A side-by-side look at the Benspdf and Pdf4vllm MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Benspdf for file systems work as a local process; choose Pdf4vllm for file systems as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
BENSTOOLS_WORKSPACE, BENSPDF_MODEL.pdf_page_count, pdf_metadata, pdf_check_text.list_pdfs, read_pdf, grep_pdf.Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | File Systems | File Systems |
| Quality signal | 51/100 · Good | 45/100 · Fair |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | BENSTOOLS_WORKSPACEBENSPDF_MODEL | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 1 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 12 | 3 |
| Full listing | View Benspdf | View Pdf4vllm |
pdf_page_countCounts the pages in a PDFpdf_metadataReads document properties: title, author, dates, producerpdf_check_textSays whether a PDF is readable text or a scan that needs OCRpdf_extract_textReads the text a PDF holds, page by pagepdf_page_layoutPage sizes, orientation, rotation and page boxespdf_check_accessEncryption, and what the file permits: printing, copying, editingpdf_render_pagesRenders pages to images, so a page can be looked atpdf_ocrReads a scan with OCR, and can add a searchable text layer to itcreate_test_pdf_fileGenerates a throwaway PDF, handy for trying things outexportSaves results to a real location on disklist_artifactsLists recent temporary resultsdiscardDeletes temporary results nowlist_pdfsFind PDF files with glob filtering (`name_pattern`)read_pdfExtract PDF content as ordered blocksgrep_pdfSearch text in PDFs using pdfgrep (requires `pdfgrep` installed)Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
{
"mcpServers": {
"benspdf": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"benspdf-mcp"
],
"env": {
"BENSTOOLS_WORKSPACE": "YOUR_BENSTOOLS_WORKSPACE_HERE",
"BENSPDF_MODEL": "YOUR_BENSPDF_MODEL_HERE"
}
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"pdf4vllm": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"pdf4vllm-mcp"
]
}
}
}