lh/mcp-pdf-modesty

MCP PDF Modesty Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that provides PDF text extraction capabilities by wrapping the excellent pdf2json library.

Attribution

This project uses the pdf2json library created by Modesty Zhang. The original library can be found at:

• GitHub: https://github.com/modesty/pdf2json
• npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/pdf2json

All PDF parsing functionality is provided by pdf2json. This project simply wraps it in an MCP server interface.

Features

• Extract text content from PDF files
• Extract form fields from PDF files
• Multiple output formats: plain text, JSON, or detailed metadata
• Zero-dependency PDF parsing (inherited from pdf2json v3.1.6+)

Installation

From npm (when published)

npm install mcp-pdf-modesty

From source

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/lh/mcp-pdf-modesty.git
cd mcp-pdf-modesty

2. Install dependencies and build:

npm install
npm run build
npm link

Usage

In Claude Code

After building and linking from source, add the server to Claude Code:

claude mcp add mcp-pdf-modesty mcp-pdf-modesty

Then restart Claude Code for the server to be available.

In Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/mcp-pdf-modesty/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Or if installed from npm:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-pdf-modesty"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

extract_text

Extract text content from a PDF file.

Parameters:

• path (required): Path to the PDF file
• format (optional): Output format
  • "text" (default): Plain text output
  • "json": Structured data with text and metadata
  • "detailed": Full PDF data structure

Example:

extract_text({ path: "/path/to/document.pdf", format: "text" })

extract_form_fields

Extract form fields from a PDF file.

Parameters:

• path (required): Path to the PDF file

Example:

extract_form_fields({ path: "/path/to/form.pdf" })

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

License

This MCP wrapper is licensed under the MIT License. See file for details.

The underlying pdf2json library has its own license. Please refer to the pdf2json repository for its licensing terms.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Modesty Zhang for creating and maintaining the pdf2json library that makes this MCP server possible.