📄 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

1. 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

2. Add to your Claude Desktop config:

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

3. 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

Convert all supported files in a directory.

• Input: Input directory path, optional output directory
• Output: Summary of conversion results

Directory Structure

markitdown-mcp/
├── mcp_server.py        # MCP protocol server
├── mdconvert.py         # CLI script
├── run_server.py        # Server runner script
├── mcp_config.json      # MCP configuration
├── requirements.txt     # Python dependencies
├── README.md           # This file
├── input/              # Default input directory
├── output/             # Default output directory
└── venv/               # Virtual environment

🔍 How It Works

This MCP server leverages Microsoft's MarkItDown library to provide intelligent document conversion:

• 📄 PDFs: Extracts text, tables, and structure
• 🖼️ Images: Uses OCR to extract text content + EXIF metadata
• 🎵 Audio: Converts speech to text transcription (MP3, WAV)
• 📊 Office: Preserves formatting from Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• 🌐 HTML: Converts to clean, readable Markdown
• 📦 Archives: Automatically extracts and processes contents

🏷️ Tags

mcp model-context-protocol claude-desktop markdown document-conversion pdf ocr speech-to-text markitdown ai-tools

📋 Requirements

• Python: 3.10+
• MCP Client: Claude Desktop or compatible MCP client
• Dependencies: Automatically installed via pip

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how you can help:

🚀 Quick Start for Contributors

# Fork and clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/markitdown-mcp.git
cd markitdown-mcp

# Set up development environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Test your changes
markitdown-mcp  # Test the server works

📝 Ways to Contribute

• 🐛 Bug Reports: Found an issue? Report it
• 💡 Feature Requests: Have an idea? Suggest it
• 📄 New File Formats: Add support for more file types
• 📚 Documentation: Improve guides and examples
• 🧪 Testing: Add tests and improve reliability
• 🎨 Code Quality: Refactor and optimize

📋 Contribution Process

1. Read our Contributing Guide
2. Check existing issues
3. Fork the repository
4. Create a feature branch (feat/amazing-feature)
5. Make your changes with tests
6. Submit a pull request

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🔗 Related

• Model Context Protocol
• Claude Desktop
• Microsoft MarkItDown