pdf-writer-mcp

日本語

MCP server that creates PDFs from text, Markdown, or tabular data and edits existing ones (metadata and page operations). Built on normativepdf — a clause-driven PDF library in which every behaviour is tied to an ISO 32000 clause — with CJK font embedding via harfbuzz subsetting.

Part of the PDF family alongside pdf-reader-mcp (structure analysis) and pdf-verify-mcp (authenticity verification). Where pdf-reader-mcp tells you what is in a PDF and pdf-verify-mcp tells you whether it is genuine, pdf-writer-mcp is the one that writes it.

Tools

[!IMPORTANT] All file paths must be absolute (since v0.7.0). Relative paths and paths containing .. are rejected — a relative path would resolve against the MCP host's working directory, which is not the directory you think it is. This applies to inputPath, inputPaths, outputPath, outputDir, fontPath and attachmentPath. Input PDFs larger than 100 MB are also rejected.

Creation

Shared options: outputPath, returnBase64, fontPath, fontSize, pageSize (A4/A3/A5/LETTER/LEGAL), margin, title, author, onMissingGlyph, tagged, lang, pdfVersion.

PDF 2.0 output (v0.16.0)

Pass pdfVersion: "2.0" to write an ISO 32000-2 file. The default stays "1.7", and its bytes are unchanged.

The version is not only a header. ISO 32000-2 attaches two obligations to it, and both are met:

• trailer /ID becomes Required (Table 15). Both elements are equal on a first write (R-14.4-6), and the value stays deterministic under SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH.
• the Info dictionary keeps only CreationDate and ModDate (§14.3.3); the title, author and producer move to the XMP metadata stream, where PDF 2.0 says document metadata belongs.

{ "text": "Body.", "title": "Report", "pdfVersion": "2.0" }

tagged: true cannot be combined with it. The only accessibility declaration this server writes is PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289-1), which is built on PDF 1.7 — putting it in a 2.0 file would be a claim nothing could measure. PDF/UA-2 output is not implemented, so the combination is refused rather than silently produced.

Tagged PDF / PDF/UA (v0.5.0)

Pass tagged: true to produce an accessible, tagged PDF conforming to PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289). Output is verified compliant by veraPDF (--flavour ua1, 106/106 rules).

{ "markdown": "# Title\n\nBody.", "title": "Report", "tagged": true, "lang": "en" }

Markdown maps onto the structure tree: headings → H1–H6, lists → L/LI/LBody, tables → Table/TR/TH/TD (headers get /Scope), quotes → BlockQuote, code → Code. Rules, borders and code backgrounds become artifacts. Heading levels are normalised so they start at H1 and never skip — a Markdown # → ### jump becomes H1 → H2 in the structure, while visual sizes stay as authored.

PDF/UA mandates a document title, so tagged: true requires title. lang (BCP 47) is inferred from the text when omitted and reported via warnings — pass it explicitly when you know it, since a wrong /Lang makes screen readers mispronounce the text.

[!NOTE] Tagging is opt-in — default output is unchanged.

Machine validation (veraPDF) only sees whether things exist. It cannot judge whether reading order or alt text are appropriate — human review still matters.

Editing — page operations

[!WARNING] The five tools other than rotate_pages rebuild the document from its pages.

• Carried over: attachments (/Names /EmbeddedFiles, /AF), /Lang, /ViewerPreferences, /OutputIntents
• Not carried over: the tagged structure tree, XMP, and anything tied to page numbers or page references (bookmarks, page labels, named destinations)
• Whatever is lost is reported in warnings — nothing disappears silently

Page specs use "1,3-5,8-" (1-based; -3 means up to page 3, 8- means page 8 to the end). Order is preserved and duplicates are removed.

Editing — adding to and repairing documents

Shared options: outputPath, returnBase64, allowBreakingSignatures.

[!IMPORTANT] Editing signed PDFs: an ordinary save rewrites the whole file, so editing normally invalidates existing signatures. PDFs containing /ByteRange are rejected by default.

• preserveSignatures: true — appends an ISO 32000 incremental update that keeps every signature valid (the original bytes are untouched). Supported by every editing tool that adds to a document: add_annotation, set_metadata, add_bookmarks, tag_form_fields, ensure_tagged, attach_file, stamp_page_numbers, add_watermark (on tagged PDFs the structure-tree changes ride the same increment)
• allowBreakingSignatures: true — proceed destructively, invalidating signatures
• Certified documents (DocMDP) are refused when the change type is not permitted by the certification level (§12.8.2.2)

Measured: stacked increments on a really-signed PDF keep pdf-verify-mcp reporting VALID, and incremental structure updates on tagged PDFs stay veraPDF COMPLIANT (106/106).

Scaffolding an untagged PDF (ensure_tagged)

ensure_tagged puts an existing PDF into the PDF/UA-1 container. On tagged input the structure tree is left untouched and only missing document-level requirements are repaired (MarkInfo, /Lang, DisplayDocTitle, XMP). On a document that never had a structure tree, a minimal scaffold is created — each page's content wrapped in a single P element, which makes the text reachable by assistive technology and passes veraPDF (measured: 106/106).

[!WARNING] This is a scaffold, not accessibility. A machine cannot infer meaning, so headings, lists, tables, reading order and figure alt text are not produced. The tool says so in its warnings. (Wrapping the content in Artifact would also pass veraPDF while hiding the body from screen readers — conformance theatre, deliberately not implemented.) Where you control the source, create_* with tagged: true produces real structure; ensure_tagged is for documents you were handed.

The archival container (ensure_pdfa)

ensure_pdfa is the archival (PDF/A-3b) counterpart of ensure_tagged. It adds only the document-level requirements:

• trailer /ID (ISO 32000-1 §14.4)
• an sRGB output intent (GTS_PDFA1; ICC profile generated and embedded)
• the XMP pdfaid declaration (the creation date is inherited from Info /CreationDate)

[!WARNING] Content streams, fonts and the structure tree are untouched — so this does not make a PDF conform. Write the declaration, then measure it: verify with pdf-verify-mcp's validate_conformance(flavour: "pdfa-3b"). Measured on the electronic-bookkeeping sample: veraPDF 146/146 COMPLIANT, PDF/UA-1 still 106/106, attachment preserved.

Since v0.17.0 the result also carries declarationRisks when the claim is already known to be false. The only risk reported today is FONT_NOT_EMBEDDED: PDF/A requires every font to be embedded and ensure_pdfa does not embed fonts, so a document drawn with the standard 14 faces fails validation regardless of how correct its document-level structure is. The declaration is still written — the verdict belongs to veraPDF — but the caller can now branch on the risk instead of parsing the warning text.

PDF/A-4 (v0.16.0)

flavour: "pdfa-4" targets ISO 19005-4 instead. It is built on PDF 2.0, so on top of the three items above it rewrites the header to 2.0 and removes the Info dictionary — PDF/A-4 does not allow one unless the catalog has /PieceInfo, which is stricter than ISO 32000-2 §14.3.3. pdfaid:rev is written and pdfaid:conformance is not, because PDF/A-4 has no conformance level.

If the document carries attachments, use "pdfa-4f". Plain PDF/A-4 requires every embedded file to be PDF/A itself, so attaching a CSV or JSON — the electronic-bookkeeping case — makes it non-conformant. "pdfa-4f" is the variant for exactly that.

Measured with veraPDF 1.30.0: pdfa-4 109/109 COMPLIANT, and the same document with a CSV attached is 108/109 as pdfa-4 but 109/109 as pdfa-4f.

preserveSignatures is refused with a PDF/A-4 flavour unless the input is already PDF 2.0: an incremental update cannot rewrite byte 0 of the file, and doing so anyway would break the signature it was meant to preserve.

Install

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdf-writer": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@shuji-bonji/pdf-writer-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "PDF_WRITER_FONT": "/absolute/path/to/NotoSansJP-Regular.otf"
      }
    }
  }
}

PDF_WRITER_FONT lets every tool omit fontPath and still render CJK text.

[!TIP] Use @latest (or pin a version). npx -y <pkg> without a version keeps running whatever it cached the first time — -y only skips the install prompt, it does not check for updates. A bare specifier will happily run a months-old release. @latest makes npx check the registry on each start; pin @0.5.0 instead if you want reproducibility. To clear a stale cache: rm -rf ~/.npm/_npx.

Fonts

The standard PDF font (Helvetica) covers ASCII only. To render Japanese or any non-Latin text, point fontPath or PDF_WRITER_FONT at an embeddable single-face font (.ttf / .otf).

• Recommended source: Noto Sans JP (SubsetOTF/JP) — static, single-face, SIL OFL.

• .ttc (TrueType Collection) is not supported — the file is detected and rejected. Extract a single face first:

  server.ts

  Copy

  python3 -c "from fontTools.ttLib import TTCollection; \
    TTCollection('NotoSansCJK-Regular.ttc').fonts[0].save('NotoSansCJKjp-Regular.otf')"
  

Missing glyphs

Characters absent from the font (e.g. ✔ U+2714, which Noto Sans JP does not include) would otherwise be embedded as .notdef and render as silent blanks. onMissingGlyph controls this:

Result

{
  "path": "/abs/out.pdf",     // when outputPath is given
  "base64": "JVBERi0xLj...",  // when returnBase64, or outputPath is omitted
  "pageCount": 3,
  "bytes": 91788,
  "font": "NotoSansJP-Regular.otf",
  "warnings": ["Replaced 1 unsupported character(s) with \"〓\": \"✔\" (U+2714)"]
}

Editing tools return the same shape without font; split_pdf returns { files: [...], count }.

Errors (v0.7.0)

Errors are structured, following the same contract as pdf-reader-mcp: a stable code for programs, plus next_actions an LLM agent can act on. Writer-specific guards are all expressed as retryable with an explicit flag:

{
  "error": "\"/in/signed.pdf\" appears to be digitally signed (/ByteRange found). …",
  "code": "SIGNED_PDF",
  "retryable": true,
  "next_actions": [
    {
      "action": "retry_with_allowBreakingSignatures",
      "reason": "Only if invalidating the signature is acceptable…",
      "example": { "allowBreakingSignatures": true }
    }
  ]
}

Codes: INVALID_ARGUMENT, DOC_NOT_FOUND, FONT_NOT_FOUND, INVALID_PDF, ENCRYPTED_PDF, UNSUPPORTED_PDF_FEATURE (XFA), FILE_TOO_LARGE, INTERNAL_ERROR, and the writer guards SIGNED_PDF (allowBreakingSignatures), TAGGED_PDF (allowBreakingTags), FONT_REQUIRED (fontPath), MISSING_GLYPH (onMissingGlyph).

Deterministic output (v0.7.0)

Set the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH environment variable (UNIX seconds, per the reproducible-builds.org convention) to pin CreationDate, ModificationDate and XMP timestamps. The same input then yields byte-identical output — useful for diffing, caching, and reproducible tests. Invalid values raise an error rather than being ignored.

Text extraction

Generated PDFs are selectable, copyable, searchable, and screen-reader accessible: a ToUnicode CMap (§9.10.3) is written even for embedded subset fonts. This is covered by regression tests (extract.test.ts, render.test.ts).

[!NOTE] Output from v0.13.x and earlier could make poppler-based viewers print Mismatch between font type and embedded font file. That was a symptom of a real conformance defect (W-2: CFF fonts embedded via FontFile2), fixed in v0.14.0 — current output produces no such warning.

Development

npm install
npm run build      # emits dist/
npm test           # vitest
npm run typecheck  # tsc --noEmit

Font-dependent tests activate when TEST_FONT_PATH points at a CJK font:

TEST_FONT_PATH=/path/to/NotoSansJP-Regular.otf npm test

Known limitations

• Inline styling: bold/italic affect size and glyph text only, not typeface — a single font is embedded per document.
• .ttc fonts require extracting a single face (see above).
• title and the first body heading both become H1 (B-19). This satisfies PDF/UA 7.4.2 (start at H1, skip no levels) and passes veraPDF, but headings duplicate if you read the structure tree back and regenerate.
• List /Lbl is not emitted (B-18). Bullets and numbers are baked into the body text. ISO 32000-2 §14.8.4.8.2 makes Lbl a NOTE (often include), not a requirement, so this conforms — but regenerating from a read-back duplicates the markers.

Resolved:

• The subset name prefix (ABCDEF+) is applied as of v0.14.0 (W-3). The earlier limitation stating otherwise no longer holds.
• Underscores in snake_case being dropped (B-17) was fixed on 2026-07-21 (ships in the next release). _ emphasis now requires a non-intraword position and code spans are protected first, so non-ASCII identifiers such as 日本語_変数名 survive too.

Roadmap

• Editing Tier A wave 1 — metadata and page operations (v0.2.0)
• Editing Tier A wave 2 — bookmarks and annotations (v0.4.0)
• Tagged PDF / PDF/UA-1 — verified by veraPDF (v0.5.0)
• Annotations nested in Annot tags on tagged output (v0.5.1)
• Editing Tier B — file attachments, form filling/flattening, watermarks, page-number stamping (v0.6.0)
• Code hygiene / family alignment — McpServer + Zod, structured errors, absolute-path enforcement, stdout guard, tool annotations, deterministic output (v0.7.0)
• tag_form_fields — PDF/UA repair for forms in tagged PDFs, verified COMPLIANT by veraPDF (v0.8.0)
• Tier C first milestone — signature-preserving incremental updates for add_annotation, verified by pdf-verify-mcp against a real CMS signature (v0.9.0)
• Incremental updates extended to set_metadata / add_bookmarks, full trailer carry-over (§7.5.6), XMP kept in sync with Info (v0.10.0)
• Incremental updates on tagged PDFs — generalised dirty tracking over the structure tree; tag_form_fields gains preserveSignatures (v0.11.0)
• Incremental updates across every editing tool, and ensure_tagged — PDF/UA scaffold & repair (v0.12.0)
• Page operations report and carry over document-level information; three shall violations found by re-auditing against ISO 32000-2 (v0.13.0)
• Carrying the structure tree through page operations (which also unlocks MarkInfo, conformance-declaring XMP, /AcroForm and merging attachments across inputs)
• Tier C remainder — edit_text (body text editing/reflow)
• Publish-pipeline skill (write → read back with pdf-reader → gate with pdf-verify)
• Images with alt text (Figure + /Alt)
• Automatic face extraction from .ttc
• Separate faces for headings and body (bold face embedding)
• Image embedding, headers/footers
• Tier C — signature-preserving incremental updates, body text editing, tag tree maintenance
• PDF/A conversion

License

MIT © shuji-bonji