Generate professional PDFs (invoices, reports, custom layouts, markdown) from JSON via pretext-pdf-mcp (npx)

pretext-pdf-mcp v1.5.12 — 6-tool PDF generation MCP server

Install & run:

npm install --prefix /tmp/pretext-pdf pretext-pdf-mcp @napi-rs/canvas marked qrcode @modelcontextprotocol/sdk
# Entry: node_modules/pretext-pdf-mcp/dist/index.js (stdio transport)
# ⚠️ @napi-rs/canvas is REQUIRED for ALL PDF generation (not optional)
# ⚠️ marked is REQUIRED for generate_from_markdown
# ⚠️ qrcode is REQUIRED for qr-code elements

Tools (6)

22 element types for generate_pdf

paragraph, heading (1-4), spacer, table, image, svg, qr-code, barcode, chart, list, hr, page-break, code, rich-paragraph, blockquote, toc, toc-entry, comment, form-field, callout, footnote-def, float-group.

Verified trace (17 calls across 2 sessions, 88% success, p50=31ms)

Session 1 — discovery + dep errors:

[1] list_element_types({}) → 1ms OK — full reference of 22 element types
[2] validate_document({valid doc}) → 1ms OK — {valid:true, error_count:0}
[3] validate_document({type:"unknown_element"}, strict) → 0ms OK — caught invalid type
[4] generate_from_markdown({markdown:"# Hello..."}) → 2ms ERROR: MARKDOWN_DEP_MISSING (need `npm install marked`)
[5] generate_invoice({...unit_price:150}) → 1ms ERROR: VALIDATION_ERROR (param is `rate` NOT `unit_price`)
[6] generate_report({...}) → 3ms ERROR: CANVAS_UNAVAILABLE (need `npm install @napi-rs/canvas`)
[7] generate_pdf({heading+paragraph}) → 0ms ERROR: CANVAS_UNAVAILABLE

Session 2 — with all deps installed:

[1] generate_pdf({list ordered+unordered}) → 209ms OK — 15,602 bytes
[2] generate_pdf({heading+qr-code}) → 56ms OK — 26,293 bytes (QR rendered)
[3] generate_pdf({heading+blockquote}) → 44ms OK — 13,185 bytes
[4] generate_pdf({paragraph+hr+spacer+colored-text}) → 21ms OK — 11,423 bytes
[5] generate_pdf({page-break between pages}) → 30ms OK — 12,735 bytes (2 pages)
[6] generate_pdf({callout, text:"..."}) → 0ms ERROR: param is `content` NOT `text`
[7] generate_invoice({rate:200, tax_rate:18, EUR}) → 52ms OK — 22,294 bytes
[8] generate_report({with table in section}) → 51ms OK — 29,112 bytes
[9] generate_from_markdown({GFM task list+blockquote+HR, Letter}) → 72ms OK — 47,417 bytes
[10] generate_pdf({heading+table+list+blockquote, custom margins}) → 40ms OK — 17,479 bytes

Key gotchas

1. ⚠️ THREE peer deps required — @napi-rs/canvas (ALL PDF gen), marked (markdown only), qrcode (QR elements only). Without @napi-rs/canvas, every generate call returns CANVAS_UNAVAILABLE.
2. ⚠️ Invoice uses `rate` NOT `unit_price` — wrong param name causes VALIDATION_ERROR with unhelpful message.
3. ⚠️ List uses `style: "ordered"/"unordered"` NOT `ordered: true/false` — omitting style causes validation error.
4. ⚠️ Heading requires explicit `level` (1-4) — omitting it causes 'level' must be 1, 2, 3, or 4. Got: undefined.
5. ⚠️ Code element requires `fontFamily` — must provide a monospace TTF font family name (e.g., "JetBrains Mono", "Fira Code").
6. ⚠️ Callout uses `content` NOT `text` — wrong param causes 'content' is required and must be a non-empty string.
7. `validate_document` is a free preflight — runs instantly (0-1ms), catches all param errors before expensive PDF render. Always call it first.
8. First PDF render ~209ms (canvas init), subsequent 20-72