Zovo PDF MCP Server

All servers · Buy Pro $19 · All 46 for $39 · Source

Two ways to run it, both free to start. Open mcp.zovo.one/mcp/connect, copy the pdf URL and paste it into any client that takes a URL. It already carries a free token, so there is nothing to install, no account and no header to set. The URL is https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/pdf/t/<token>. The token is not optional: the bare https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/pdf connects and lists its tools and then answers every tool call with HTTP 401, so use the link from /mcp/connect or send Authorization: Bearer <token>. Or download pdf.mcpb and double-click it in Claude Desktop.

Merge, split and fill PDF forms from Claude

Say "stamp PAID on that invoice and save a copy" or "pull pages 2 to 6 out of this scan and merge them with the contract" and it happens, on your machine, in a second. This MCP server does the small PDF jobs that otherwise send you to a web uploader: merge, split by page range, extract or reorder pages, rotate a sideways scan, stamp PAID or DRAFT or any text you like, put your business name and VAT id in the footer, count pages across a folder of files, and read a PDF's text back as text. No upload, no account, no native dependency, no office install.

In the official MCP Registry (io.github.theluckystrike/pdf-merge-split-stamp-extract-pages).

Listed on the AI Product Index — live remote endpoint at mcp.zovo.one/s/pdf, free tier, no signup.

The PDF chores of a freelance business, done from chat instead of from a browser tab you do not trust with an invoice.

60-second install

npm publish for @theluckystrike/mcp-pdf is pending. Until then, the .mcpb one-click bundle or a clone+build is the working path, both are verified below.

One-click (.mcpb): download pdf.mcpb from the latest release and double-click it in Claude Desktop: https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers/releases/latest

(claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@theluckystrike/mcp-pdf"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code:

claude mcp add pdf -- npx -y @theluckystrike/mcp-pdf

(.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@theluckystrike/mcp-pdf"]
    }
  }
}

The npx form above starts working the moment the package is published. Until then, use the.mcpb bundle above, or build from source with exactly these three commands:

git clone https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers.git && cd mcp-servers
npm install
npm run build -w packages/mcp-license -w servers/pdf

Then point your client's command at node with one arg: the absolute path to servers/pdf/dist/index.js.

To run in Pro mode set MCP_LICENSE_KEY in the same config block, or call license_activate once with your key.

Tools

Tool	What it does
pdf_info	Page count, every page's size in points and millimetres, the paper name (A4, Letter, custom), the rotation already on each page, the metadata (title, author, producer, dates) and whether the file is encrypted
pdf_count	Page count per file plus the total, for any number of PDFs. A file it cannot read is reported per file; the rest still count
pdf_merge	Join PDFs into one, in the order given. Page sizes are kept as they are, and a merged file with mixed sizes says so
pdf_split	One new file per range. "1-3,5,7-" gives pages 1-3, page 5, and page 7 to the end. out_path_pattern takes {n}, {range} and {name}
pdf_pages	Extract selected pages into one new PDF, in the order you write them. "5,1,1" puts page 5 first and page 1 in twice
pdf_rotate	Turn pages by a multiple of 90 degrees, added to the rotation the page already had, which is what a sideways scan needs
pdf_stamp	Draw text on the pages: PAID and DRAFT presets, or any text, colour, position, opacity and size. Centre stamps go on the 45-degree diagonal
pdf_watermark_business	Your business name and VAT id in the footer of every page, from the shared profile mcp-invoice and mcp-docx write
pdf_text	Best-effort text extraction from the page content streams. See the honest caveats below
pdf_reorder	Write a new PDF with the pages in a new order. The order must name every page exactly once, so nothing is dropped by accident
license_status	Show free or Pro mode
license_activate	Activate a Pro key (verified offline)

Resource: pdf://recent returns the last 25 operations, newest first, with the inputs, the files written and when. Prompt: mark_invoice_paid chains mcp-invoice 's invoice_get into pdf_stamp PAID and saves the stamped copy beside the original.

What you can say

You say	Tool
"Mark invoice INV-2026-0007 as paid."	mark_invoice_paid prompt, then pdf_stamp
"Stamp DRAFT across this contract before I send it."	pdf_stamp
"Join these three PDFs into one file."	pdf_merge
"Split the scan: pages 1-3 are the invoice, 4 onwards is the receipt."	pdf_split
"Pull pages 2 to 6 out of this and save them separately."	pdf_pages
"This scan is sideways, turn it."	pdf_rotate
"How many pages are in all of these?"	pdf_count
"What does page 1 of this PDF say?"	pdf_text
"Put my company name and VAT number in the footer."	pdf_watermark_business
"Move the cover page to the front."	pdf_reorder

Worked example

You: Stamp PAID on ~/invoices/INV-2026-0007.pdf and save a copy.

  pdf_stamp {
    path: "~/invoices/INV-2026-0007.pdf",
    text: "PAID",
    position: "center",
    out_path: "~/invoices/INV-2026-0007-paid.pdf"
  }
  -> Stamped "PAID" on 1 page
  -> ~/invoices/INV-2026-0007-paid.pdf, 0.9 MB

The stamp is drawn text, not a flattened image: it can be selected and searched, it is drawn on the 45-degree diagonal in the preset green, and the original file is byte-for-byte unchanged.

Free vs Pro

	Free	Pro
pdf_info, pdf_count, pdf_text	Unlimited	Unlimited
pdf_merge	Up to 5 files per call	Any number of files
pdf_split, pdf_pages, pdf_rotate	Files up to 30 pages	Any length
pdf_stamp	The PAID and DRAFT presets in their preset colours	Any text, any colour, any size
pdf_watermark_business	-	Your business name and VAT id in the footer
pdf_reorder	-	Yes

A tier limit is an answer, not an error, and nothing is written when one refuses a call.

Pro is a one-time $19, or $39 for every server in the collection, lifetime.

pdf_text is best effort, and here is exactly what that means

A PDF does not store text. It stores drawing operators, and the text you see is bytes handed to a font. This server decompresses each page's FlateDecode content stream with node:zlib and reads the four text-showing operators -- Tj, TJ, ' and ", plus the positioning operators that end a line. That is a parser written here, in about two hundred lines, with no pdfjs and no native module, and it has three real limits the tool states in its own answer every time:

• A scan has no text. An image-only page carries no text operators, so nothing comes back. There is no OCR here and there will not be one; the answer says the page is probably a scan rather than returning an empty string with no explanation.
• A custom or CID encoding returns glyph indices, not letters. Subset-embedded and CJK fonts map bytes to glyph numbers through a table this parser does not read. When the output has no readable characters, the answer says the font is the reason.
• Reading order is drawing order. There is no column detection and no layout reconstruction. Word spaces are recovered from the large negative kerns a TJ array uses for them, so a PDF that positions every word separately can come back with words run together.

PDFs written by word processors, invoicing tools and report generators, everything with a standard or fully embedded font, read back cleanly. Anything else tells you why it did not.

Encrypted PDFs are refused, not guessed

pdf-lib cannot decrypt, and loading an encrypted file while ignoring the encryption produces pages of garbage that would be written straight into the output. So a file whose trailer names an /Encrypt dictionary is refused by every tool that writes, with the reason and the fix in the message: open it in a reader with the password, export or print to a new PDF, and use that file. pdf_info still answers, with encrypted: true, because reporting is its whole job, and pdf_count reports it as one unreadable file while still counting the rest.

Existing files are never overwritten, and inputs are never modified

Every tool writes a new file and leaves its inputs byte-for-byte alone, there is no in-place mode, on purpose. An out_path that already exists is refused:

Error: /path/merged.pdf already exists and nothing was written.
Pass overwrite: true to replace it, or give a different out_path.

The path is reserved with an exclusive create, not an existence check, so two processes writing the same out_path at the same time cannot clobber each other: one wins, the other is refused and writes nothing. pdf_split reserves every one of its output paths before it writes any of them, so a collision on part 3 does not leave parts 1 and 2 behind as a half-done split, and the reservations are released, so nothing empty is left on disk either.

Pass overwrite: true when replacing the file is what you want.

overwrite: true still does not let an output be an input. Writing the result of an operation back over one of its own sources destroys that source, the pages are already in memory and get written over the file they came from, which takes a three-page file to the one page you extracted, and every later read of that path is then quietly wrong. So an out_path that resolves to (or shares an inode with) any input of the same call is refused before any work happens:

Error: out_path /path/scan.pdf is also an input of this operation, so writing it would destroy the source.
Nothing was written. Write beside it instead - /path/scan-out.pdf - and, if the result really is meant to
take the original's place, rename it yourself once you have checked it.

Limits

• Inputs over 100 MB are refused: rewriting a PDF needs several times its size in memory.
• A file that does not start with %PDF- is refused before anything is read.
• Rotation is recorded as page metadata, in multiples of 90 degrees, which is all the format has. Nothing is redrawn.
• Stamp text goes through a built-in PDF font, which carries WinAnsi and its 256 code points. A character outside it is transliterated where it has an obvious Latin body, Polish OPŁACONE stamps as OPLACONE, and the answer says so and prints what was actually drawn, and removed and counted where it does not, so there is no CJK stamp. A newline is a word separator, never a deletion.
• font_size must be between 1 and 1600 points. A stamp too long to fit even at the smallest size this server will use is still drawn, and the answer says how far past the edge it runs, so you can shorten it.
• pdf_text caps one answer at 200,000 characters and names the pages argument that continues from where it stopped. Nothing is missing from the file; the cut is in the answer, not the read.
• No page numbering, no signatures, no redaction, no compression. This server does the page-level jobs; it is not a PDF editor. It does not write PDF/A: pdf_info reports a file's own pdfa_claim, and every tool that writes says plainly that its output no longer holds that claim.
• Forms are read, not filled: pdf_text prints the AcroForm field values, which live in the fields rather than in the page content stream and are therefore not part of the page text.
• No OCR. See the pdf_text section.

How it stores data

Only a register of what it did: ${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/mcp-servers/pdf/operations.json, the last 500 operations, as plain JSON. Your PDFs stay where you put them. Every write to the register runs inside an advisory lock on .../pdf/.lock, so two clients on one data directory cannot lose a record, and saves go to a temporary file and are renamed into place.

If the register is unreadable or not valid JSON it is never treated as "empty": it is moved aside byte-for-byte as operations.json.corrupt-<timestamp> with a marker beside it. The PDF you asked for is still written, the file is on disk before the register is touched, and the answer tells you the history could not be updated.

The business footer reads the one shared profile the whole suite uses, ${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/mcp-servers/profile/business.json, written by business_set in mcp-invoice or mcp-docx. Nothing is invented: with no name stored, pdf_watermark_business refuses and says which tool to run.

Privacy

All data stays local. The server reads and writes files on your machine and makes no network request of any kind -- not for licensing (keys are verified offline), not for fonts, not for telemetry. A PDF you stamp is never uploaded anywhere, which is the entire reason this exists.

Pairs with

• mcp-invoice, the invoice you sent, stamped PAID: the mark_invoice_paid prompt chains invoice_get into pdf_stamp.
• mcp-docx, write the proposal as .docx, print it to PDF, then stamp, merge or split it here.
• mcp-resume, join a CV, a cover letter and a portfolio into the one file an application form accepts.
• office-suite, several servers behind one install, one config entry.

Troubleshooting

• npx hangs or fails to find the package: npm publish for this package is pending. Use the .mcpb bundle or the clone-and-build path above until it lands.
• "is encrypted and was refused": the file is password or permissions protected. Open it in a PDF reader, export or print to a new PDF, and run the tool on that copy. This server never guesses or strips a password.
• pdf_text returned nothing: the page is a scan, or its font uses a custom encoding. The answer says which. There is no OCR here.
• The stamp is too small or too big: by default it is sized to fit the page width. Pass font_size for an exact point size, and opacity between 0 and 1.
• "already exists and nothing was written": pass overwrite: true, or a different out_path.
• Node version: requires Node >= 18. Check with node -v.

MIT licensed. Support: support@zovo.one

Built by theluckystrike.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an MCP server to merge and split PDFs?

Yes. The pdf server at mcp.zovo.one merges, splits, rotates and fills PDF forms while preserving form fields. Free tier of 30 pages per file on split/pages/rotate operations, hosted remote endpoint, no install.

Can Claude fill PDF forms with an MCP server?

Yes — connect https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/pdf and ask Claude to fill a form's fields or merge several PDFs. Output stays form-preserving, so filled fields remain editable.

First five minutes

Three prompts that scored 3 of 3, measured in round 18, 2026-09-05. Paste one in as it is written.

Here are two PDFs: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers/main/remote/fixtures/sample-doc.pdf (twice). Upload them as doc-a and doc-b.

Paste this into Claude with the server connected.

What it did, measured in round 18, 2026-09-05: Two pdf_upload {name, url} calls, one per file, both against the same raw.githubusercontent.com URL because only one PDF fixture is committed.

Merge those two into one file.

Paste this into Claude with the server connected.

What it did, measured in round 18, 2026-09-05: One pdf_merge {paths: [doc-a, doc-b], out_path: merged}.

Stamp the merged file PAID and give me the file.

Paste this into Claude with the server connected.

What it did, measured in round 18, 2026-09-05: One pdf_stamp {path: merged, text: PAID, out_path: merged-paid}.

On the free tier for this path: Info, count, text, merge up to 5 files, edits on files up to 30 pages, PAID and DRAFT stamps.

Or the 46-server bundle for $39.

Set it up in your client

Exact config path, entry and caveats: Claude Desktop · Claude Code · Cursor · VS Code · Windsurf · Cline · Claude.ai and Claude Desktop connectors · all clients

Compared with the alternatives

MCP PDF Tools vs pdf-mcp and DocWand - which MCP server to pick · all comparisons

Guides

How to track billable hours inside Claude Code and Cursor · Create an invoice PDF from a chat message with an MCP server · Ask questions about an Excel or CSV file from Cursor or Claude · Watch a product price with Claude and get told when it drops · What the free tier includes and what Pro adds · Log expenses and mileage in Claude, split VAT, rebill to an invoice · Convert currencies in Claude with real ECB rates, no API key · Generate Word proposals and contracts from a chat message · Find a meeting time across time zones without doing the arithmetic · Write a resume and a cover letter from chat, without inventing anything · Bill a retainer on a schedule without a billing SaaS · Assemble a contract from your own clause library, in chat · Connect MCP servers to Claude.ai, Claude Desktop, Cursor and VS Code without installing anything · Merge, split and stamp PDFs from chat, and why some come back as glyph numbers · Read a.ics calendar in Claude: free and busy, conflicts, and billable meetings · Run a kanban board in Claude, with time tracking on the same task · Resize, compress and watermark images from a chat message · Categorize and reconcile a bank CSV export from chat · Send a quote from chat, then turn the yes into an invoice · Put a SEPA payment QR code on an invoice from chat · Zip and unzip archives safely from Claude or Cursor · Client deposits and retainers from chat, applied to your real invoices · Fixed assets and depreciation from chat, on the rates the tax authorities publish · Per diem and travel allowances from chat, on the rate tables the tax authorities publish · One double-entry ledger out of every server you already run · Loan and lease schedules from chat, closing exactly on zero · Work orders and job cards from chat, and why the markup goes on the unit cost · Price lists and rate cards from chat, and the 100x scale gap between the invoice and the quote · Change orders and the running contract value from chat, and why a changed line is two items · A petty cash float from chat, and why the cheque is not the sum of the vouchers · Client statements and payment chasers from chat, aged as at any date you name · Credit notes and purchase orders from chat, against your real invoices · One install, every server: the office-suite bundle · Close a month in chat: invoice, credit note, retainer, bank reconciliation, statement · MCP server not showing up in Claude Desktop: the six checks that find it · Where is claude_desktop_config.json, and what goes in it · claude mcp add: every flag, and the scope that silently loses your server · MCP servers on Windows: spawn npx ENOENT, backslashes and the PATH · Installing these MCP servers when npx does not work yet · Cursor MCP setup: mcp.json, the required type field, and where the servers appear · Which MCP servers work with no network at all · Invoicing an EU client with reverse charge, from a chat message · Quote, deposit, invoice, statement: the whole cycle in one conversation · Is this project making money? Hours against costs, without a spreadsheet · Building a tax year pack for your accountant from chat · Keeping a mileage log in chat, with the rate you actually claim · Reconciling a bank CSV against what you invoiced and spent · Rebilling client expenses, with a markup and the VAT handled honestly · Chasing an unpaid invoice: aging, then the letter · A bill of sale from chat, with the identifiers checked and the signature lines printed · Pricing a job from a rate card, and what to do when the scope changes · Working out your hourly rate from what you actually billed · Converting CSV to xlsx and back without opening Excel · Asking a spreadsheet questions in plain language · Merging a folder of receipts into one PDF from chat · Splitting one big scan into separate documents · Sending a month of paperwork as one archive, safely · MCP servers in VS Code: the one-word mistake that breaks every config · MCP servers in Windsurf and Cline: two defaults that waste an afternoon · Local MCP server or hosted URL: which one, and what you give up · What these MCP servers actually do on the free tier · Choosing an MCP server for invoicing: the seven questions worth asking · When you need an MCP server, and when a prompt is enough · MCP config file locations and JSON keys, every client · Why an MCP server does not appear, in order of likelihood · How MCP registry search actually works, measured · What is actually in the MCP registry: 6,000 rows counted · stdio or streamable HTTP: which MCP transport, and what breaks · MCP protocol versions: what each one changed · Every field in an MCP server config entry, by client · MCP config scopes: which definition wins when a server is defined twice · Where each MCP client writes its logs · Shipping an MCP server: a bundle to download or a URL to paste · What is inside a.mcpb MCP bundle · Charging for an MCP server: how licensing actually works · How much text an MCP server may return, and how much it may describe · What to check before letting an MCP server run · Why a directory says your hosted MCP server is not responding · The MCP registry binds one remote URL to one server name · Capital letters in your GitHub username change your MCP registry rank · How many MCP servers already have your word in the name · server.json field reference for the MCP registry · When an MCP tool fails, do not return a JSON-RPC error · structuredContent and outputSchema in MCP, and what MUST hold · Rules for naming an MCP tool, and the collision nobody plans for · MCP has no session, so how do two tool calls share state · x-mcp-header: mirroring tool parameters into HTTP headers · How a directory scores an MCP server, and why your worst tool decides it · What AI crawlers fetch that Googlebot does not, measured on 141 URLs · Search Console's URL Inspection API changes its answer between calls · Which MCP servers work by pasting a URL, with nothing installed · Where to find MCP servers that cost money, and how you actually pay · Getting an assistant to fill in a quote or estimate for a customer · Is there an MCP server for a petty cash book or a cash ledger · Currency conversion in an assistant, and which MCP server to use · Zipping and unzipping archives from an assistant, and what the guards do · Producing a delivery schedule or a work order document from a chat · Will an MCP server email the invoice to my client · Can an assistant read a photo of a receipt and log the expense · Which MCP server can generate invoice PDFs from a chat message? · Can an MCP server read a bank statement PDF and categorise the transactions? · Best MCP servers for small business accounting and paperwork in 2026 · MCP Supplier Directory: keep supplier lists from rotting in a spreadsheet · MCP Service Agreement: stop copying a rotting contract template off the internet · MCP Maintenance Log: know what service is due without anyone remembering · MCP Mileage Log: keep the deductible log at the moment of the drive, not in April · Invoice payment terms best practices: Net 30, due date and late fees · How to categorize bank transactions · Petty cash log template · All guides

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