mcp-pdf-tools/LOCAL_DEVELOPMENT.md

🔧 Local Development Guide for MCP PDF

This guide shows how to test MCP PDF locally during development before publishing to PyPI.

📋 Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• uv package manager
• Claude Desktop app
• Git repository cloned locally

🚀 Quick Start for Local Testing

1. Clone and Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rsp2k/mcp-pdf.git
cd mcp-pdf

# Install dependencies
uv sync --dev

# Verify installation
uv run python -c "from mcp_pdf.server import create_server; print('✅ MCP PDF loads successfully')"

2. Test with Claude Code (Local Development)

Use the -t local flag to point Claude Code to your local development copy:

# Start Claude Code with local MCP PDF server
claude-code -t local /path/to/mcp-pdf

Or if you're already in the mcp-pdf directory:

claude-code -t local .

3. Alternative: Manual Server Testing

You can also run the server manually for debugging:

# Run the MCP server directly
uv run mcp-pdf

# Or run with specific FastMCP options
uv run python -m mcp_pdf.server

4. Test Core Functionality

Once connected to Claude Code, test these key features:

Basic PDF Processing

"Extract text from this PDF file: /path/to/test.pdf"
"Get metadata from this PDF: /path/to/document.pdf"
"Check if this PDF is scanned: /path/to/scan.pdf"

Security Features

"Try to extract text from a very large PDF"
"Process a PDF with 2000 pages" (should be limited to 1000)

Advanced Features

"Extract tables from this PDF: /path/to/tables.pdf"
"Convert this PDF to markdown: /path/to/document.pdf"
"Add annotations to this PDF: /path/to/target.pdf"

🔒 Security Testing

Verify the security hardening works:

File Size Limits

• Try processing a PDF larger than 100MB
• Should see: "PDF file too large: X bytes > 104857600"

Page Count Limits

• Try processing a PDF with >1000 pages
• Should see: "PDF too large for processing: X pages > 1000"

Path Traversal Protection

• Test with malicious paths like ../../../etc/passwd
• Should be blocked with security error

JSON Input Validation

• Large JSON inputs (>10KB) should be rejected
• Malformed JSON should return clean error messages

🐛 Debugging

Enable Debug Logging

export DEBUG=true
uv run mcp-pdf

Check Security Functions

# Test security validation functions
uv run python test_security_features.py

# Run integration tests
uv run python test_integration.py

Verify Package Structure

# Check package builds correctly
uv build

# Verify package metadata
uv run twine check dist/*

📊 Testing Checklist

Before publishing, verify:

• All 23 PDF tools work correctly
• Security limits are enforced (file size, page count)
• Error messages are clean and helpful
• No sensitive information leaked in errors
• Path traversal protection works
• JSON input validation works
• Memory limits prevent crashes
• CLI command mcp-pdf works
• Package imports correctly: from mcp_pdf.server import create_server

🚀 Publishing Pipeline

Once local testing passes:

1. Version Bump: Update version in pyproject.toml
2. Build: uv build
3. Test Upload: uv run twine upload --repository testpypi dist/*
4. Test Install: pip install -i https://test.pypi.org/simple/ mcp-pdf
5. Production Upload: uv run twine upload dist/*

🔧 Development Commands

# Format code
uv run black src/ tests/

# Lint code  
uv run ruff check src/ tests/

# Run tests
uv run pytest

# Security scan
uv run pip-audit

# Build package
uv build

# Install editable for development
pip install -e .  # (in a venv)

🆘 Troubleshooting

"Module not found" errors

• Ensure you're in the right directory
• Run uv sync to install dependencies
• Check Python path with uv run python -c "import sys; print(sys.path)"

MCP server won't start

• Check that all system dependencies are installed (tesseract, java, ghostscript)
• Verify with: uv run python examples/verify_installation.py

Security tests fail

• Run uv run python test_security_features.py -v for detailed output
• Check that security constants are properly set

This setup allows for rapid development and testing without polluting your system Python or needing to publish to PyPI for every change.