PDF Tools for Claude Desktop and Local MCP Hosts

The local PDF workflow for Claude Desktop and MCP hosts: fill, sign, merge, split, extract, render, and analyze PDFs with local file operations.

Instead of just opening a PDF, PDF Tools lets Claude fetch PDF URLs to your machine, inspect documents visually, fill forms, save reusable profiles, add signature/date zones, merge and split files, reorganize pages visually, extract structured data, and return document content to your chosen MCP host for analysis.

This package targets Claude Desktop and other local MCP hosts today. It does not yet include a remote connector for Claude Cowork / web-hosted Claude.

Install

Claude Desktop

1. Download the latest .mcpb from Releases
2. Double-click the .mcpb file to install it in Claude Desktop

The extension is also available in the Claude Extensions directory.

Claude Desktop settings include an Allowed PDF Directories field. By default, PDF Tools can access ~/Documents, ~/Downloads, and ~/Desktop. Add any other folder you want Claude to use before asking it to read, fill, sign, merge, or save PDFs there. Saved profiles and signatures live in the extension's private local store and do not need to be added manually.

Cursor / Other MCP Hosts

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-tools": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/full/path/to/PDF-Tools/server/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

ChatGPT / Codex Agent Plugin

A fresh Agent Plugin install uses a private PDF Tools workspace. There is no folder setup step: when the host is allowed to read a file, it can copy the file into that workspace for PDF Tools to process. PDF Tools itself still refuses direct paths outside the workspace.

This is a tool boundary, not a confidentiality boundary against the host. If ChatGPT is set to Full Access, its broader filesystem permission governs what it can import. Optional direct folder access can be configured separately in the plugin's config.json; a non-empty list replaces the private workspace.

Why It's Different

Claude already knows how to read PDFs in limited ways. PDF Tools goes much further:

• Interactive viewer: page navigation, zoom, search, fullscreen, text selection, and form-field sidebar
• Form workflows: fill_pdf, read_pdf_fields, bulk_fill_from_csv, and reusable profiles
• Sign mode: signature/date zone detection, saved or drawn local signatures, text stamping, inspect-region, preview-to-zone flows, and optional consent-gated Lumin e-signing
• URL-to-PDF workflows: fetch HTTP(S) PDF links to the local machine when sandboxed web fetches are blocked
• Page organization: merge, split, rotate, reorder, and apply full page plans in one pass
• Extraction and analysis: page-bounded reads, text search, page/region rendering, CSV export, page-level analysis, metadata, and validation
• Verified extraction workspaces: bind a PDF and JSON Schema, inspect source chunks, submit cited leaf proposals, and retain deterministic replay results without a model inside the MCP server
• Local file operations: PDF Tools reads, renders, edits, and saves files on your machine instead of uploading them to a separate PDF service
• Scoped file operations: PDF Tools directly reads and writes only its active folders; a host with broader filesystem permission may import files into the private plugin workspace