MCP server

quirepdf-mcp is a Model Context Protocol server that lets an AI agent turn JSON into PDF files on your machine. It runs locally over stdio and calls the Quire API with your key.

Add it to Claude Code

claude mcp add quire --env QUIRE_API_KEY=qk_live_... -- npx -y quirepdf-mcp

Files are saved to the directory Claude Code is running in. Run /mcp inside Claude Code to check that quire is connected.

Add it to Claude Desktop

Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config, or edit the file directly:

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "quire": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "quirepdf-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "QUIRE_API_KEY": "qk_live_...",
        "QUIRE_OUTPUT_DIR": "/Users/you/Documents/Quire"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving. Set QUIRE_OUTPUT_DIR to an absolute path you can find; the server creates the folder if needed. Cursor and other MCP clients use the same mcpServers block.

You need Node.js 18 or later for npx. Get a key with npx quirepdf-cli login [email protected].

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Meaning
`QUIRE_API_KEY`	yes	Your API key
`QUIRE_OUTPUT_DIR`	no	Where rendered files are saved. Default: the server’s working directory.
`QUIRE_API_URL`	no	API base URL. Default `https://api.quirepdf.dev`.

Tools

Tool	Input	What it does
`render_document`	`data` (object), `template?`, `format?` (`pdf` or `png`), `page?`, `output_path?`	Renders and saves the file. Returns the path, template, how it was chosen, page count and size. For PNG it also returns the image, so the agent can look at the page.
`validate_document`	`data`, `template?`	Checks data without rendering and reports which template it resolves to. Free.
`list_templates`	none	The seven built-in layouts with a description of each
`get_template`	`name`	A template’s JSON Schema and a complete sample, so the agent learns the fields
`get_usage`	none	Plan and renders used this month

The server also tells the agent how Quire works: no template is needed, title/from/to shape the generic header, and currency turns on money formatting.

Where files go

Without output_path, render_document saves <template>-<timestamp>.pdf (or -p<page>.png) in QUIRE_OUTPUT_DIR. A relative output_path is resolved against QUIRE_OUTPUT_DIR; an absolute one is used as is. If the path has no extension, .pdf or .png is added.

A typical result:

{
  "saved_to": "/Users/you/Documents/Quire/invoice-2026-10-03T11-55-01.pdf",
  "template": "invoice",
  "template_source": "explicit",
  "pages": 1,
  "size_kb": 27,
  "render_ms": 6.1,
  "quota_remaining": 96
}

Errors

Failures come back as tool errors the agent can read and act on:

invalid_data: data has 2 problems
- seller is required
- items[0].qty must be a number
Tip: call get_template to see the expected fields, or omit `template` to use the generic layout.

Missing keys and exhausted quotas get a similar one-line explanation of what to do.

Example prompts

“Make me a PDF invoice for 3 hours of consulting at $150 an hour for Acme Corp. I’m Northwind Studio, 221 Market Street, San Francisco.”
“Turn results.json into a report PDF with the title ‘Load test, October’.”
“Render a certificate of completion for Maya Chen for the Advanced TypeScript course, signed by me as course lead.”
“Preview page 2 of that invoice as an image and check that the totals look right.”
“How many renders do I have left this month?”

For a named document type, the agent usually calls get_template first, fills in the fields, then calls render_document with that template. For anything else it renders your data with the generic layout. The MCP guide walks through a full conversation.

Privacy

The server sends only the data the agent passes to a tool. Quire renders it in memory and doesn’t store documents; see Accounts and billing.

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