MCP PDF Vision Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables Claude to analyze PDF documents using its vision capabilities.

Features

• 📄 Direct PDF analysis using Claude's vision capabilities
• 📑 Multi-session support for handling multiple PDFs
• 🔍 Page-by-page navigation and analysis
• 📊 Extract and analyze single pages or page ranges
• 🖼️ Works with complex layouts, tables, charts, and scanned PDFs

Installation

Option 1: NPM (Recommended)

npm install -g mcp-pdf-vision
claude mcp add pdf-vision --scope user -- npx mcp-pdf-vision

Option 2: Manual Installation

git clone https://github.com/MIMICLab/mcp-pdf-vision.git
cd mcp-pdf-vision
npm install
npm run build
claude mcp add pdf-vision --scope user -- node $(pwd)/dist/index.js

Option 3: Quick Install Script

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MIMICLab/mcp-pdf-vision/main/install.sh | bash

Usage in Claude Code

Verify Installation

claude mcp list
# Should show: pdf-vision ✓ Connected

Basic Commands

# Load a PDF
"Load /path/to/document.pdf using pdf-vision"

# View current page
"Show me the current page"

# Navigate pages
"Go to next page"
"Go to page 5"

# Analyze content
"Analyze the table on this page"
"Summarize pages 1-5"

Available Tools

1. load_pdf - Load a PDF file for analysis

   • pdfPath: Path to the PDF file
   • sessionId: Optional session identifier

2. get_current_page - Get the current page as an image

   • sessionId: Session ID of the loaded PDF
   • dpi: Resolution for image extraction (default: 150)

3. go_to_page - Navigate to a specific page

   • sessionId: Session ID
   • pageNumber: Target page number (1-indexed)

4. next_page / previous_page - Navigate between pages

   • sessionId: Session ID

5. get_pages_range - Get multiple pages at once

   • sessionId: Session ID
   • startPage: Starting page number
   • endPage: Ending page number
   • dpi: Resolution (default: 150)

6. get_all_pages - Get all pages from the PDF

   • sessionId: Session ID
   • dpi: Resolution (default: 150)

7. get_pdf_info - Get information about the loaded PDF

   • sessionId: Session ID

8. list_sessions - List all active PDF sessions

Configuration

Claude Code (CLI)

The server is automatically configured when installed via npm or the install script.

Manual configuration in ~/.claude.json:

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

Claude Desktop App

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS):

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

Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/MIMICLab/mcp-pdf-vision.git
cd mcp-pdf-vision

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

# Build TypeScript
npm run build

# Test locally
claude mcp add pdf-vision-dev --scope project -- node $(pwd)/dist/index.js

Troubleshooting

Server not appearing in /mcp list

1. Restart Claude Code completely
2. Check server status: claude mcp list
3. Reinstall: npm uninstall -g mcp-pdf-vision && npm install -g mcp-pdf-vision

PDF loading errors

• Ensure the PDF path is absolute, not relative
• Check file permissions
• Verify the PDF is not corrupted

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT

Author

Taehoon Kim - MIMICLab