Local-only PDF tools for AI — extract text, search, split/merge, render pages. Files never leave.
Let your AI process PDFs locally. Files never leave your Mac.
@truepathpdf/mcp-server is a Model Context Protocol server that lets Claude, Cursor, and any other MCP-aware client read and process PDF files on your machine — without uploading them anywhere.
Built and maintained by Joy Truepath Pte. Ltd., the team behind the TruePath PDF Mac app.
v0.3 — free tier complete (9 of 9 tools). Read + edit + rasterise + GUI handoff: get_info, extract_text, search, split, merge, pages, to_images, extract_images, open_in_truepath. The full Pro tier (redact, fill_form, flatten, sign, compress, annotate, autocrop, batch, ocr) lands behind an Ed25519 license key in v0.4.
open_in_truepath requires the TruePath PDF Mac app v1.0.1 or newer (the truepath:// handler is added in 1.0.1; the v1.0.0 build does not register it).
# npx — no install required
npx -y @truepathpdf/mcp-server
# or install globally
npm install -g @truepathpdf/mcp-server
truepath-pdf-mcp
Requires Node.js 22.13 or newer (PDF.js 6 needs it).
Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"truepath-pdf": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@truepathpdf/mcp-server"]
}
}
}
Restart Claude Desktop. The truepath-pdf tools appear in the tool tray.
get_infoPage count, first-page size (with an allSameSize flag), encryption status, and embedded PDF metadata (title, author, dates, producer, format version).
{ "path": "/Users/you/Documents/report.pdf" }
extract_textPlain-text extraction. Optional 1-based page range ("3", "1-5", "1,3,5-7"). Output is grouped by page with ===== Page N ===== markers so the model can cite the right page.
{ "path": "/Users/you/Documents/report.pdf", "pages": "1-3" }
searchSubstring search across the whole document. Returns each hit's page, offset within the page, and a snippet of surrounding text. Use for grep-style discovery before a heavier extract_text.
{ "path": "/Users/you/Documents/report.pdf", "query": "revenue", "contextChars": 80 }
splitSplit one PDF into N by page ranges. Each range becomes one output file.
{ "path": "/in.pdf", "ranges": ["1-3", "4-7", "8"], "outputDir": "/out" }
mergeCombine two or more PDFs into one, in the given order.
{ "paths": ["/a.pdf", "/b.pdf", "/c.pdf"], "outputPath": "/out/merged.pdf" }
pagesDelete, rotate, and reorder pages in one pass. delete is applied first (page numbers in rotate refer to the source PDF); reorder is applied to the survivors.
{
"path": "/in.pdf",
"outputPath": "/out/edited.pdf",
"delete": "2,5",
"rotate": [{ "page": 1, "degrees": 90 }],
"reorder": [3, 1, 2]
}
to_imagesRasterise PDF pages as PNG or JPG at a chosen DPI. Common DPIs: 96 (screen), 150 (print preview), 300 (print).
{ "path": "/in.pdf", "outputDir": "/out", "pages": "1-5", "dpi": 150, "format": "png" }
extract_imagesPull embedded images out of a PDF and write each as a PNG. Reports any images skipped because of unsupported pixel layouts (CMYK, palettized, etc).
{ "path": "/in.pdf", "outputDir": "/out" }
open_in_truepathHand a local PDF to the TruePath PDF Mac app via truepath://open?path=…. Fire-and-forget: macOS launches (or routes to) the app, the URL handler opens the PDF. Use this after reading / analyzing in MCP to drop the user into the GUI for annotation, signing, redaction, etc.
{ "path": "/Users/you/Documents/report.pdf" }
Optional scheme param for re-branded engine builds (default truepath; the Yochen core build uses yochenpdf).
If the app isn't installed (no truepath:// handler registered — the app is absent or older than v1.0.1), the tool doesn't error. It returns handedOff: false with a one-line pointer to the TruePath PDF download so you can install it and retry. (Only for the default truepath scheme; a custom scheme gets a plain failure.)
redact — text-preserving redaction via PDFium (the same engine the Mac app uses; the words are removed from the file, not just covered)fill_form — fill AcroForm fields, save with values preservedflatten — bake filled forms / annotations into the page streamsign — visible signature placement, signed-PDF writecompress — recompress images / streams to shrink file sizeannotate — programmatic highlight / underline / sticky-noteautocrop — detect content bounds and crop marginsbatch — apply any tool across a glob of filesocr — Apple Vision OCR (Mac only, on-device, CJK-strong)A buy-once Pro key will be available via Lemon Squeezy at launch (target: USD 29, includes 12 months of updates). Owners of the TruePath PDF Mac app will be able to redeem their App Store receipt for a Pro MCP key via an in-app button.
MIT for the MCP shell. Transitive dependencies:
@modelcontextprotocol/sdk — MITpdfjs-dist — Apache 2.0pdf-lib — MIT@napi-rs/canvas — MITzod — MITPro tier will additionally bundle a prebuilt PDFium library (BSD/Apache, the same one used by Chrome).
Source-derived launch command. Check the maintainer’s required arguments and credentials before running:
npx -y @truepathpdf/mcp-serverMerge this template into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Keep existing servers. Add any arguments, credentials, and permissions required by the maintainer; this template has not been install-tested.
{
"mcpServers": {
"io-github-joytruepath-truepath-pdf-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@truepathpdf/mcp-server"
]
}
}
}Restart Claude Desktop completely for changes to take effect. Confirm the server appears connected in the client’s tool list, then try a read-only example from its documentation.
Claude Desktop setup reference@truepathpdf/mcp-servernpmTruePath PDF works with any MCP-compatible client. Copy the config snippet from the Configuration section above and add it to the file shown for your client, then restart the application.
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.jsonRestart Claude Desktop completely for changes to take effect.~/.cursor/mcp.jsonRestart Cursor for changes to take effect..vscode/mcp.jsonReload VS Code window for changes to take effect.~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.jsonRestart Windsurf for changes to take effect..mcp.jsonSave at the project root, then start Claude Code in that project and review the MCP server approval prompt. Keep real credentials out of shared files.