MCP Integration

Overview

PDF-API exposes an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf to generate PDFs from your templates through natural language.

Prerequisites

• A PDF-API account with at least one template
• An API token (go to Settings → API Tokens to create one)
• An MCP-compatible AI client

Server endpoint

https://pdfstork.com/mcp/pdf

Authentication uses a Bearer token in the Authorization header.

Configuration

Claude Desktop

Edit your Claude Desktop configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-api": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://pdfstork.com/mcp/pdf",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code (CLI)

Add to your project's .mcp.json at the repository root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-api": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://pdfstork.com/mcp/pdf",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or configure it globally in ~/.claude/.mcp.json to make it available across all projects.

Cursor

Open Settings → MCP and add a new server:

• Name: pdf-api
• Type: http
• URL: https://pdfstork.com/mcp/pdf
• Headers: Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN

Windsurf

Edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-api": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://pdfstork.com/mcp/pdf",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Codex (OpenAI CLI)

Add to your project's .mcp.json at the repository root (Codex reads the standard MCP file):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-api": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://pdfstork.com/mcp/pdf",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or globally in ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.pdf-api]
type = "http"
url = "https://pdfstork.com/mcp/pdf"
headers = { Authorization = "Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" }

opencode

Add the server to opencode.json at the project root, or globally in ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json:

{
  "mcp": {
    "pdf-api": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://pdfstork.com/mcp/pdf",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available tools

The MCP server provides four tools:

Recommended workflow

1. List templates — call list-templates to see your available templates
2. Inspect a template — call get-template-details with the template ID to understand its variables
3. Generate a PDF — call generate-pdf with the template ID and required data
4. Check usage — call get-usage to monitor your quota

Tool reference

list-templates

No parameters required. Returns an array of templates with id, name, type, created_at, and updated_at.

get-template-details

Returns the template's variables, their types, and example data when available.

generate-pdf

With output: "url", returns a temporary download link valid for 60 minutes. With output: "base64", returns the PDF content as a base64-encoded string.

get-usage

No parameters required. Returns:

• current_month_usage — PDFs generated this month
• quota_limit — your plan's monthly limit
• quota_percentage — usage as a percentage
• has_quota_remaining — whether you can still generate PDFs
• plan — your current plan (free, basic, or pro)