PDF Editor

READ AND EDIT PDFS

Change a PDF without it looking changed.

Replace text in the document's own font and position, fill forms, stamp watermarks, and read scans - then get the file back. Nothing to authorize.

PDF Editor is a Quilr-built MCP that reads, searches and edits PDF documents, including scanned ones, and hands back a finished file. There is no OAuth app, client ID, client secret or API key: PDF Editor is enabled, not connected.

Tools

The MCP provides 20 tools. The original upload is never modified in place. Every edit applies to a working copy, so a bad edit is reverted rather than re-uploaded.

Capability	Examples	Access
Document intake	Browser upload with a short claim code; direct fetch when the client supplies a file reference	Write
Structure inspection	Compact page manifest: dimensions, style catalog, text blocks, and a flag for pages that need OCR	Read only
Text search	Case-insensitive search across a page range, returning block IDs for editing	Read only
Page rendering	Full-page or single-region PNG renders for visual checks	Read only
OCR	Per-word text, bounding boxes and confidence scores, plus a page mean and a list of low-confidence words	Read only
Text editing	Batched replace and delete, redrawn on the original baseline at the original size, colour and embedded font	Write
Text insertion	New text at a position, with size, colour, bold, italic, monospaced and multi-line support	Write
Metadata	Read and change title, author, subject, keywords, creator and producer; clear a field to strip it	Write
Watermarks and stamps	Text or an uploaded image across chosen pages, with position, opacity, rotation and scale; behind the content as a watermark or on top as a stamp	Write
Form filling	List and fill real AcroForm fields, which stay fillable	Write
Image extraction	Per-page image inventory with format, dimensions, size and placement	Read only
Undo and export	Revert unexported edits, or export the finished PDF as a download	Write

PDF Editor makes no LLM calls and contacts no third-party service. Its only outbound request is downloading an attached file from an allowlisted host when the client supplies one.

Getting a document in

MCP has no way for a client to pass file bytes to a remote server, and passing a PDF as base64 text through the model corrupts it. PDF Editor uses an upload page instead:

Ask

The agent returns an upload link

Upload

You drop the PDF in your browser

Bytes go straight to the server

Claim

You paste the short code back

The agent receives a document ID

Work

Inspect, search, OCR, edit

Export the finished PDF

QuilrAI

The claim code works once and expires after 30 minutes. The upload page also accepts PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP and WebP images as stamp assets. Some clients can pass a chat attachment as a file reference and skip the upload page; ChatGPT custom connectors currently cannot.

Limits and handling

Limit	Default
File size	25 MB
Page count	200
OCR pages per call	10
Edits per call	50
Document retention	24 hours
Claim code lifetime	30 minutes

• Active content is removed on upload. Each PDF is rebuilt from its pages, dropping embedded JavaScript, auto-run, launch and remote actions, and embedded files. Hyperlinks and annotations are dropped too; form fields are kept. What was removed is reported back.
• Documents are reachable only by ID. IDs are unguessable, documents cannot be listed, and one conversation cannot reach another's file.
• Documents expire after 24 hours, including edits and exports.
• Encrypted or password-protected PDFs are not supported.

Setup

There is nothing to prepare: no account, no API key and no OAuth consent.

1. Go to Settings > AI Gateway > MCP Gateway, click Library and find PDF Editor.
2. Click Install. There is no credential prompt.
3. Make sure the tools are enabled in Tool visibility.

If PDF Editor is not in your Library, contact Quilr.

Verify

Using PDF Editor, I want to edit a PDF.

The agent should return an upload link. Upload a PDF, paste the code back, then ask:

Find the total on page 1, correct it, and give me the finished PDF.

The export should come back as a downloadable file, not a description of one.

Use it effectively

• Let the agent inspect the document before editing. The manifest is compact and reports which pages need OCR.
• Collect every change into one edit request. Editing a page invalidates its block IDs.
• Keep the document ID for the whole task; losing it means uploading again.
• Check OCR confidence before trusting a scanned figure. Words scoring under 60 are reported separately.
• Say when a replacement should be centred. PDFs do not record alignment.
• Ask to "revert my edits" rather than re-uploading.

Troubleshooting

Error	Likely cause	Fix
The agent asks for an upload link every time	The client cannot pass chat attachments to MCP tools	Expected on ChatGPT custom connectors; use the upload page.
not found for document_id	Wrong ID, or the document expired	Upload again.
Claim code is not valid	Code already used, expired or mistyped	Upload again for a new code.
block_id not found	The page was edited, so block IDs changed	Search the page again; batch all edits into one call.
Replacement overlaps nearby text	The new text is wider than the old	Shorten it, or ask for it to be shrunk to fit.
Replaced text looks slightly different	The original font is not embedded	Expected; size, colour and position still match.
OCR returns little	Blank, low-resolution or unsupported-language page	Ask for a higher OCR resolution, or check which languages are available.
A stamp image is rejected	Not a supported raster image	Use PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP or WebP; SVG is not accepted.
exceeds the 25 MB limit or exceeds the 200 page limit	Document too large	Split the document.

Compared with built-in PDF reading

Provider-native

Use built-in PDF reading to answer questions

Your assistant can already read an attached PDF. Use that when the goal is understanding the document - summarizing it, answering questions about it, or pulling figures out of it.

• Nothing to enable; just attach the file
• Best for one-off reading and Q&A

Quilr-managed

Choose PDF Editor to change the document

Use PDF Editor when the output is a modified PDF rather than an answer: corrected text, a watermark, filled form fields, or stripped metadata.

• Returns an edited PDF, not a description
• Preserves the original font, size, and layout

Decision signalIf you want to know what a PDF says, attach it. If you want a changed PDF back, use PDF Editor.

Capability	Built-in PDF reading	PDF Editor
Summarize and answer questions about a document	✅	✅
Return a modified PDF file	-	✅
Replace or delete text in place, keeping font and layout	-	✅
Reuse the document's own embedded font for replacements	-	✅
Watermarks and image stamps across pages	-	✅
Fill real form fields, still fillable afterwards	-	✅
Read and edit document metadata	-	✅
OCR with per-word confidence scores	Varies	✅
Extract embedded images	-	✅
Strip embedded JavaScript and auto-run actions	-	✅ On upload
Undo edits without re-uploading	-	✅
Zero setup - nothing to self-host or authorize	✅	✅