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@exactpdf/mcp

PDF APIs for agents, backend jobs, and real workflows

Automate ExactPDF's strongest workflows: target-size compression checks, merge/split, images-to-PDF, PDF JSON, structured Markdown for RAG, OCR routing, and voice previews. Background PDF audio jobs stay gated until worker smoke passes. Start free, then buy one-time credits when the first output works.

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REST API

Stable /api/v1 endpoints with structured JSON errors and binary outputs.

MCP

Use @exactpdf/mcp from Cursor, Claude Desktop, Codex, and local agents.

Credits

20 free test credits, then one-time packs. Standard tools cost 1 credit on success.

Idempotent

Request IDs and atomic ledger updates make retries safe.

First-run path

The paid path should feel boringly reliable: prove auth, inspect the file, run one output, then scale.

STEP 1

Create an API key from Max Account.

STEP 2

Call /api/v1/account to verify credits.

STEP 3

Probe the file with /api/v1/pdf-info before paid work.

STEP 4

Run one successful 1-credit workflow.

STEP 5

Buy one-time credits only after the automation works.

Copy-paste workflows

Start with these three because they match real pro pain: upload limits, JSON/RAG ingestion, and agent automation.

Portal-ready packets

Merge application PDFs or photos, best-effort repack to 1MB/2MB/5MB, and read output-size headers before upload.

curl https://exactpdf.com/api/v1/merge-compress \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -F "file=@cover.pdf" -F "file=@form.pdf" \
  -F "target_bytes=2097152" \
  -D headers.txt -o portal-ready.pdf

JSON and RAG exports

Extract PDF metadata, per-page text, full text, or structured Markdown for search, QA, and embeddings.

curl https://exactpdf.com/api/v1/pdf-structured-markdown \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -F "file=@manual.pdf" -F "mode=rag"

curl https://exactpdf.com/api/v1/pdf-to-json \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -F "file=@manual.pdf"

MCP inside agents

Give Cursor, Claude Desktop, Codex, and local agent runners the same ExactPDF workflows with one npm package.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exactpdf": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@exactpdf/mcp"],
      "env": { "EXACTPDF_API_KEY": "sk_live_..." }
    }
  }
}

Best API wedge: PDF JSON and Markdown for RAG

Generic PDF converters dump flat text. ExactPDF exposes a JSON endpoint for metadata and per-page text, plus structured Markdown that preserves headings, lists, page references, and cleaner chunk boundaries. This is the developer story to push hardest.

/api/v1/pdf-structured-markdown

/api/v1/pdf-to-json

1 credit on success

LangChain / LlamaIndex ready

Pricing for developers

Use credits for API/MCP. Use Max when the user wants UI history, background jobs, larger files, or folder workflows.

Starter

5,000 credits

₹399 / $5

Good for first real automations and agent demos.

Pro

25,000 credits

₹1,599 / $20

Good for teams, recurring jobs, and RAG pipelines.

Scale

100,000 credits

₹5,599 / $70

Good for agencies, batch processing, and production bots.

Ready to wire it in?

Create a key, run the account probe, then use one small PDF. If the first output is not right, do not buy credits yet.

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