pdfzen MCP Server

by pdfzen Your server? Claim it

answering

pdfzen is answering right now. Last checked 3 min ago. It exposes 4 tools.

Render PDFs from 45 starter templates or raw HTML. Pay-per-render with USDC via x402.

The linked repository no longer exists on GitHub — it was deleted or made private.

Uptime history 47 days of history

47 days agonow

100.0%

Uptime 24h

92 of 92 checks

Tools

read from the server

243 ms

Response time

average over 24h

open, no key

Access

streamable-http

This one has been quiet for a while

Quiet is not dead — but it is worth knowing when it wakes up, or when someone else takes it over. We watch the repository and tell you either way.

Connect this server

Endpoint below is the one we actually reach during checks — not the one copied from a README. Last verified 3 min ago.

Claude Code Claude Desktop Codex Cursor VS Code

run in your terminal

claude mcp add render --transport http https://api.pdfzen.site/mcp

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "render": {
      "url": "https://api.pdfzen.site/mcp"
    }
  }
}

~/.codex/config.toml

[mcp_servers.render]
url = "https://api.pdfzen.site/mcp"

.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "render": {
      "url": "https://api.pdfzen.site/mcp"
    }
  }
}

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "render": {
      "url": "https://api.pdfzen.site/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Available tools 4

Read directly from the server with tools/list, grouped by what they act on. If a tool disappears, we record the date.

render

render_html_to_pdf

Prepare a paid PDF render from arbitrary Handlebars-flavoured HTML. Use only when no starter fits (one-off layouts, custom branding). Prefer render_template_to_pdf when a starter matches. Validates your HTML and returns the exact, ready-to-execute HTTP request to run against pdfzen's render endpoint — POST /v402/render/pdf (x402, $0.006 USDC on Base, no API key) or POST /v1/render/pdf (pdfzen API key). pdfzen renders are executed over HTTP, not streamed in-band over MCP; this tool is the bridge.

render_template_to_pdf

Prepare a paid PDF render from one of the 45 starter templates. Validates your template + data and returns the exact, ready-to-execute HTTP request to run against pdfzen's render endpoint — POST /v402/render/pdf (x402, $0.006 USDC on Base, no API key) or POST /v1/render/pdf (pdfzen API key, credit-billed). pdfzen renders are executed over HTTP, not streamed in-band over MCP; this tool is the bridge. Your `data` is merged ON TOP of the starter sampleData at render time, so partial payloads inherit demo defaults (e.g. ship just the customer name + total).

starter

get_starter

Fetch the full HTML body, CSS, sampleData, and pageOptions for one starter template by slug. Use this when you need to understand the exact shape of `data` the template expects before calling render_template_to_pdf, or when you want to fork a starter into custom HTML. Free, no payment, no auth required.

starters

list_starters

List pdfzen's 45 public starter templates — invoices, receipts, contracts, certificates, NDAs, letters, reports, resumes, boarding passes, menus, bank statements, lab reports, lease agreements, performance reviews, and more. Returns an array of { slug, name, description, icon, pageOptions, fonts, dataKeys }. Free, no payment, no auth required. Call this first to discover what fits the user request, then optionally call get_starter to see the expected data shape, then call render_template_to_pdf to produce the PDF.

Endpoints

URL	Transport	State	Latency	Checked
https://api.pdfzen.site/mcp	streamable-http	answering	242 ms	3 min ago

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pdfzen — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

What can pdfzen do?

It exposes 4 tools, read directly from the server on our last check. Among them: get_starter, list_starters, render_html_to_pdf, render_template_to_pdf. The full list with descriptions is on this page — we take it from the server itself via tools/list, not from a README. How MCP servers expose tools in the first place →

Is pdfzen working right now?

We send a real MCP handshake every 15 minutes. Over the last 24 hours 92 of 92 checks got a reply (100.0%), average response time 243 ms. The bar chart above shows every period we have measured.

Is pdfzen still maintained?

The linked repository no longer exists on GitHub — it was deleted or made private. We show this because it changes what you can expect: an unmaintained server may keep answering for months and then stop without warning.

How do I connect pdfzen?

Copy the ready config from this page — we generate it for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, each with the file path that client actually reads. It is a remote server, so there is nothing to install — the client connects to the address.

Does pdfzen need an API key?

No. pdfzen completed a full MCP handshake with us as an anonymous client and listed its tools without asking for anything. All 4 of them are readable on this page. This is what we observed, not what the docs claim.

How fast is pdfzen?

It answers our handshake in 243 ms on average, which is faster than 58% of all working MCP servers we measure. The comparison comes from our own checks across the whole registry, every 15 minutes.