Paperless-NGX MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for interacting with a Paperless-NGX API server. This server provides tools for managing documents, tags, correspondents, and document types in your Paperless-NGX instance.

Quick Start

Installation

1. Install the MCP server:

npm install -g paperless-mcp

2. Add it to your Claude's MCP configuration:

For VSCode extension, edit ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json:

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

For Claude desktop app, edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

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

3. Get your API token:

   1. Log into your Paperless-NGX instance
   2. Click your username in the top right
   3. Select "My Profile"
   4. Click the circular arrow button to generate a new token

4. Replace the placeholders in your MCP config:

   • http://your-paperless-instance:8000 with your Paperless-NGX URL
   • your-api-token with the token you just generated

That's it! Now you can ask Claude to help you manage your Paperless-NGX documents.

Example Usage

Here are some things you can ask Claude to do:

• "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

list_documents

Get a paginated list of all documents.

Parameters:

• page (optional): Page number
• page_size (optional): Number of documents per page

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

get_document

Get a specific document by ID.

Parameters:

• id: Document ID

get_document({
  id: 123
})

search_documents

Full-text search across documents.

Parameters:

• query: Search query string

search_documents({
  query: "invoice 2024"
})

download_document

Download a document file by ID.

Parameters:

• id: Document ID
• original (optional): If true, downloads original file instead of archived version

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

bulk_edit_documents

Perform bulk operations on multiple documents.

Parameters:

• documents: Array of document IDs
• method: One of:
  • set_correspondent: Set correspondent for documents
  • set_document_type: Set document type for documents
  • set_storage_path: Set storage path for documents
  • add_tag: Add a tag to documents
  • remove_tag: Remove a tag from documents
  • modify_tags: Add and/or remove multiple tags
  • delete: Delete documents
  • reprocess: Reprocess documents
  • set_permissions: Set document permissions
  • merge: Merge multiple documents
  • split: Split a document into multiple documents
  • rotate: Rotate document pages
  • delete_pages: Delete specific pages from a document
• Additional parameters based on method:
  • correspondent: ID for set_correspondent
  • document_type: ID for set_document_type
  • storage_path: ID for set_storage_path
  • tag: ID for add_tag/remove_tag
  • add_tags: Array of tag IDs for modify_tags
  • remove_tags: Array of tag IDs for modify_tags
  • permissions: Object for set_permissions with owner, permissions, merge flag
  • metadata_document_id: ID for merge to specify metadata source
  • delete_originals: Boolean for merge/split
  • pages: String for split "[1,2-3,4,5-7]" or delete_pages "[2,3,4]"
  • degrees: Number for rotate (90, 180, or 270)

Examples:

// Add a tag to multiple documents
bulk_edit_documents({
  documents: [1

... [View full README on GitHub](https://github.com/nloui/paperless-mcp#readme)