Claude Desktop + pdfmcp: setup guide

Add pdfmcp to Claude Desktop as a remote MCP connector.

What you need: a free pdfmcp API key — sign in with your email (no password) and copy the key shown at first login. Then replace pdfmcp_live_YOUR_KEY in the config below.

Where it goes: Claude Desktop → Settings → Connectors (no file to edit)

Name:  pdfmcp
URL:   https://mcp.pdfmcp.org/mcp

Steps

1. Get a free API key from the pdfmcp dashboard (sign in with your email — no password).
2. Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Connectors → “Add custom connector”.
3. Name it “pdfmcp” and paste the server URL above.
4. If your client shows an authorization/header field, enter your key as shown in the note below.
5. Start a new chat and ask Claude to list the pdfmcp tools, or drop in a PDF and ask it to extract the text.

Some Claude Desktop builds don't expose custom header fields for connectors. If there's nowhere to put the key, use the bridge config instead: add this to claude_desktop_config.json (Settings → Developer → Edit Config) — it runs the open-source mcp-remote bridge locally and forwards your key as a header:

Config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdfmcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.pdfmcp.org/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer pdfmcp_live_YOUR_KEY"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

• 401 / unauthorized: the key header is missing or mistyped. The header name is exactly X-API-Key (Claude Code uses Authorization: Bearer … — both work).
• Tools don't appear: fully restart the client after editing its config; most clients only load MCP servers at startup.
• Server unreachable: check the public status page — and your network's outbound HTTPS to mcp.pdfmcp.org.

Try it with

More clients: Claude Code MCP setup · ChatGPT MCP setup · Cursor MCP setup · All MCP setup guides · REST API quickstart