PDF Tools for Claude

The full local PDF workflow for Claude Desktop and MCP hosts.

Instead of just opening a PDF, PDF Tools lets Claude view it interactively, fill forms, save reusable profiles, merge and split files, reorganize pages visually, extract structured data, and analyze document content without uploading anything to a web app.

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.

Cursor / Other MCP Hosts

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

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
• Page organization: merge, split, rotate, reorder, and apply full page plans in one pass
• Extraction and analysis: text extraction, CSV export, page-level analysis, metadata, and validation
• Local-first: files stay on your machine

What You Can Do

Interactive PDF Viewer

• View PDFs with page navigation, zoom, search, and fullscreen
• Select and copy text directly from pages
• See form fields in a sidebar with fill status
• Use visual page management to reorder, rotate, and remove pages before saving a new copy

Forms and Reusable Profiles

• Fill W-9s, 1099s, rental applications, waivers, and any fillable PDF
• Save personal or business details as reusable profiles
• List, load, and apply saved profiles so repeated forms take seconds instead of minutes
• Bulk fill many PDFs from CSV data and validate required fields before submission

Page Organization Tools

• Merge multiple PDFs into one document
• Split PDFs by exact page ranges or regular intervals
• Rotate and reorder pages
• Apply a full page plan in one pass to reorder, rotate, and delete pages while preserving the original

Extraction and Analysis

• Read document text for summarization, question answering, and research workflows
• Extract structured data to CSV
• Inspect page-level details like orientation, text presence, images, and likely blank pages
• Review metadata such as page count, dimensions, form fields, and file size

Great Fit For

• Researchers reviewing papers and reports
• Operators processing forms and back-office PDFs
• Lawyers organizing contracts and comparing versions
• Accountants handling tax documents
• Anyone who wants a serious PDF workflow in Claude without sending files to a web app

Example Prompts

View and Inspect

• "Open my W-9 and show me the fields"
• "Display the contract PDF in my Documents folder"
• "Search this report for every mention of indemnification"

Fill Forms

• "Fill this W-9 with my business info: Company Name LLC, 123 Main St, Tax ID 12-3456789"
• "Use my work profile to fill this application"
• "Save this data as a reusable profile called advisor-office"

Organize Pages

• "Merge these three contracts into one PDF"
• "Split this report every 10 pages"
• "Rotate page 3 by 90 degrees"
• "Open Manage Pages so I can reorder and delete pages visually"

Analyze and Extract

• "Summarize this research paper"
• "Extract all text from this scanned invoice"
• "Export all the filled fields from these PDFs into a CSV"
• "Analyze this PDF for blank pages and sideways pages"

Core Tools

Viewer and Reading

• display_pdf
• list_pdfs
• read_pdf_content
• get_pdf_resource_uri

Forms and Profiles

• read_pdf_fields
• fill_pdf
• bulk_fill_from_csv
• save_profile
• load_profile
• list_profiles
• fill_with_profile
• validate_pdf

Organization and Page Management

• merge_pdfs
• split_pdf
• rotate_pdf_pages
• reorder_pdf_pages
• apply_page_plan

Extraction and Analysis

• extract_to_csv
• get_pdf_info
• get_page_analysis

Build From Source

git clone https://github.com/Open-Document-Alliance/PDF-Tools
cd PDF-Tools
npm install
npm run build:ui
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/mcpb
mcpb pack

Development

Development and maintainer details

Project Structure

PDF-Tools/
├── server/index.js           # MCP server entry point
├── server/helpers.js         # Shared helper functions
├── ui/                       # Interactive viewer source (TypeScript)
├── dist-ui/                  # Built viewer (single-file HTML)
├── test/                     # Unit tests (Vitest)
├── manifest.json             # Extension metadata
├── manifest.mcpb.json        # MCPB packaging manifest
├── package-for-friend.js     # Share-bundle packaging script
└── docs/                     # Maintainer and release docs

Common Commands

npm install
npm run build:ui
npm test
node server/index.js
mcpb pack
node package-for-friend.js

Maintainer Docs

• docs/MAINTAINERS.md — architecture and operations
• docs/RELEASE.md — release checklist
• docs/SUPPORT.md — issue triage

Upstream Dependencies

• MCP spec: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol
• MCPB CLI: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/mcpb
• MCP Apps: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ext-apps
• SDK: @modelcontextprotocol/sdk

License

MIT