mcp-pandoc: A Document Conversion MCP Server

Officially included in the Model Context Protocol servers open-source project. 🎉

Overview

A Model Context Protocol server for document format conversion using pandoc. This server provides tools to transform content between different document formats while preserving formatting and structure.

Please note that mcp-pandoc is currently in early development. PDF support is under development, and the functionality and available tools are subject to change and expansion as we continue to improve the server.

Credit: This project uses the Pandoc Python package for document conversion, forming the foundation for this project.

Demo

🎥 Watch on YouTube

Tools

1. convert-contents
   • Transforms content between supported formats
   • Inputs:
     • contents (string): Source content to convert (required if input_file not provided)
     • input_file (string): Complete path to input file (required if contents not provided)
     • input_format (string): Source format of the content (defaults to markdown)
     • output_format (string): Target format (defaults to markdown)
     • output_file (string): Complete path for output file (required for pdf, docx, rst, latex, epub formats)
   • Supported input/output formats:
     • markdown
     • html
     • pdf
     • docx
     • rst
     • latex
     • epub
     • txt
   • Note: For advanced formats (pdf, docx, rst, latex, epub), an output_file path is required

Supported Formats

Currently supported formats:

Basic formats (direct conversion):

• Plain text (.txt)
• Markdown (.md)
• HTML (.html)

Advanced formats (requires complete file paths):

• PDF (.pdf) - requires TeX Live installation
• DOCX (.docx)
• RST (.rst)
• LaTeX (.tex)
• EPUB (.epub)

Usage & configuration

To use the published one

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-pandoc": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-pandoc"]
    }
  }
}

⚠️ Important Notes

Critical Requirements

1. PDF Conversion Prerequisites

   • TeX Live must be installed before attempting PDF conversion

   • Installation commands:

     # Ubuntu/Debian
     sudo apt-get install texlive-xetex
     
     # macOS
     brew install texlive
     
     # Windows
     # Install MiKTeX or TeX Live from:
     # https://miktex.org/ or https://tug.org/texlive/
     

2. File Path Requirements

   • When saving or converting files, you MUST provide complete file paths including filename and extension
   • The tool does not automatically generate filenames or extensions

Quickstart

Install

Option 1: Installing manually via claude_desktop_config.json config file

• On MacOS: open ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• On Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Development/Unpublished Servers Configuration

ℹ️ Replace with your locally cloned project path

"mcpServers": {
  "mcp-pandoc": {
    "command": "uv",
    "args": [\
      "--directory",\
      "<DIRECTORY>/mcp-pandoc",\
      "run",\
      "mcp-pandoc"\
    ]
  }
}

Option 2: To install Published Servers Configuration automatically via Smithery

Run the following bash command to install published mcp-pandoc pypi for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install mcp-pandoc --client claude

Note: To use locally configured mcp-pandoc, follow "Development/Unpublished Servers Configuration" step above.

Development

Building and Publishing

To prepare the package for distribution:

1. Sync dependencies and update lockfile:

uv sync

2. Build package distributions:

uv build

3. Publish to PyPI:

uv publish

Note: You'll need to set PyPI credentials via environment variables or command flags:

• Token: --token or UV_PUBLISH_TOKEN
• Or username/password: --username/ UV_PUBLISH_USERNAME and --password/ UV_PUBLISH_PASSWORD

Debugging

Since MCP servers run over stdio, debugging can be challenging. For the best debugging experience, we strongly recommend using the MCP Inspector.

You can launch the MCP Inspector via npm with this command:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv --directory /Users/vivekvells/Desktop/code/ai/mcp-pandoc run mcp-pandoc

Contributing

We welcome contributions to enhance mcp-pandoc! Here's how you can get involved:

1. Report Issues: Found a bug or have a feature request? Open an issue on our GitHub Issues page.
2. Submit Pull Requests: Improve the codebase or add features by creating a pull request.

About

MCP server for document format conversion using pandoc.

Topics

pandoc pandoc-markdown pandoc-template

License

MIT license