# Free the Tools [Health: Active]

**Category:** 📂 File Systems  
**Repository:** https://github.com/sapience-design/freethetools  
**GitHub Stars:** 1  
**Views:** 1  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/free-the-tools

## Description
Local PDF, image, data and text tools for AI assistants. Files stay on your computer.

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Install path detected from listing signals. Uses `npx` (confidence: high):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "free-the-tools": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","freethetools"]
  }
}
```

## Documentation

## What Free the Tools does

Free the Tools MCP server exposes a catalogue of browser-based utilities to AI assistants through the `freethetools` npm package. The available groups cover PDF, image, text, data, developer, and everyday tasks. Examples include compressing, merging, splitting, rotating, protecting, unlocking, editing, and converting PDFs; resizing and converting images; comparing or transforming text; converting CSV to JSON; formatting JSON; and generating hashes, UUIDs, passwords, QR codes, and encoded values.

The tools are intended for jobs that can run on the local machine. Files are not sent to a hosted MCP service because no hosted MCP server is provided. The project also offers the same underlying catalogue through browser pages, where processing occurs on the device and tools can continue working offline after loading.

## How it works

An MCP client starts the package locally and invokes a selected tool with structured input. The package reads files from paths supplied to it, performs the operation locally, and saves generated results in a `freethetools` directory inside the user’s home folder. Each job is recorded in `library.jsonl`.

The package uses one definition per tool across its supported AI channels. The repository also publishes a machine-readable catalogue at `/api/tools.json` and an `/llms.txt` file for agents that need to discover available tools. For environments without MCP support, the package includes a command-line mode using `npx -y freethetools run <tool> '<json>'`.

## Setup and configuration

Install or run the package through npm. A manual MCP registration uses:

```text
claude mcp add freethetools -- npx -y freethetools mcp
```

The repository also documents a Claude Code plugin, a Gemini CLI extension, and add-to-client actions for Cursor and VS Code. Client-specific instructions are maintained in the project’s AI usage documentation. No account, login, or remote server is required for the local MCP package.

## Tools and capabilities

Free the Tools MCP server includes utilities in these areas:

- PDF: compress, merge, split, rotate, protect, unlock, fill, edit, and convert pages or images.
- Images: compress, resize, convert formats, convert HEIC to JPG, remove location data, create SVGs, and make GIFs from video.
- Text and data: change case, convert Markdown to HTML, compare text, count words, convert CSV to JSON, and format JSON.
- Developer and everyday tasks: encode Base64 and URLs, create hashes, decode JWTs, generate passwords, QR codes, UUIDs, colour conversions, file conversions, time-zone conversions, unit conversions, and Unix timestamp conversions.

## Limitations and notes

The package is local rather than hosted, so each MCP client must run it on the computer that has access to the input files. Its output location and job history are local as well. Browser-based WebMCP access is a separate channel: Chrome and Edge support it in origin trials, while other browsers ignore it.

Processing depends on what can run in a browser or local package. The project does not add a server for operations that cannot yet run on the device. The software is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and the repository states that the package is published on npm and listed in the official MCP Registry.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/free-the-tools/readme_