Carbone MCP Server

Official Carbone MCP server — Turn AI assistants into document automation experts. Generate professional PDFs, invoices, reports, and more using natural language.

Give Claude, ChatGPT, and other AI assistants the power to:

• 🔄 Document Conversion — 100+ format combinations (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PNG, HTML, CSV…)
• 📄 Template Engine — Generate documents from JSON data with {d.field} tags
• 📚 Template Library — Upload, version, categorize, and manage reusable templates
• 🎨 PDF Customization — Fill PDF forms, add watermarks, passwords, encryption, multiple converter engines (LibreOffice, OnlyOffice, Chromium, Carbone ICE)
• 🌍 Localization — Multi-language support, currency conversion, timezone handling
• ⚡ Batch Generation — Create hundreds of documents in one request (async via webhook)

Installation

Get your free API key at account.carbone.io.

stdio — Claude Desktop, VS Code, Cursor, Claude Code, and more

All stdio-compatible MCP clients use the same config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "carbone": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "carbone-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CARBONE_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code uses { "mcp": { "servers": { ... } } } instead of { "mcpServers": { ... } } — the inner config block is identical.

After adding the config, restart your client and try: "What can Carbone do?"

HTTP — mcp.carbone.io (no local installation)

Connect directly to the hosted endpoint. Supported by VS Code, Cursor, Claude Code, and other clients that support streamable HTTP transport.

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "carbone": {
        "type": "streamable-http",
        "url": "https://mcp.carbone.io",
        "headers": {
          "Authorization": "Bearer your_api_key_here"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Authentication: The HTTP endpoint currently requires a Carbone API key passed as a Bearer token in the Authorization header. OAuth2 support (for Claude Desktop, Mistral, ChatGPT, Gemini, and other clients) is planned for a future release.

Cursor uses { "mcpServers": { ... } } instead of { "mcp": { "servers": { ... } } } — the inner config block is identical.

Claude Desktop does not support HTTP Bearer token authentication — use the stdio option above instead.

Docker — self-hosted HTTP server

docker run -d -p 3000:3000 \
  -e MCP_TRANSPORT=http \
  -e CARBONE_API_KEY=your_api_key_here \
  carbone/carbone-mcp

Connect your MCP client to http://your-host:3000 using the HTTP config above (replace the URL).

Docker Compose — see compose.yml:

CARBONE_API_KEY=your_key docker compose up -d

Claude Desktop with Docker (stdio) — Claude Desktop does not support HTTP transport; use the stdio mode instead:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "carbone": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm",
               "-e", "CARBONE_API_KEY=your_api_key_here",
               "-e", "MCP_TRANSPORT=stdio",
               "carbone/carbone-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

On-Premise — self-hosted Carbone instance

If you run Carbone on-premise, point the MCP server at your instance — no API key required:

# Docker (HTTP)
docker run -d -p 3000:3000 \
  -e CARBONE_BASE_URL=https://your-carbone-server.com \
  carbone/carbone-mcp

# stdio
CARBONE_BASE_URL=https://your-carbone-server.com npx carbone-mcp

Environment Variables

Required (stdio mode, cloud API):

• CARBONE_API_KEY — Your Carbone API key (get one free →). Not required when CARBONE_BASE_URL points to your own on-premise server, or when running in HTTP mode (clients supply their own key via Authorization: Bearer).

Available Tools

Document Operations

Template Management

Discovery

📖 Full API Reference → — Detailed parameters, schemas, and examples

Output & File Delivery

By default, a generated or converted file is returned based on its type and transport:

Three optional parameters on convert_document and render_document (and outputPath / asAttachment on download_template) override this:

Claude Desktop: it cannot render inline binary attachments (it mishandles them as images). For PDFs and Office files, rely on the default stdio temp-file path, or use returnLink to get a download URL.

Common Use Cases