MinerU Open MCP vs PDF Reader MCP
A side-by-side look at the MinerU Open MCP and PDF Reader MCP MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose MinerU Open MCP for search & data extraction work as a local process; choose PDF Reader MCP for search & data extraction. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose MinerU Open MCP when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You want tools like
parse_documents, get_ocr_languages.
Choose PDF Reader MCP when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
- Its auth model fits you: No auth required.
- You want tools like
inspect, outline, read.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search & Data Extraction | Search & Data Extraction |
| Quality signal | 61/100 · Good | 65/100 · Great |
| Install command | Confirmed | Not confirmed yet |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | — |
| Auth | Not declared | No auth required |
| Pricing | Not declared | Free |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 222 | 1,041 |
| Directory activity | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 2 | 4 |
| Full listing | View MinerU Open MCP | View PDF Reader MCP |
Tools & capabilities
MinerU Open MCP tools 2
parse_documentsConvert PDF, Office (DOCX, PPTX), spreadsheets (XLSX in Flash mode), images, and http(s) URLs to Markdown using the MinerU cloud API (content is uploaded to mineru.net; do not use for data that must stay on-device). Does not modify source files; may write Markdown under output_dir when saving results. Auth: without MINERU_API_TOKEN, Flash mode applies (Markdown-only, about 20 pages and 10 MB per file; service rate limits). With MINERU_API_TOKEN, higher limits and optional formats per plan. Use for extraction and conversion. Use get_ocr_languages only to list OCR language codes, not to parse files. Not for fully offline parsing. Parameters: file_sources is paths/URLs or objects with source and pages for PDF ranges; language is an OCR code (default ch); enable_ocr defaults to auto (null); set model to html only if every source is a web page URL.get_ocr_languagesReturn supported MinerU OCR and script language codes (e.g. ch, en, japan, latin). Read-only; no uploads. Use before setting the language argument on parse_documents for scanned or multilingual documents. Do not use for file conversion; call parse_documents instead.
PDF Reader MCP tools 4
inspectDocument and media evidence when Markdown is not enough. video_timeline (bounded scene/cue timeline) and render_frame (actual decoded frames), and cite_check (quote/location support, not semantic truth), are anymd Pro; PDF operations: inspect (page facts, metadata), render_page (PNG images), extract_regions (crop bounding boxes), ocr_pages / analyze_regions (configured OCR or vision provider), structure (JSON with document map, elements, geometry; profile quality|research adds trust and accessibility reports), compare (page-level diff of sources[0] vs sources[1]).outlineReturn a document heading tree with stable node ids, title paths, page/slide/chapter ranges and Markdown byte ranges. PDF bookmarks or detected headings, Word headings, PowerPoint slides, EPUB chapters and headings, HTML and Markdown. format json (default) or tree. Pass a node id to read to fetch that section.readRead any document as clean Markdown: PDF, Word (DOCX), PowerPoint (PPTX), Excel (XLSX/XLS/ODS), CSV, EPUB, HTML or a web URL, Markdown/text, images (metadata + OCR), audio/video (metadata, chapters, subtitles). Pages/slides/sheets carry <!-- page N --> style markers for citation. Long documents stop at max_tokens (default 20000) and end with a cursor to continue; choose pages with pages: "1-5,8". A directory returns its readable files.searchSearch documents for text: one file, many files, whole directories (recursive, .gitignore aware), or URLs, across every format read supports. Returns each hit as file + page/slide/sheet + a snippet with the match in bold. mode auto (default) finds the exact phrase and falls back to BM25-ranked passages when there is none; literal or ranked force one. Narrow directories with glob, e.g. "*.pdf".
Ready-to-paste client configs
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.
MinerU Open MCP
{
"mcpServers": {
"mineru-open-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"mineru-open-mcp"
]
}
}
}
PDF Reader MCP
No confirmed install command for PDF Reader MCP yet — follow the setup steps linked from its listing page rather than a guessed package name.
Frequently asked questions
MinerU Open MCP is categorized under Search & Data Extraction and uses a local stdio subprocess. PDF Reader MCP belongs to Search & Data Extraction and uses an install path we have not confirmed yet. Pick MinerU Open MCP for search & data extraction work and PDF Reader MCP for search & data extraction.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client. PDF Reader MCP has no confirmed install command yet — follow its own setup instructions.
MinerU Open MCP has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. PDF Reader MCP is listed as free. Auth: no auth required. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add mineru-open-mcp and pdf-reader-mcp as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, MinerU Open MCP has a quality signal of 61/100 (Good) with 2 views, 0 installs and 222 GitHub stars. PDF Reader MCP has 65/100 (Great) with 2 views, 0 installs and 1,041 GitHub stars.
