Can Claude generate a real PDF?

Yes, through pdfrender's MCP server. Add https://api.pdfrender.dev/mcp/ over the HTTP transport and the agent gets a render_html_to_pdf tool returning { pdf_base64, pages }.

Does the MCP server need an API key?

No. The X-API-Key header is optional: without one the tool works at the anonymous per-IP rate limit. With one it draws on the same credits as REST.

Why is the MCP input limit smaller than the REST limit?

The MCP tool accepts 256 KB of HTML against REST's 2 MiB, because tool arguments travel inside the model's context window. For large documents, call the REST endpoint directly.

HTML to PDF from Claude and LLM agents (MCP)

pdfrender ships a built-in MCP server: agents call the render_html_to_pdf tool to produce real PDFs. Setup for Claude Code and any MCP client.

Last updated 2026-07-26

MCP endpoint	https://api.pdfrender.dev/mcp/ (HTTP transport)
Tool	render_html_to_pdf — returns { pdf_base64, pages }; input capped at 256 KB
Auth	X-API-Key header optional — anonymous works at the per-IP rate limit; same credits as REST

A PDF is something no LLM can produce locally — pdfrender exposes its renderer as a Model Context Protocol server, so agents generate documents as a tool call. Add it to Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http pdfrender https://api.pdfrender.dev/mcp/ \
  --header "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

Or in a generic MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pdfrender": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.pdfrender.dev/mcp/",
      "headers": { "X-API-Key": "YOUR_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

The agent then calls render_html_to_pdf(html) and receives {"pdf_base64": "…", "pages": N} — decode the base64 and write the file.

Tool vs REST

The tool mirrors the REST policy — anonymous calls work at the per-IP limit, a key raises it, one call costs one credit — but caps input at 256 KB (base64 megabytes inside tool results are hostile to agent context windows). For bigger documents have the agent call POST /v1/render instead. The same rendering rules apply: HTML + CSS, data: URIs, no JavaScript.

Try it free

Try it free — 100 renders a month, no card — the free tier covers an agent's occasional document easily.

FAQ

Can Claude generate a real PDF?: Yes, through pdfrender's MCP server. Add https://api.pdfrender.dev/mcp/ over the HTTP transport and the agent gets a render_html_to_pdf tool returning { pdf_base64, pages }.
Does the MCP server need an API key?: No. The X-API-Key header is optional: without one the tool works at the anonymous per-IP rate limit. With one it draws on the same credits as REST.
Why is the MCP input limit smaller than the REST limit?: The MCP tool accepts 256 KB of HTML against REST's 2 MiB, because tool arguments travel inside the model's context window. For large documents, call the REST endpoint directly.