📄 MarkItDown MCP Server

A powerful Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that converts 29+ file formats to clean, structured Markdown using Microsoft's MarkItDown library.

🔥 Perfect for Claude Desktop, MCP clients, and AI workflows!

✨ Features

🔌 MCP Protocol: Seamless integration with Claude Desktop and MCP clients
📁 29+ File Formats: PDFs, Office docs, images, audio, archives, and more
🔍 Image Metadata: Extract EXIF metadata from images (JPG, PNG, GIF, etc.)
🎵 Speech Recognition: Convert audio to text with speech transcription (MP3, WAV)*

*Requires markitdown[all] installation for full functionality

📦 Dependency Requirements by File Type

| File Type | Required Dependencies | Install Command | |-----------|----------------------|-----------------| | PDF | pypdf, pymupdf, pdfplumber | pipx inject markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]' | | Excel (.xlsx, .xls) | openpyxl, xlrd, pandas | pipx inject markitdown-mcp openpyxl xlrd pandas | | PowerPoint (.pptx) | python-pptx | Included in base install | | Images | PIL, exiftool (optional) | Included in base install | | Audio | pydub, speech_recognition | pipx inject markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]' | | Basic formats | None | Base install only |

Note: For the best experience, we recommend installing all dependencies using the Complete Install method below.

📊 Office Documents: Word, PowerPoint, Excel files
🌐 Web Content: HTML, XML, JSON, CSV
📚 E-books & Archives: EPUB, ZIP files
⚡ Fast & Reliable: Built on Microsoft's MarkItDown library

🚀 Quick Start for Claude Desktop

Install the server with ALL features:

# One command to install everything
pipx install git+https://github.com/trsdn/markitdown-mcp.git && \
pipx inject markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]' openpyxl xlrd pandas pymupdf pdfplumber

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "markitdown": {
      "command": "markitdown-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop and start converting files!

Features

Convert multiple file formats to Markdown
Batch processing of entire directories
Preserves directory structure in output
Environment variable support via .env file

📋 Available MCP Tools

🔧 `convert_file`

Convert a single file to Markdown.

{
  "name": "convert_file",
  "arguments": {
    "file_path": "/path/to/document.pdf"
  }
}

📋 `list_supported_formats`

Get a complete list of supported file formats.

{
  "name": "list_supported_formats",
  "arguments": {}
}

📁 `convert_directory`

Convert all supported files in a directory.

{
  "name": "convert_directory", 
  "arguments": {
    "input_directory": "/path/to/files",
    "output_directory": "/path/to/markdown" 
  }
}

📄 Supported File Formats (29+)

| Category | Extensions | Features | |----------|------------|----------| | 📊 Office | .pdf, .docx, .pptx, .xlsx, .xls | Full document structure | | 🖼️ Images | .jpg, .png, .gif, .bmp, .tiff, .webp | EXIF metadata extraction | | 🎵 Audio | .mp3, .wav | Speech-to-text transcription | | 🌐 Web | .html, .htm, .xml, .json, .csv | Clean formatting | | 📚 Books | .epub | Chapter extraction | | 📦 Archives | .zip | Auto-extract and process | | 📝 Text | .txt, .md, .rst | Direct conversion |

Installation

Option 1: Pip Install (Recommended)

# Install from local directory
pip install -e /Users/torstenmahr/GitHub/markitdown-mcp

# Or navigate to the directory first
cd /Users/torstenmahr/GitHub/markitdown-mcp
pip install -e .

Option 2: Direct Usage

cd /Users/torstenmahr/GitHub/markitdown-mcp
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Quick Start

MCP Server Mode (Recommended)

After pip installation:

# Start the MCP server (for use with MCP clients)
markitdown-mcp

Or using the development script:

python run_server.py

🛠️ Installation Options

🚀 One-Command Install (Recommended)

Install with ALL dependencies in one command:

# Using pipx (recommended)
pipx install git+https://github.com/trsdn/markitdown-mcp.git && \
pipx inject markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]' openpyxl xlrd pandas pymupdf pdfplumber pytesseract pydub speechrecognition

# Or download and run the install script
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/trsdn/markitdown-mcp/main/install-all-deps.sh | bash

Quick Install (Basic Features Only)

pip install -e git+https://github.com/trsdn/markitdown-mcp.git

Complete Install with All Dependencies (Step by Step)

To ensure all file formats are supported, use one of these methods:

Method 1: Using pipx (Recommended)

# Install the MCP server
pipx install git+https://github.com/trsdn/markitdown-mcp.git

# Install all required dependencies for full functionality
pipx inject markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]'         # PDF, OCR, Speech
pipx inject markitdown-mcp openpyxl xlrd pandas      # Excel support
pipx inject markitdown-mcp pymupdf pdfplumber        # Advanced PDF

Method 2: Using pip with virtual environment

# Create and activate virtual environment
python -m venv markitdown-env
source markitdown-env/bin/activate  # On Windows: markitdown-env\Scripts\activate

# Install with all dependencies in one command
git clone https://github.com/trsdn/markitdown-mcp.git
cd markitdown-mcp
pip install -e ".[all]"  # This installs everything!

Method 3: For Claude Desktop with existing installation

If you already have the MCP server installed but some formats aren't working:

# Find your installation
which markitdown-mcp  # Shows path like /Users/you/.local/bin/markitdown-mcp

# Inject missing dependencies
pipx inject markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]' openpyxl xlrd pandas pymupdf pdfplumber

Verify Installation

After installation, verify all dependencies are properly installed:

# Test the MCP server
markitdown-mcp --help

# For pipx installations, check injected packages
pipx list --include-injected

🔧 Claude Desktop Configuration

Add this to your Claude Desktop claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "markitdown": {
      "command": "markitdown-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Config file locations:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

💡 Usage Examples

Convert a PDF

Convert the file ~/Documents/report.pdf to markdown

Batch Process Directory

Convert all files in ~/Downloads/documents/ to markdown

Check Supported Formats

What file formats can you convert to markdown?

🔍 Troubleshooting

Missing Dependencies Errors

If you see errors like:

PdfConverter threw MissingDependencyException
XlsxConverter threw MissingDependencyException
PptxConverter threw BadZipFile

This means some optional dependencies are missing. Follow the Complete Install instructions above.

Unicode Errors with .md Files

Some Markdown files with special characters may fail with UnicodeDecodeError. This is a known limitation in the MarkItDown library.

Installation Issues

"externally-managed-environment" error: Use pipx instead of pip
Permission denied: Never use sudo with pip; use pipx or virtual environments
Command not found: Make sure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH

See KNOWN_ISSUES.md for more details.

Configuration

No special configuration required. The tool uses the MarkItDown library for document conversion.

Usage

Basic Usage

# Convert all supported files from input/ to output/
python mdconvert.py

Custom Directories

Specify custom input and output directories:

python mdconvert.py --input /path/to/docs --output /path/to/markdown

Single File Conversion

Convert a single file:

python mdconvert.py --file document.pdf

Command Line Options

--input, -i: Input directory (default: input)
--output, -o: Output directory (default: output)
--file, -f: Convert a single file instead of a directory

MCP Server Features

The MCP server provides three tools:

1. convert_file

Convert a single file to Markdown.

Input: File path or base64 encoded content with filename
Output: Converted Markdown content

2. list_supported_formats

List all supported file formats.

Output: Categorized list of supported file extensions

3. convert_directory