MCP Server

What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol lets AI agents use external tools. PDFBase ships an MCP server that exposes PDF operations as tools agents can call.

Installation

npm install -g @pdfbase/mcp

Or add to your agent’s MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdfbase": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@pdfbase/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "PDFBASE_API_KEY": "pk_live_xxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available tools

The MCP server exposes all PDFBase API operations as agent-callable tools.

Phase 1 — Create

Tool	Description
`create_pdf`	Generate a PDF from HTML or URL
`render_template`	Render a stored template with data
`list_templates`	List available templates
`create_template`	Create a new template
`delete_template`	Delete a template
`create_batch`	Create a batch job
`get_batch_status`	Check batch progress and results
`get_pdf`	Retrieve PDF metadata and download URL

Phase 2 — Edit + Convert

Tool	Description
`merge_pdfs`	Merge multiple PDFs into one
`split_pdf`	Split a PDF into separate pages
`watermark_pdf`	Add text or image watermark
`convert_office`	Convert DOCX/XLSX/PPTX to PDF
`generate_thumbnail`	Generate a PNG thumbnail of a PDF page

Phase 3 — Extract

Tool	Description
`extract_text`	Extract text content from a PDF
`extract_ocr`	OCR a scanned document
`extract_tables`	Extract structured table data
`extract_structured`	AI-powered extraction (invoice → JSON, receipt → JSON)

Tool examples

create_pdf

{
  "name": "create_pdf",
  "input": {
    "html": "<h1>Report</h1><p>Generated by AI agent</p>",
    "format": "a4",
    "output": "url"
  }
}

render_template

{
  "name": "render_template",
  "input": {
    "template": "invoice",
    "data": {
      "number": "INV-001",
      "customer": "Acme Corp",
      "total": "$500.00"
    }
  }
}

extract_structured

{
  "name": "extract_structured",
  "input": {
    "source": { "pdf_id": "pdf_invoice" },
    "preset": "invoice"
  }
}

generate_thumbnail

{
  "name": "generate_thumbnail",
  "input": {
    "pdf_id": "pdf_report",
    "page": 1
  }
}

Why MCP for PDFs?

AI agents frequently need to generate documents — invoices, reports, certificates, proposals. Without a tool, agents either:

Generate markdown (not a PDF)
Write HTML and tell the user to open it (bad UX)
Call a complex API with no guidance (error-prone)

The MCP server wraps PDFBase’s API into agent-friendly tools with clear schemas, so agents can generate production-quality PDFs as naturally as they write text.

Agent workflow example

User: "Generate invoices for all unpaid orders and email them"

Agent:
1. Queries database for unpaid orders
2. Calls render_template for each order
3. Downloads PDFs from returned URLs
4. Sends emails with PDF attachments

The agent doesn’t need to know HTML, CSS, or PDF internals. It fills in a template with structured data and gets a URL back.

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Integrations

Resources

What is MCP?

Installation

Available tools

Phase 1 — Create

Phase 2 — Edit + Convert

Phase 3 — Extract

Tool examples

create_pdf

render_template

extract_structured

generate_thumbnail

Why MCP for PDFs?

Agent workflow example

​What is MCP?

​Installation

​Available tools

​Phase 1 — Create

​Phase 2 — Edit + Convert

​Phase 3 — Extract

​Tool examples

​create_pdf

​render_template

​extract_structured

​generate_thumbnail

​Why MCP for PDFs?

​Agent workflow example

What is MCP?

Installation

Available tools

Phase 1 — Create

Phase 2 — Edit + Convert

Phase 3 — Extract

Tool examples

create_pdf

render_template

extract_structured

generate_thumbnail

Why MCP for PDFs?

Agent workflow example