---

🚀 Overview

PDF Reader MCP is a production-ready Model Context Protocol server that empowers AI agents with enterprise-grade PDF processing capabilities. Extract text, images, and metadata with unmatched performance and reliability.

The Problem:

typescript

// Traditional PDF processing
- Sequential page processing (slow)
- No natural content ordering
- Complex path handling
- Poor error isolation

The Solution:

typescript

// PDF Reader MCP
- 5-10x faster parallel processing ⚡
- Y-coordinate based ordering 📐
- Flexible path support (absolute/relative) 🎯
- Per-page error resilience 🛡️
- 94%+ test coverage ✅

Result: Production-ready PDF processing that scales.

---

⚡ Key Features

Performance

🚀 5-10x faster than sequential with automatic parallelization
⚡ 12,933 ops/sec error handling, 5,575 ops/sec text extraction
💨 Process 50-page PDFs in seconds with multi-core utilization
📦 Lightweight with minimal dependencies

Developer Experience

🎯 Path Flexibility - Absolute & relative paths, Windows/Unix support (v1.3.0)
🖼️ Smart Ordering - Y-coordinate based content preserves document layout
🛡️ Type Safe - Full TypeScript with strict mode enabled
📚 Battle-tested - 103 tests, 94%+ coverage, 98%+ function coverage
🎨 Simple API - Single tool handles all operations elegantly

---

📊 Performance Benchmarks

Real-world performance from production testing:

Operation	Ops/sec	Performance	Use Case
Error handling	12,933	⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡	Validation & safety
Extract full text	5,575	⚡⚡⚡⚡	Document analysis
Extract page	5,329	⚡⚡⚡⚡	Single page ops
Multiple pages	5,242	⚡⚡⚡⚡	Batch processing
Metadata only	4,912	⚡⚡⚡	Quick inspection

Parallel Processing Speedup

Document	Sequential	Parallel	Speedup
10-page PDF	~2s	~0.3s	5-8x faster
50-page PDF	~10s	~1s	10x faster
100+ pages	~20s	~2s	Linear scaling with CPU cores

*Benchmarks vary based on PDF complexity and system resources.*

---

📦 Installation

Claude Code

bash

claude mcp add pdf-reader -- npx @sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-reader": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

📍 Config file locations

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

VS Code

bash

code --add-mcp '{"name":"pdf-reader","command":"npx","args":["@sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp"]}'

Cursor

1. Open Settings → MCP → Add new MCP Server

2. Select Command type

3. Enter: npx @sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp

Windsurf

Add to your Windsurf MCP config:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-reader": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cline

Add to Cline's MCP settings:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-reader": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Warp

1. Go to Settings → AI → Manage MCP Servers → Add

2. Command: npx, Args: @sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp

Smithery (One-click)

bash

npx -y @smithery/cli install @sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp --client claude

Manual Installation

bash

# Quick start - zero installation
npx @sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp

# Or install globally
npm install -g @sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp

---

🎯 Quick Start

Basic Usage

json

{
  "sources": [{
    "path": "documents/report.pdf"
  }],
  "include_full_text": true,
  "include_metadata": true,
  "include_page_count": true
}

Result:

✅ Full text content extracted
✅ PDF metadata (author, title, dates)
✅ Total page count
✅ Structural sharing - unchanged parts preserved

Extract Specific Pages

json

{
  "sources": [{
    "path": "documents/manual.pdf",
    "pages": "1-5,10,15-20"
  }],
  "include_full_text": true
}

Absolute Paths (v1.3.0+)

json

// Windows - Both formats work!
{
  "sources": [{
    "path": "C:\\Users\\John\\Documents\\report.pdf"
  }],
  "include_full_text": true
}

// Unix/Mac
{
  "sources": [{
    "path": "/home/user/documents/contract.pdf"
  }],
  "include_full_text": true
}

No more "Absolute paths are not allowed" errors!

Extract Images with Natural Ordering

json

{
  "sources": [{
    "path": "presentation.pdf",
    "pages": [1, 2, 3]
  }],
  "include_images": true,
  "include_full_text": true
}

Response includes:

Text and images in exact document order (Y-coordinate sorted)
Base64-encoded images with metadata (width, height, format)
Natural reading flow preserved for AI comprehension

Batch Processing

json

{
  "sources": [
    { "path": "C:\\Reports\\Q1.pdf", "pages": "1-10" },
    { "path": "/home/user/Q2.pdf", "pages": "1-10" },
    { "url": "https://example.com/Q3.pdf" }
  ],
  "include_full_text": true
}

⚡ All PDFs processed in parallel automatically!

---

✨ Features

Core Capabilities

✅ Text Extraction - Full document or specific pages with intelligent parsing
✅ Image Extraction - Base64-encoded with complete metadata (width, height, format)
✅ Content Ordering - Y-coordinate based layout preservation for natural reading flow
✅ Metadata Extraction - Author, title, creation date, and custom properties
✅ Page Counting - Fast enumeration without loading full content
✅ Dual Sources - Local files (absolute or relative paths) and HTTP/HTTPS URLs
✅ Batch Processing - Multiple PDFs processed concurrently

Advanced Features

⚡ 5-10x Performance - Parallel page processing with Promise.all
🎯 Smart Pagination - Extract ranges like "1-5,10-15,20"
🖼️ Multi-Format Images - RGB, RGBA, Grayscale with automatic detection
🛡️ Path Flexibility - Windows, Unix, and relative paths all supported (v1.3.0)
🔍 Error Resilience - Per-page error isolation with detailed messages
📏 Large File Support - Efficient streaming and memory management
📝 Type Safe - Full TypeScript with strict mode enabled

---

🆕 What's New in v1.3.0

🎉 Absolute Paths Now Supported!

json

// ✅ Windows
{ "path": "C:\\Users\\John\\Documents\\report.pdf" }
{ "path": "C:/Users/John/Documents/report.pdf" }

// ✅ Unix/Mac
{ "path": "/home/john/documents/report.pdf" }
{ "path": "/Users/john/Documents/report.pdf" }

// ✅ Relative (still works)
{ "path": "documents/report.pdf" }

Other Improvements:

🐛 Fixed Zod validation error handling
📦 Updated all dependencies to latest versions
✅ 103 tests passing, 94%+ coverage maintained

📋 View Full Changelog

v1.2.0 - Content Ordering

Y-coordinate based text and image ordering
Natural reading flow for AI models
Intelligent line grouping

v1.1.0 - Image Extraction & Performance

Base64-encoded image extraction
10x speedup with parallel processing
Comprehensive test coverage (94%+)

View Full Changelog →

---

📖 API Reference

`read_pdf` Tool

The single tool that handles all PDF operations.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
`sources`	Array	List of PDF sources to process	Required
`include_full_text`	boolean	Extract full text content	`false`
`include_metadata`	boolean	Extract PDF metadata	`true`
`include_page_count`	boolean	Include total page count	`true`
`include_images`	boolean	Extract embedded images	`false`

Source Object

typescript

{
  path?: string;        // Local file path (absolute or relative)
  url?: string;         // HTTP/HTTPS URL to PDF
  pages?: string | number[];  // Pages to extract: "1-5,10" or [1,2,3]
}

Examples

Metadata only (fast):

json

{
  "sources": [{ "path": "large.pdf" }],
  "include_metadata": true,
  "include_page_count": true,
  "include_full_text": false
}

From URL:

json

{
  "sources": [{
    "url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2301.00001.pdf"
  }],
  "include_full_text": true
}

Page ranges:

json

{
  "sources": [{
    "path": "manual.pdf",
    "pages": "1-5,10-15,20"  // Pages 1,2,3,4,5,10,11,12,13,14,15,20
  }]
}

---

🔧 Advanced Usage

📐 Y-Coordinate Content Ordering

Content is returned in natural reading order based on Y-coordinates:

code

Document Layout:
┌─────────────────────┐
│ [Title]       Y:100 │
│ [Image]       Y:150 │
│ [Text]        Y:400 │
│ [Photo A]     Y:500 │
│ [Photo B]     Y:550 │
└─────────────────────┘

Response Order:
[
  { type: "text", text: "Title..." },
  { type: "image", data: "..." },
  { type: "text", text: "..." },
  { type: "image", data: "..." },
  { type: "image", data: "..." }
]

Benefits:

AI understands spatial relationships
Natural document comprehension
Perfect for vision-enabled models
Automatic multi-line text grouping

🖼️ Image Extraction

Enable extraction:

json

{
  "sources": [{ "path": "manual.pdf" }],
  "include_images": true
}

Response format:

json

{
  "images": [{
    "page": 1,
    "index": 0,
    "width": 1920,
    "height": 1080,
    "format": "rgb",
    "data": "base64-encoded-png..."
  }]
}

Supported formats: RGB, RGBA, Grayscale

Auto-detected: JPEG, PNG, and other embedded formats

📂 Path Configuration

Absolute paths (v1.3.0+) - Direct file access:

json

{ "path": "C:\\Users\\John\\file.pdf" }
{ "path": "/home/user/file.pdf" }

Relative paths - Workspace files:

json

{ "path": "docs/report.pdf" }
{ "path": "./2024/Q1.pdf" }

Configure working directory:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-reader-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/documents"
    }
  }
}

📊 Large PDF Strategies

Strategy 1: Page ranges

json

{ "sources": [{ "path": "big.pdf", "pages": "1-20" }] }

Strategy 2: Progressive loading

json

// Step 1: Get page count
{ "sources": [{ "path": "big.pdf" }], "include_full_text": false }

// Step 2: Extract sections
{ "sources": [{ "path": "big.pdf", "pages": "50-75" }] }

Strategy 3: Parallel batching

json

{
  "sources": [
    { "path": "big.pdf", "pages": "1-50" },
    { "path": "big.pdf", "pages": "51-100" }
  ]
}

---

🔧 Troubleshooting

"Absolute paths are not allowed"

Solution: Upgrade to v1.3.0+

bash

npm update @sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp

Restart your MCP client completely.

---

"File not found"

Causes:

File doesn't exist at path
Wrong working directory
Permission issues

Solutions:

Use absolute path:

json

{ "path": "C:\\Full\\Path\\file.pdf" }

Or configure cwd:

json

{
  "pdf-reader-mcp": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["@sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp"],
    "cwd": "/path/to/docs"
  }
}

---

"No tools showing up"

Solution:

bash

npm cache clean --force
rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install @sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp@latest

Restart MCP client completely.

---

🌐 HTTP Transport (Remote Access)

By default, PDF Reader MCP uses stdio transport for local use. You can also run it as an HTTP server for remote access from multiple machines.

Quick Start

bash

# Run as HTTP server on port 8080
MCP_TRANSPORT=http npx @sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
`MCP_TRANSPORT`	`stdio`	Transport type: `stdio` or `http`
`MCP_HTTP_PORT`	`8080`	HTTP server port
`MCP_HTTP_HOST`	`0.0.0.0`	HTTP server hostname
`MCP_API_KEY`	-	Optional API key for authentication

Docker Deployment

dockerfile

FROM oven/bun:1
WORKDIR /app
RUN bun add @sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp
ENV MCP_TRANSPORT=http
ENV MCP_HTTP_PORT=8080
EXPOSE 8080
CMD ["bun", "node_modules/@sylphx/pdf-reader-mcp/dist/index.js"]

MCP Client Configuration (HTTP)

json

{
  "servers": {
    "pdf-reader": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://your-server.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Endpoints

Endpoint	Method	Description
`/mcp`	POST	JSON-RPC endpoint
`/mcp/health`	GET	Health check

---

🏗️ Architecture

Tech Stack

Component	Technology
Runtime	Node.js 22+ ESM
PDF Engine	PDF.js (Mozilla)
Validation	Zod + JSON Schema
Protocol	MCP SDK
Language	TypeScript (strict)
Testing	Vitest (103 tests)
Quality	Biome (50x faster)
CI/CD	GitHub Actions

Design Principles

🔒 Security First - Flexible paths with secure defaults
🎯 Simple Interface - One tool, all operations
⚡ Performance - Parallel processing, efficient memory
🛡️ Reliability - Per-page isolation, detailed errors
🧪 Quality - 94%+ coverage, strict TypeScript
📝 Type Safety - No any types, strict mode
🔄 Backward Compatible - Smooth upgrades always

---

🧪 Development

Setup & Scripts

Prerequisites:

Node.js >= 22.0.0
pnpm (recommended) or npm

Setup:

bash

git clone https://github.com/SylphxAI/pdf-reader-mcp.git
cd pdf-reader-mcp
pnpm install && pnpm build

Scripts:

bash

pnpm run build       # Build TypeScript
pnpm run test        # Run 103 tests
pnpm run test:cov    # Coverage (94%+)
pnpm run check       # Lint + format
pnpm run check:fix   # Auto-fix
pnpm run benchmark   # Performance tests

Quality:

✅ 103 tests
✅ 94%+ coverage
✅ 98%+ function coverage
✅ Zero lint errors
✅ Strict TypeScript

Contributing

Quick Start:

1. Fork repository

2. Create branch: git checkout -b feature/awesome

3. Make changes: pnpm test

4. Format: pnpm run check:fix

5. Commit: Use Conventional Commits

6. Open PR

Commit Format:

code

feat(images): add WebP support
fix(paths): handle UNC paths
docs(readme): update examples

See CONTRIBUTING.md

---

📚 Documentation

📖 Full Docs - Complete guides
🚀 Getting Started - Quick start
📘 API Reference - Detailed API
🏗️ Design - Architecture
⚡ Performance - Benchmarks
🔍 Comparison - vs. alternatives

---

🗺️ Roadmap

✅ Completed

[x] Image extraction (v1.1.0)
[x] 5-10x parallel speedup (v1.1.0)
[x] Y-coordinate ordering (v1.2.0)
[x] Absolute paths (v1.3.0)
[x] 94%+ test coverage (v1.3.0)

🚀 Next

[ ] OCR for scanned PDFs
[ ] Annotation extraction
[ ] Form field extraction
[ ] Table detection
[ ] 100+ MB streaming
[ ] Advanced caching
[ ] PDF generation

Vote at Discussions

---

🏆 Recognition

Featured on:

Smithery - MCP directory
Glama - AI marketplace
MseeP.ai - Security validated

Trusted worldwide • Enterprise adoption • Battle-tested

---

🤝 Support

Show Your Support:

⭐ Star • 👀 Watch • 🐛 Report bugs • 💡 Suggest features • 🔀 Contribute

---

📊 Stats

Downloads

Contributors

103 Tests • 94%+ Coverage • Production Ready

---

📄 License

MIT © Sylphx

---

🙏 Credits

Built with:

PDF.js - Mozilla PDF engine
Bun - Fast JavaScript runtime

Special thanks to the open source community ❤️

Powered by Sylphx

This project uses the following @sylphx packages:

@sylphx/mcp-server-sdk - MCP server framework
@sylphx/vex - Schema validation
@sylphx/biome-config - Biome configuration
@sylphx/tsconfig - TypeScript configuration
@sylphx/bump - Version management
@sylphx/doctor - Project health checker

---

Star History

---

Pdf Reader Mcp

Documentation

🚀 Overview

⚡ Key Features

Performance

Developer Experience

📊 Performance Benchmarks

Parallel Processing Speedup

📦 Installation

Claude Code

Claude Desktop

VS Code

Cursor

Windsurf

Cline

Warp

Smithery (One-click)

Manual Installation

🎯 Quick Start

Basic Usage

Extract Specific Pages

Absolute Paths (v1.3.0+)

Extract Images with Natural Ordering

Batch Processing

✨ Features

Core Capabilities

Advanced Features

🆕 What's New in v1.3.0

🎉 Absolute Paths Now Supported!

📖 API Reference

read_pdf Tool

Parameters

Source Object

Examples

🔧 Advanced Usage

🔧 Troubleshooting

"Absolute paths are not allowed"

"File not found"

"No tools showing up"

🌐 HTTP Transport (Remote Access)

Quick Start

Environment Variables

Docker Deployment

MCP Client Configuration (HTTP)

Endpoints

🏗️ Architecture

Tech Stack

Design Principles

🧪 Development

📚 Documentation

🗺️ Roadmap

🏆 Recognition

🤝 Support

📊 Stats

📄 License

🙏 Credits

Powered by Sylphx

Star History

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