Paperless-NGX MCP server for AI agents

Paperless-NGX MCP Server provides a bridge between Claude AI and your Paperless-NGX document management system. This server allows Claude to help you manage documents, tags, correspondents, and document types through natural language requests.

Installation

To install and configure the Paperless-NGX MCP server:

Install the MCP server using npm:

npm install -g paperless-mcp

Add it to your Claude's MCP configuration:

For VSCode extension, edit the Claude Dev settings file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "paperless": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["paperless-mcp", "http://your-paperless-instance:8000", "your-api-token"]
    }
  }
}

For Claude desktop app, edit the configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "paperless": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["paperless-mcp", "http://your-paperless-instance:8000", "your-api-token"]
    }
  }
}

Get your API token:
- Log into your Paperless-NGX instance
- Click your username in the top right
- Select "My Profile"
- Click the circular arrow button to generate a new token
Replace the placeholders in your MCP config:
- http://your-paperless-instance:8000 with your actual Paperless-NGX URL
- your-api-token with the token you generated

Using with Claude

After installation, you can ask Claude to help manage your Paperless-NGX documents. Here are some example requests:

"Show me all documents tagged as 'Invoice'"
"Search for documents containing 'tax return'"
"Create a new tag called 'Receipts' with color #FF0000"
"Download document #123"
"List all correspondents"
"Create a new document type called 'Bank Statement'"

Available Tools

Document Operations

Listing and Retrieving Documents

To get a paginated list of all documents:

list_documents({
  page: 1,
  page_size: 25
})

To get a specific document by ID:

get_document({
  id: 123
})

Searching Documents

To search across documents:

search_documents({
  query: "invoice 2024"
})

Downloading Documents

To download a document file:

download_document({
  id: 123,
  original: false
})

Bulk Editing Documents

To perform operations on multiple documents:

// Add a tag to multiple documents
bulk_edit_documents({
  documents: [1, 2, 3],
  method: "add_tag",
  tag: 5
})

// Set correspondent and document type
bulk_edit_documents({
  documents: [4, 5],
  method: "set_correspondent",
  correspondent: 2
})

// Merge documents
bulk_edit_documents({
  documents: [6, 7, 8],
  method: "merge",
  metadata_document_id: 6,
  delete_originals: true
})

// Split document into parts
bulk_edit_documents({
  documents: [9],
  method: "split",
  pages: "[1-2,3-4,5]"
})

// Modify multiple tags at once
bulk_edit_documents({
  documents: [10, 11],
  method: "modify_tags",
  add_tags: [1, 2],
  remove_tags: [3, 4]
})

Uploading Documents

To upload a new document:

post_document({
  file: "base64_encoded_content",
  filename: "invoice.pdf",
  title: "January Invoice",
  created: "2024-01-19",
  correspondent: 1,
  document_type: 2,
  tags: [1, 3],
  archive_serial_number: "2024-001"
})

Tag Operations

Listing Tags

To get all tags:

list_tags()

Creating Tags

To create a new tag:

create_tag({
  name: "Invoice",
  color: "#ff0000",
  match: "invoice",
  matching_algorithm: "fuzzy"
})

Correspondent Operations

Listing Correspondents

To get all correspondents:

list_correspondents()

Creating Correspondents

To create a new correspondent:

create_correspondent({
  name: "ACME Corp",
  match: "ACME",
  matching_algorithm: "fuzzy"
})

Document Type Operations

Listing Document Types

To get all document types:

list_document_types()

Creating Document Types

To create a new document type:

create_document_type({
  name: "Invoice",
  match: "invoice total amount due",
  matching_algorithm: "any"
})

Error Handling

The server will display clear error messages if:

The Paperless-NGX URL or API token is incorrect
The Paperless-NGX server is unreachable
The requested operation fails
The provided parameters are invalid

Running the MCP Server

The MCP server can be run in two modes:

Standard Mode (stdio)

This is the default mode suitable for CLI and direct integrations:

npm run start -- <baseUrl> <token>

HTTP Mode

To run the server as an HTTP service:

npm run start -- <baseUrl> <token> --http --port 3000

The MCP API will be available at POST /mcp on the specified port (default: 3000).

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "paperless" '{"command":"npx","args":["paperless-mcp","http://your-paperless-instance:8000","your-api-token"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "paperless": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "paperless-mcp",
                "http://your-paperless-instance:8000",
                "your-api-token"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

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

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "paperless": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "paperless-mcp",
                "http://your-paperless-instance:8000",
                "your-api-token"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect