. Must be true or false. (Optional)",
            default=False,
        ),
        rect: str = Field(
            description="Defines coordinates for extraction (e.g., '51.8,114.8,235.5,204.0'). (Optional)",
            default="",
        ),
        lang: str = Field(
            description="Language for OCR for scanned documents. Default is 'eng'. See PDF.co docs for supported languages. (Optional, Default: 'eng')",
            default="eng",
        ),
        line_grouping: str = Field(
            description="Enables line grouping within table cells when set to '1'. (Optional)",
            default="0",
        ),
        password: str = Field(
            description="Password of the PDF file. (Optional)", default=""
        ),
        name: str = Field(
            description="File name for the generated output. (Optional)", default=""
        ),
        api_key: str = Field(
            description="PDF.co API key. If not provided, will use X_API_KEY environment variable. (Optional)",
            default="",
        ),
    ) -> BaseResponse:
        """
        Convert PDF and scanned images to HTML format.
        Ref: https://developer.pdf.co/api-reference/pdf-to-html.md
        """
        return await convert_to(
            "pdf",
            "html",
            ConversionParams(
                url=url,
                httpusername=httpusername,
                httppassword=httppassword,
                pages=pages,
                unwrap=unwrap,
                rect=rect,
                lang=lang,
                line_grouping=line_grouping,
                password=password,
                name=name,
                api_key=api_key,
            ),
        )
  • The convert_to helper function constructs the API endpoint path (e.g., 'pdf/convert/to/html') and calls the request function to make the HTTP call to PDF.co.
    async def convert_to(
        _from: str, _to: str, params: ConversionParams, api_key: str | None = None
    ) -> BaseResponse:
        return await request(f"{_from}/convert/to/{_to}", params, api_key=api_key)
  • The request function builds the payload, makes an async HTTP POST request to the PDF.co API via PDFCoClient, and returns a BaseResponse.
    async def request(
        endpoint: str,
        params: ConversionParams,
        custom_payload: dict | None = None,
        api_key: str | None = None,
    ) -> BaseResponse:
        payload = params.parse_payload(async_mode=True)
        if custom_payload:
            payload.update(custom_payload)
    
        try:
            async with PDFCoClient(api_key=api_key) as client:
                url = f"/v1/{endpoint}"
                print(f"Requesting {url} with payload {payload}", file=sys.stderr)
                response = await client.post(url, json=payload)
                print(f"response: {response}", file=sys.stderr)
                json_data = response.json()
                return BaseResponse(
                    status="working",
                    content=json_data,
                    credits_used=json_data.get("credits"),
                    credits_remaining=json_data.get("remainingCredits"),
                    tips=f"You **should** use the 'wait_job_completion' tool to wait for the job [{json_data.get('jobId')}] to complete if a jobId is present.",
                )
        except Exception as e:
            return BaseResponse(
                status="error",
                content=f"{type(e)}: {[arg for arg in e.args if arg]}",
            )
  • The ConversionParams Pydantic model defines the input schema validated for pdf_to_html, including fields like url, pages, unwrap, password, name, etc. and the parse_payload method that builds the API request body.
    class ConversionParams(BaseModel):
        url: str = Field(
            description="URL to the source file. Supports publicly accessible links including Google Drive, Dropbox, PDF.co Built-In Files Storage. Use 'upload_file' tool to upload local files.",
            default="",
        )
        httpusername: str = Field(
            description="HTTP auth user name if required to access source url. (Optional)",
            default="",
        )
        httppassword: str = Field(
            description="HTTP auth password if required to access source url. (Optional)",
            default="",
        )
        pages: str = Field(
            description="Comma-separated page indices (e.g., '0, 1, 2-' or '1, 3-7'). Use '!' for inverted page numbers (e.g., '!0' for last page). Processes all pages if None. (Optional)",
            default="",
        )
        unwrap: bool = Field(
            description="Unwrap lines into a single line within table cells when lineGrouping is enabled. Must be true or false. (Optional)",
            default=False,
        )
        rect: str = Field(
            description="Defines coordinates for extraction (e.g., '51.8,114.8,235.5,204.0'). (Optional)",
            default="",
        )
        lang: str = Field(
            description="Language for OCR for scanned documents. Default is 'eng'. See PDF.co docs for supported languages. (Optional, Default: 'eng')",
            default="eng",
        )
        line_grouping: str = Field(
            description="Enables line grouping within table cells when set to '1'. (Optional)",
            default="0",
        )
        password: str = Field(
            description="Password of the PDF file. (Optional)", default=""
        )
        name: str = Field(
            description="File name for the generated output. (Optional)", default=""
        )
        autosize: bool = Field(
            description="Controls automatic page sizing. If true, page dimensions adjust to content. If false, uses worksheet’s page setup. (Optional)",
            default=False,
        )
    
        html: str = Field(
            description="Input HTML code to be converted. To convert the link to a PDF use the /pdf/convert/from/url endpoint instead.",
            default="",
        )
        templateId: str = Field(
            description="Set to the ID of your HTML template. You can find and copy the ID from HTML to PDF Templates.",
            default="",
        )
        templateData: str = Field(
            description="Set it to a string with input JSON data (recommended) or CSV data.",
            default="",
        )
        margins: str = Field(
            description="Set to CSS style margins like 10px, 5mm, 5in for all sides or 5px 5px 5px 5px (the order of margins is top, right, bottom, left). (Optional)",
            default="",
        )
        paperSize: str = Field(
            description="A4 is set by default. Can be Letter, Legal, Tabloid, Ledger, A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 or a custom size. Custom size can be set in px (pixels), mm or in (inches) with width and height separated by space like this: 200 300, 200px 300px, 200mm 300mm, 20cm 30cm or 6in 8in. (Optional)",
            default="",
        )
        orientation: str = Field(
            description="Set to Portrait or Landscape. Portrait is set by default. (Optional)",
            default="",
        )
        printBackground: bool = Field(
            description="true by default. Set to false to disable printing of background. (Optional)",
            default=True,
        )
        mediaType: str = Field(
            description="Uses print by default. Set to screen to convert HTML as it appears in a browser or print to convert as it appears for printing or none to set none as mediaType for CSS styles. (Optional)",
            default="",
        )
        DoNotWaitFullLoad: bool = Field(
            description="false by default. Set to true to skip waiting for full load (like full video load etc. that may affect the total conversion time). (Optional)",
            default=False,
        )
        header: str = Field(
            description="User definable HTML for the header to be applied on every page header. (Optional)",
            default="",
        )
        footer: str = Field(
            description="User definable HTML for the footer to be applied on every page footer. (Optional)",
            default="",
        )
    
        worksheetIndex: str = Field(
            description="Index of the worksheet to convert. (Optional)", default=""
        )
    
        def parse_payload(self, async_mode: bool = True):
            payload = {
                "async": async_mode,
            }
            if self.url:
                payload["url"] = self.url
            if self.httpusername:
                payload["httpusername"] = self.httpusername
            if self.httppassword:
                payload["httppassword"] = self.httppassword
            if self.pages:
                payload["pages"] = self.pages
            if self.unwrap:
                payload["unwrap"] = self.unwrap
            if self.rect:
                payload["rect"] = self.rect
            if self.lang:
                payload["lang"] = self.lang
            if self.line_grouping:
                payload["lineGrouping"] = self.line_grouping
            if self.password:
                payload["password"] = self.password
            if self.name:
                payload["name"] = self.name
            if self.autosize:
                payload["autosize"] = self.autosize
    
            if self.html:
                payload["html"] = self.html
            if self.templateId:
                payload["templateId"] = self.templateId
            if self.templateData:
                payload["templateData"] = self.templateData
            if self.margins:
                payload["margins"] = self.margins
            if self.paperSize:
                payload["paperSize"] = self.paperSize
            if self.orientation:
                payload["orientation"] = self.orientation
            if self.printBackground:
                payload["printBackground"] = self.printBackground
            if self.mediaType:
                payload["mediaType"] = self.mediaType
            if self.DoNotWaitFullLoad:
                payload["DoNotWaitFullLoad"] = self.DoNotWaitFullLoad
            if self.header:
                payload["header"] = self.header
            if self.footer:
                payload["footer"] = self.footer
    
            if self.worksheetIndex:
                payload["worksheetIndex"] = self.worksheetIndex
    
            return payload
  • The FastMCP instance 'mcp' is created here. The @mcp.tool() decorator on pdf_to_html (in conversion.py) registers it as an MCP tool on this server instance.
    from fastmcp import FastMCP
    
    mcp = FastMCP("pdfco")
Behavior2/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

No annotations are provided, and the description lacks any disclosure of behavioral traits (e.g., read-only, destructive, performance considerations). The reference to an external URL is insufficient for immediate agent decision-making.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

The description is very concise (one sentence plus URL) and front-loaded with the core purpose. However, it could be slightly more informative without sacrificing conciseness.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness2/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

Given 11 parameters, no output schema, and no annotations, the description is too minimal. It does not cover expected output format, error handling, or example usage. The external URL reference helps but is not inline.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

The input schema has 100% parameter description coverage, so the tool description adds minimal extra meaning. It provides a general context (conversion to HTML) but no additional detail beyond what's in the schema.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The description clearly states the tool converts PDF and scanned images to HTML, with a reference link. It effectively distinguishes from siblings like pdf_to_text, pdf_to_csv, etc., by specifying the output format.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines2/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

No guidance on when to use this tool over alternatives. The description does not mention prerequisites, context, or comparisons with sibling tools, leaving the agent without decision support.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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