Markdown2PDF MCP Server (markdown2pdf-mcp)

An MCP server for converting Markdown documents to PDF files. This server provides a simple and efficient way to generate PDFs from Markdown content with support for syntax highlighting, custom styling, optional page numbers, and flexible watermark placement (first page only or all pages).

Inspired by Alan Shaw's markdown-pdf.

Features

• Convert Markdown to PDF with a single command
• Syntax highlighting for code blocks
• Custom CSS styling for PDF output
• Support for standard Markdown formatting
• Mermaid diagram rendering
• Modern PDF generation using Chrome's rendering engine
• Excellent support for modern web features and fonts
• Reliable resource loading and rendering
• Optional page numbers rendered via the PDF footer
• Watermarks with configurable scope (first page or all pages)

Limitations

The following markdown elements are not supported:

• LaTeX math equations (e.g., $x^2$ or $$\sum_{i=1}^n x_i$$)
• Complex mathematical formulas or scientific notation

Stick to these supported markdown elements:

• Headers (all levels)
• Text formatting (bold, italic, strikethrough)
• Lists (ordered and unordered)
• Code blocks with syntax highlighting
• Tables
• Blockquotes
• Links
• Images (base64 data URIs, or files in M2P_ASSETS_DIR; see Images)
• Task lists
• Mermaid diagrams

Security note: Rendering is self-contained. Raw HTML in the markdown is not passed through, and the renderer blocks local file reads and outbound requests by default. See the security advisory.

Mermaid Diagrams

To render a Mermaid diagram, use a mermaid code block:

´´´markdown

graph TD;
    A-->B;
    A-->C;
    B-->D;
    C-->D;

Loading

´´´

If there is a syntax error in your diagram, the error message will be rendered in the PDF, helping you to debug it.

Installation (from source)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/2b3pro/markdown2pdf-mcp.git

# Navigate to the project directory
cd markdown2pdf-mcp

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

Installation (via npm)

npm install markdown2pdf-mcp

Usage

Starting the Server

npm start

Using the MCP Tool

The server provides a single tool create_pdf_from_markdown with the following parameters:

{
  // Required parameters
  markdown: string;    // Markdown content to convert

  // Optional parameters with defaults
  outputFilename?: string;  // Filename or path for the PDF (e.g., "output.pdf", "reports/q3.pdf", "/abs/path/q3.pdf")
  paperFormat?: string;     // 'letter' (default), 'a4', 'a3', 'a5', 'legal', 'tabloid'
  paperOrientation?: string; // 'portrait' (default), 'landscape'
  paperBorder?: string;     // '2cm' (default), accepts decimal values with CSS units (e.g., '1.5cm', '2.5mm', '0.5in', '10.5px')
  watermark?: string;       // Optional watermark text (max 15 characters, uppercase)
  watermarkScope?: 'all-pages' | 'first-page'; // Defaults to 'all-pages'
  showPageNumbers?: boolean; // Defaults to false
}

Example with options:

await use_mcp_tool({
  server_name: "markdown2pdf",
  tool_name: "create_pdf_from_markdown",
  arguments: {
    markdown: "# Hello World\n\nThis is a test document.",
    outputFilename: "output.pdf",
    paperFormat: "a4",
    paperOrientation: "landscape",
    paperBorder: "1.5cm",
    watermark: "DRAFT",
    watermarkScope: "first-page",
    showPageNumbers: true,
  },
});

Example minimal usage:

await use_mcp_tool({
  server_name: "markdown2pdf",
  tool_name: "create_pdf_from_markdown",
  arguments: {
    markdown: "# Hello World\n\nThis is a test document.",
    outputFilename: "output.pdf",
  },
});

Running on Demand with npx

You can run the server without a permanent local install by asking npx to grab the latest package and execute its entrypoint:

npx -y markdown2pdf-mcp@latest

This command installs the package into a temporary workspace and then starts the MCP server via its bundled CLI. Point your MCP-aware client (e.g., Cline or Claude Desktop) to this command to spin up the server on demand.

Configuration

Output Directory

You can configure the output directory in your MCP settings file for apps that use MCP such as Cline or Claude. If not configured, it will save files to $HOME:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "markdown2pdf": {
      "args": ["/path/to/markdown2pdf-mcp/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "M2P_OUTPUT_DIR": "/path/to/output/directory"
      }
    }
  }
}

M2P_OUTPUT_DIR is the default location. A path in outputFilename takes precedence: an absolute path is used as-is, and a relative path (e.g., reports/q3.pdf) is placed under M2P_OUTPUT_DIR (or $HOME if it is not set).

The tool automatically handles file name conflicts by appending incremental numbers (e.g., output.pdf, output-1.pdf, output-2.pdf).

Images

For security, the renderer does not load images from arbitrary local paths or external URLs. You have three options:

1. Base64 data URIs work everywhere with no configuration: ![logo](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0...)

2. An assets directory. Set M2P_ASSETS_DIR and reference images by relative path. Only files that resolve inside that directory load; ../ traversal, symlinks pointing outside it, and absolute paths elsewhere are blocked.

   "env": {
     "M2P_ASSETS_DIR": "/path/to/images"
   }

   ![Q3 revenue](charts/q3.png)

3. Manual override (unsafe). Start the server with --dangerously-allow-images (or set M2P_DANGEROUSLY_ALLOW_ALL_IMAGES=true) to load images from any local path or URL, as in versions before 2.2.0. This reopens the file disclosure and SSRF issues described in the advisory, so only use it when every piece of markdown the server receives is fully trusted. Raw HTML stays disabled either way.

   "args": ["/path/to/markdown2pdf-mcp/build/index.js", "--dangerously-allow-images"]

Large File Support

The tool automatically handles large markdown files with:

• Dynamic Timeouts: Automatically scales based on content size (up to 5 minutes for very large files)
• Memory Limits: 4GB memory allocation for Chrome to handle complex documents
• Size Validation: Maximum 10MB file size with clear error messages
• Progress Tracking: Shows content size and estimated processing time

For very large files (1300+ lines), the tool will:

1. Warn you about extended processing time
2. Automatically increase timeouts
3. Display content size in the response
4. Provide detailed error messages if processing fails

Verbose Logging

Enable detailed logging for debugging:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "markdown2pdf": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/markdown2pdf-mcp/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "M2P_OUTPUT_DIR": "/path/to/output/directory",
        "M2P_VERBOSE": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

This will log processing steps to stderr without interfering with MCP communication.

Prefer a locally built version? Swap "command" back to node and point "args" to the compiled build/index.js path instead of using npx, for example: "args": ["/path/to/markdown2pdf-mcp/build/index.js"].

Dependencies

• @modelcontextprotocol/sdk - MCP SDK for server implementation
• remarkable - Markdown parser
• highlight.js - Syntax highlighting
• puppeteer - Modern PDF generation using Chrome for Testing (v131.0.6778.204)

Chrome Version

This package uses Chrome v131.0.6778.204 for consistent PDF generation across all installations. This version is automatically installed when you run npm install.

• tmp - Temporary file handling

Development

# Build the project
npm run build

# Start the server
npm start

---

Support

Markdown2PDF MCP is free and open source. If it saves you time turning Markdown into polished PDFs, consider buying me a coffee and croissant! It helps keep the updates coming.

Buy me a cup of coffee and croissant!

---

License

MIT

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request