pdf-mcp-server
Provides an MCP server (Rust binary) to search for and download free, DRM-free technical book PDFs, manage a local PDF library, extract text from PDFs, and optionally upload PDFs to Google Drive for use with NotebookLM.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
No authentication/authorization controls are described for the MCP server; security relies on local execution. The tool downloads external PDFs (potentially untrusted content) and parses PDFs, which increases the importance of sandboxing and safe PDF handling (not documented here). Google Drive integration exists but details of OAuth scopes, token storage, and secret handling are not provided. TLS for external downloads is not explicitly documented in the provided content.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
You want local, agent-driven PDF retrieval and text extraction for technical learning workflows (e.g., Claude/NotebookLM) and you are comfortable running a locally built binary.
Avoid When
You need authenticated, audited, multi-tenant access or you require strict guarantees about source authenticity, licensing, and content safety.
Use Cases
- • Searching for technical book PDFs by keyword and retrieving a downloadable PDF
- • Maintaining a local library of downloaded PDFs for downstream Q&A
- • Extracting text from a downloaded PDF for indexing or analysis
- • Uploading PDFs to Google Drive to connect with NotebookLM
Not For
- • Accessing or distributing DRM-protected (copy-protected) PDFs
- • Compliance/legal assurance for copyrighted works (the README claims DRM-free sources but the tool itself cannot guarantee legality)
- • Production-grade document delivery behind a public API gateway (this appears to be a local MCP server setup)
Interface
Authentication
The README does not describe any auth mechanism for the MCP server itself. Google Drive integration is described as requiring additional configuration, but OAuth/scopes are not detailed in the provided content.
Pricing
Self-hosted open-source tool (MIT). No pricing information provided.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ No documented MCP tool schemas in the provided README content; agent interoperability depends on the server's actual tool definitions.
- ⚠ Downloading is driven by URLs sourced from search results; agents should be careful about repeated downloads and overwriting local files.
- ⚠ Text extraction and Drive uploads can be slow and may require waiting/retries, but retry/idempotency behavior is not documented.
Alternatives
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Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-04-04.