PDFShift MCP

Convert HTML or a URL to PDF, PNG, JPEG or WebP from any MCP client. It can also render saved HTML templates and check credits and conversion logs. Needs a PDFShift API key; the free plan has 50 credits a month.

View on pdfshift.io

Hosted MCP Server

npx add-mcp 'https://api.pdfshift.io/mcp'

Installs into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and more

Documentation

PDFShift MCP Server

The PDFShift MCP server exposes conversion, templates, credits, and logs to Claude, Cursor, and any Model Context Protocol client over a single hosted endpoint.

Connecting your client

All clients need the same three things: the endpoint URL, the HTTP transport, and your API key sent as a header.

Endpoint: https://api.pdfshift.io/mcp
Transport: Streamable HTTP
Auth header: X-API-Key: YOUR_PDFSHIFT_API_KEY

You can send the key as X-API-Key. Discovery (listing tools) works without a key; running a tool requires one.

Claude Code

Add the server in one command, then restart your session:

claude mcp add --transport http pdfshift https://api.pdfshift.io/mcp \
  --header "X-API-Key: YOUR_PDFSHIFT_API_KEY"

Cursor & other HTTP-native clients

Add PDFShift to your MCP configuration (for Cursor, ~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdfshift": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.pdfshift.io/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "YOUR_PDFSHIFT_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop & stdio-only clients

For clients that only speak stdio, bridge to the remote server with mcp-remote:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdfshift": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://api.pdfshift.io/mcp",
        "--header",
        "X-API-Key:YOUR_PDFSHIFT_API_KEY"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Restart the client afterwards so it picks up the new server.

Available tools

The server exposes 11 tools. Your agent picks the right one automatically; you just describe what you want.

  • convert: Convert an HTML document or a URL to PDF, PNG, JPEG, or WEBP. Returns a temporary download URL.
  • list_templates: List all saved HTML templates for the account.
  • get_template: Get the raw HTML content of a template by its slug.
  • create_template: Create a new reusable HTML template.
  • update_template: Update the name and/or HTML content of an existing template.
  • delete_template: Delete a template by its slug.
  • generate_from_template: Render a saved template to HTML, PDF, PNG, JPEG, or WEBP with template variables.
  • credits_usage: Get current credit usage for the account (remaining, total, used).
  • pricing: List available PDFShift plans and their pricing.
  • list_logs: List recent conversion logs, with optional status and key filters.
  • get_log: Get a single conversion log by its request id.

The convert and generate_from_template tools accept any documented PDFShift option (margins, headers & footers, watermarks, protection, cookies, and more) as extra parameters.

Example prompts

Once connected, just ask your agent in plain language. For example:

"Convert https://example.com to a PDF in landscape."

"Turn this HTML into a PNG: <h1>Hello</h1>"

"Create a template called invoice, then render it to
 PDF with customer 'Acme Inc.' and total '$149.00'."

"How many PDFShift credits do I have left?"

"Show my last 10 failed conversions."

Conversions return a temporary download URL, valid for about 2 days. Add sandbox while experimenting to generate free, watermarked documents that don't consume credits.

Related Resources