Nutrient Document Web Services▌

by pspdfkit
Integrate Nutrient Document Web Services API for secure PDF manipulation, digital signing, and document processing acros
Integrates with Nutrient Document Web Services API to provide PDF manipulation, digital signing, and document processing capabilities across multiple file formats including Office documents and images.
best for
- / Legal professionals handling document signing workflows
- / Businesses automating document processing pipelines
- / Developers building document management applications
- / Organizations needing automated redaction and compliance
capabilities
- / Merge and split PDF documents
- / Apply digital signatures with PAdES compliance
- / Redact sensitive information automatically
- / Convert documents between formats (PDF, Office, images)
- / Perform OCR on scanned documents
- / Extract text and metadata from documents
what it does
Connects AI assistants to Nutrient's Document Web Services API for PDF manipulation, digital signing, OCR, and document conversion across multiple file formats through natural language commands.
about
Nutrient Document Web Services is an official MCP server published by pspdfkit that provides AI assistants with tools and capabilities via the Model Context Protocol. Integrate Nutrient Document Web Services API for secure PDF manipulation, digital signing, and document processing acros It is categorized under productivity, file systems.
how to install
You can install Nutrient Document Web Services in your AI client of choice. Use the install panel on this page to get one-click setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and other MCP-compatible clients. This server runs locally on your machine via the stdio transport.
license
MIT
Nutrient Document Web Services is released under the MIT license. This is a permissive open-source license, meaning you can freely use, modify, and distribute the software.
readme
Nutrient DWS MCP Server

Give AI agents the power to process, sign, and transform documents.
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects AI assistants to the Nutrient Document Web Service (DWS) Processor API — enabling document creation, editing, conversion, digital signing, OCR, redaction, and more through natural language.
What You Can Do
Once configured, you (or your AI agent) can process documents through natural language:
You: "Merge report-q1.pdf and report-q2.pdf into a single document" AI: "Done! I've merged both reports into combined-report.pdf (24 pages total)."
You: "Redact all social security numbers and email addresses from application.pdf" AI: "I found and redacted 5 SSNs and 3 email addresses. The redacted version is saved as application-redacted.pdf."
You: "Digitally sign this contract with a visible signature on page 3" AI: "I've applied a PAdES-compliant digital signature to contract.pdf. The signed document is saved as contract-signed.pdf."
You: "Convert this PDF to markdown" AI: "Here's the markdown content extracted from your document..."
You: "OCR this scanned document in German and extract the text" AI: "I've processed the scan with German OCR. Here's the extracted text..."
Quick Start
1. Get a Nutrient API Key
Sign up for free at nutrient.io/api.
2. Configure Your AI Client
Choose your platform and add the configuration:
<details> <summary><strong>Claude Desktop</strong></summary>Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config, then add:
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"nutrient-dws": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"NUTRIENT_DWS_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
"SANDBOX_PATH": "/your/sandbox/directory"
// "C:\your\sandbox\directory" for Windows
}
}
}
}
</details>
<details>
<summary><strong>Cursor</strong></summary>
Create .cursor/mcp.json in your project root:
{
"mcpServers": {
"nutrient-dws": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"NUTRIENT_DWS_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
"SANDBOX_PATH": "/your/project/documents"
// "C:\your\project\documents" for Windows
}
}
}
}
</details>
<details>
<summary><strong>Windsurf</strong></summary>
Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"nutrient-dws": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"NUTRIENT_DWS_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
"SANDBOX_PATH": "/your/sandbox/directory"
// "C:\your\sandbox\directory" for Windows
}
}
}
}
</details>
<details>
<summary><strong>VS Code (GitHub Copilot)</strong></summary>
Add to .vscode/settings.json in your project:
{
"mcp": {
"servers": {
"nutrient-dws": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"NUTRIENT_DWS_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
"SANDBOX_PATH": "${workspaceFolder}"
}
}
}
}
}
</details>
<details>
<summary><strong>Other MCP Clients</strong></summary>
Any MCP-compatible client can connect using stdio transport:
NUTRIENT_DWS_API_KEY=your_key SANDBOX_PATH=/your/path npx @nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server
</details>
3. Restart Your AI Client
Restart the application to pick up the new MCP server configuration.
4. Start Processing Documents
Drop documents into your sandbox directory and start giving instructions!
Available Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| document_processor | All-in-one document processing: merge PDFs, convert formats, apply OCR, watermark, rotate, redact, flatten annotations, extract text/tables/key-value pairs, and more |
| document_signer | Digitally sign PDFs with PAdES-compliant CMS or CAdES signatures, with customizable visible/invisible signature appearances |
| sandbox_file_tree | Browse files in the sandbox directory (when sandbox mode is enabled) |
| directory_tree | Browse directory contents (when sandbox mode is disabled) |
Document Processor Capabilities
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Document Creation | Merge PDFs, Office docs (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX), and images into a single document |
| Format Conversion | PDF ↔ DOCX, images (PNG, JPEG, WebP), PDF/A, PDF/UA, HTML, Markdown |
| Editing | Watermark (text/image), rotate pages, flatten annotations |
| Security | Redact sensitive data (SSNs, credit cards, emails, etc.), password protection, permission control |
| Data Extraction | Extract text, tables, or key-value pairs as structured JSON |
| OCR | Multi-language optical character recognition for scanned documents |
| Optimization | Compress and linearize PDFs without quality loss |
| Annotations | Import XFDF annotations, flatten annotations |
| Digital Signing | PAdES-compliant CMS and CAdES digital signatures (via document_signer tool) |
Use with AI Agent Frameworks
This MCP server works with any platform that supports the Model Context Protocol:
- Claude Desktop — Direct MCP integration
- Cursor — AI-powered IDE with MCP support
- Windsurf — AI-powered IDE with MCP support
- VS Code + Copilot — GitHub Copilot MCP integration
- LangChain / LangGraph — Via MCP tool adapters
- OpenAI Agents SDK — Via MCP server integration
- Custom agents — Any MCP-compatible system
Why Nutrient?
The Read-Write Gap
AI can read and understand documents — but most tools stop there. Nutrient gives AI agents the ability to actually manipulate documents: merge, redact, sign, watermark, convert formats, extract structured data, and more.
- Beyond PDF reading — Not just text extraction. Full document creation, editing, and transformation.
- Production-grade — Trusted by thousands of companies for mission-critical document processing.
- Standards-compliant — PAdES digital signatures, PDF/A archiving, PDF/UA accessibility.
- Cloud-native — No infrastructure to manage. Send documents to the API, get results back.
- Comprehensive redaction — Built-in presets for SSNs, credit cards, phone numbers, emails, dates, and more.
- Multi-format — Process PDFs, Office documents, images, HTML, and Markdown.
Configuration
Sandbox Mode (Recommended)
The server supports sandbox mode that restricts file operations to a specific directory. Set the SANDBOX_PATH environment variable to enable it:
export SANDBOX_PATH=/path/to/sandbox/directory
npx @nutrient-sdk/dws-mcp-server
When sandbox mode is enabled:
- Relative paths resolve relative to the sandbox directory
- All input file paths are validated to ensure they reside in the sandbox
- Processed files are saved within the sandbox
Note: If no sandbox directory is specified, the server operates without file path restrictions. Sandbox mode is strongly recommended for security.
Output Location
Processed files are saved to a location determined by the AI. To guide output placement, use natural language (e.g., "save the result to output/result.pdf") or create an output directory in your sandbox.
Environment Variables
| Variable | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
NUTRIENT_DWS_API_KEY | Yes | Your Nutrient DWS API key (get one free) |
SANDBOX_PATH | Recommended | Directory to restrict file operations to |
Troubleshooting
Server not appearing in Claude Desktop?
- Ensure Node.js 18+ is installed (
node --version) - Check the config file path is correct for your OS
- Restart Claude Desktop completely (check Task Manager/Activity Monitor)
"API key invalid" errors?
- Verify your API key at dashboard.nutrient.io
- Ensure the key is set correctly in the
envsection (no extra spaces)
Files not found?
- Check that
SANDBOX_PATHpoints to an existing directory - Ensure your documents are inside the sandbox directory
- Use the
sandbox_file_treetool to verify visible files
Contributing
Please see the contribution guidelines in CONTRIBUTING.md.
License
MIT License — see LICENSE for details.