pdf-extract-mcp
FastMCP server for PDF text extraction and metadata retrieval, providing structured JSON output for pages, metadata, and specific page ranges.
README
pdf-extract-mcp
FastMCP server for PDF text extraction and metadata — part of the Palimpsest intelligence toolkit.
Why
LLMs can't read PDFs natively. This server fills the gap — extract text from PDF documents, pull document metadata (title, author, producer, creation date), and extract specific page ranges. All results are returned as structured JSON for easy downstream processing.
Architecture
Pluggable PDF backends with graceful degradation:
- base install (
pip install pdf-extract-mcp) — pypdf-based text extraction and metadata (~5 MB)
The server tries backends in priority order: pypdf → none.
Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
extract_text(path, pages="") |
Extract text from a PDF — all pages or a specific range (e.g. '1-5') |
extract_metadata(path) |
Full metadata: file info, SHA-256, PDF metadata, encryption status |
extract_pages(path, page_range) |
Convenience wrapper for extracting specific page ranges |
Installation
git clone https://github.com/palimpsest-labs/pdf-extract-mcp
cd pdf-extract-mcp
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
Usage
from pdf_extract_mcp.server import extract_text, extract_metadata, extract_pages
# Get everything at once
result = extract_text("~/documents/report.pdf")
# Or separate calls
meta = extract_metadata("~/documents/report.pdf")
pages = extract_pages("~/documents/report.pdf", "1-3,5")
Security
Paths must be absolute and resolve to a location under the user's home directory. Path traversal (..) and paths starting with / are rejected. Symlinks are resolved before checking home-directory containment.
License
MIT
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