# sheetrender-mcp [Health: Active]

**Category:** 💻 Developer Tools  
**Repository:** https://github.com/sheetrender/sheetrender-mcp  
**GitHub Stars:** 1  
**Views:** 0  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/sheetrender-mcp

## Description
MCP server for SheetRender: render PDFs from HTML templates and spreadsheet data.

## Tools
Capabilities this server exposes over MCP:

- **render_pdf** — Renders one PDF from HTML you supply.
- **list_templates** — No arguments. Returns each saved template's name, id and last-updated date. Call
- **render_template** — Renders one PDF from a template already saved in the account.
- **create_dataset** — Turns JSON rows into a dataset a batch job can render. This is the usual way to
- **upload_dataset** — The same thing from a file that already exists.
- **list_datasets** — Takes `template_id` and lists every dataset in that template's project, newest
- **create_batch_job** — Queues a background job that renders one PDF per row of a dataset. The whole
- **get_job** — Takes `job_id`. Returns the status, rows done and failed, and the id and
- **get_document** — Takes `document_id` and downloads that single rendered PDF. The ids come from
- **page_settings** — Shared by both render tools. Every field is optional:

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

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "sheetrender-mcp": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","mcp-remote"]
  }
}
```

## Documentation & README

# @sheetrender/mcp

MCP server for [SheetRender](https://sheetrender.com). It lets your AI assistant
render PDFs from HTML templates and spreadsheet data.

## Setup

Get an API key from [sheetrender.com](https://sheetrender.com) under Settings →
API keys, then add this to your MCP client config:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sheetrender": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@sheetrender/mcp"],
      "env": { "SHEETRENDER_API_KEY": "sr_live_..." }
    }
  }
}
```

`SHEETRENDER_API_URL` is also read, and defaults to `https://sheetrender.com`.
Set it only if you're pointing at a self-hosted or staging instance.

## Hosted endpoint

The same server runs at **`https://mcp.sheetrender.com/mcp`** over Streamable
HTTP, so clients that can't spawn a local process can use it too. Nothing is
installed; each request carries your API key:

```
Authorization: Bearer sr_live_...
```

Requests without that header get a 401. The key goes straight through to the
SheetRender API for that one request and is never stored — the server keeps no
sessions, so every request stands alone.

Where the key goes depends on the client:

- **Claude Code**:
  `claude mcp add --transport http sheetrender https://mcp.sheetrender.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer sr_live_..."`
- **Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code** and other clients with an `mcp.json`:

  ```json
  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "sheetrender": {
        "url": "https://mcp.sheetrender.com/mcp",
        "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer sr_live_..." }
      }
    }
  }
  ```

- **Claude API** (the Messages API's MCP connector): add
  `{"type": "url", "url": "https://mcp.sheetrender.com/mcp", "name": "sheetrender", "authorization_token": "sr_live_..."}`
  to `mcp_servers`.
- **claude.ai, Claude Desktop and ChatGPT custom connectors** take a server URL
  and an OAuth client, not a static header. Until the endpoint speaks OAuth,
  use the stdio package above there — it's the same tools, with the key in
  `env` — or bridge with `npx mcp-remote https://mcp.sheetrender.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer sr_live_..."`
  as the command.

Two differences from the stdio server follow from the process not running on
your machine. Rendered PDFs come back inline as a base64 resource (up to 8 MB;
larger ones are reported with their size and left for the web app) instead of
as a temp-file path, and `upload_dataset` is not offered because there is no
local file to read — send rows with `create_dataset` instead.

`GET /healthz` answers 200 without credentials. Request bodies are capped at
25 MB; anything larger is a 413.

### Running it yourself

`sheetrender-mcp-http` is a second bin in the package. It reads `PORT`
(default 8080), `HOST` (default `0.0.0.0`), `SHEETRENDER_API_URL`,
`MAX_BODY_BYTES` and `IDLE_TIMEOUT_MS` (default 60000), and logs one JSON
line per request to stdout — method, path, status, duration, the JSON-RPC
method and tool name, and a fingerprint of the key, never the key. The
`Dockerfile` in this repo builds a non-root runtime image for it:

```sh
docker build -t sheetrender-mcp .
docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 sheetrender-mcp
```

## Tools

### `render_pdf`

Renders one PDF from HTML you supply.

| Argument | Type | |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `html` | string | Required. A full HTML document. CSS has to be inline in a `<style>` tag; external stylesheets, fonts and scripts are not fetched. |
| `data` | object | Optional. Keys become Jinja variables, so `{"total": "42.00"}` makes `{{ total }}` available in the HTML. |
| `page_settings` | object | Optional, see below. |

Returns the path of the saved PDF and its size. Under 512 KB it's also attached
inline as a base64 resource, so clients that display attachments show the
document itself.

Two server limits apply. HTML over 2 MB is rejected, and that's measured both on
what you send and on the document after `data` is substituted in, so a template
that expands a long dataset can cross the line even when the markup you wrote
doesn't. The other is the free plan, where every rendered PDF carries a "Made
with SheetRender" footer. That applies to `render_pdf` and `render_template`
alike. Paid plans don't get it.

### `list_templates`

No arguments. Returns each saved template's name, id and last-updated date. Call
it to turn a template name the user mentioned into the id the other tools want.

### `render_template`

Renders one PDF from a template already saved in the account.

| Argument | Type | |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `template_id` | string | Required, from `list_templates`. |
| `data` | object | Required. One row's values, as Jinja variables. |
| `page_settings` | object | Optional. Omit it to keep the template's own saved page setup; passing it overrides that for this render. |

Same return as `render_pdf`.

### `create_dataset`

Turns JSON rows into a dataset a batch job can render. This is the usual way to
start a batch: assemble the rows, send them, get back a `dataset_id`.

| Argument | Type | |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `template_id` | string | Required, from `list_templates`. The dataset lands in that template's project. |
| `rows` | array of objects | Required. One flat object per document. |
| `name` | string | Optional label, used as the stored filename. |

The header is the union of every row's keys in first-seen order, so rows don't
have to agree on their keys — a missing one is a blank cell rather than a
shifted row. Values have to be scalars: strings, numbers, booleans or null.
Nested objects and arrays are rejected, and so are NaN, Infinity and whole
numbers past 2^53 (send those as strings to keep them exact). The caps are
50,000 rows and 500,000 cells per call.

Returns the dataset id, row count and, for each column, the **sanitized key**.
That key is what template placeholders, `filename_template` and `group_by`
address, and it's often not the header verbatim — `Invoice No` becomes
`invoice_no`. Read it off this result instead of guessing.

Creating a dataset is free; only rendering counts against the plan.

### `upload_dataset`

The same thing from a file that already exists.

| Argument | Type | |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `template_id` | string | Required, from `list_templates`. |
| `file_path` | string | Required. A `.csv` or `.xlsx` on the machine running this server — the user's machine, not SheetRender's. `~` is expanded. |

The first row has to be the header. Files over 20 MB, the wrong extension and
empty files are refused locally, before anything is uploaded. Same return as
`create_dataset`.

### `list_datasets`

Takes `template_id` and lists every dataset in that template's project, newest
first, with ids, row counts and column keys. Use it to find data the user
already loaded, or to read a dataset's column keys before writing a
`filename_template` or picking `group_by`.

### `create_batch_job`

Queues a background job that renders one PDF per row of a dataset. The whole
loop runs from here — `list_templates` → `create_dataset` or `upload_dataset` →
`create_batch_job` → `get_job` → `get_document`.

| Argument | Type | |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `template_id` | string | Required, from `list_templates`. |
| `dataset_id` | string | Required, from `create_dataset`, `upload_dataset` or `list_datasets`. Must be in the same project as the template. |
| `filename_template` | string | Optional. Output naming pattern, e.g. `invoice-{{ invoice_no }}`. |
| `group_by` | string | Optional. Column key to group rows by, giving one multi-page PDF per distinct value. |

Returns the job id to poll with `get_job`. Worth knowing: `filename_template`
and `group_by` are persisted to the template and the project respectively, so
they change the defaults for later runs too.

If the server predates the public batch endpoint, the tool reports that batch
jobs are unavailable rather than failing obscurely. The three dataset tools do
the same for a server that predates the dataset endpoints.

### `get_job`

Takes `job_id`. Returns the status, rows done and failed, and the id and
filename of every rendered document. That document list stays empty while the
job is `queued`, `retry_queued` or `running`, and fills in once the job reaches
`succeeded`, `partial`, `failed` or `cancelled`. Those document ids are what
`get_document` takes.

### `get_document`

Takes `document_id` and downloads that single rendered PDF. The ids come from
`get_job` on a finished batch, and there's no other way to get one. Same return
as `render_pdf`: path, size, and an inline blob under 512 KB.

If you want a whole batch, the merged PDF and ZIP in the web app beat fetching
each document in turn.

### `page_settings`

Shared by both render tools. Every field is optional:

```json
{
  "page_size": "a4",
  "orientation": "portrait",
  "margins": { "top": 15, "right": 15, "bottom": 15, "left": 15 }
}
```

`page_size` is lowercase: `a3`, `a4`, `a5`, `letter`, `legal` or `tabloid`.
Margins are plain numbers in millimetres, not CSS lengths.

Rendered PDFs are written to the system temp directory. API errors like a bad
key, a missing template or a rate limit come back as tool errors carrying the
server's own message.

The public API allows 120 requests per minute per API key. Past that it returns
429, and the tool reports that you're rate limited and should retry shortly.
Batch job creation is metered separately and more tightly.

## Development

You don't need node or npm on the host: `scripts/dev.sh install`, then
`scripts/dev.sh deno task build` and `scripts/dev.sh deno task test`.
`scripts/dev.sh node dist/http.js` runs the HTTP server on the host network.

MIT licensed.