file2markdown MCP server

Let Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client convert documents and web pages to Markdown mid-conversation — no tab switching. Paste one URL into your client and you're set.

Tools

• convert_url — fetch any public URL (web page, PDF, DOCX, and more) and get Markdown back. Web pages convert from served HTML; JavaScript-only content may be incomplete.
• convert_base64 — convert file contents directly, for programmatic clients.
• list_supported_formats — formats, limits, and what needs Pro.
• usage_status — your tier and remaining conversions today.

Why not just ask the model?

Because asking an LLM for “the markdown” of a document makes it retype the document — and models paraphrase, invent table cells, and silently truncate long files. This server runs real extraction engines instead:

• → Exact, not approximate. Engine-extracted text and tables, identical output every run — no hallucinated cells, no paraphrasing.
• → Files your model can't open. LLMs can fetch web pages, but not a DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, or EPUB behind a URL — and they can't OCR a scanned PDF at all.
• → Whole documents, cheap. A model transcribing 100 pages burns its context window and still won't finish. This returns clean Markdown up to 200k characters in one tool call.

For a short plain-text snippet, sure — just ask your model. The moment there's a table, a long document, a scan, or a file behind a URL, extraction beats regeneration.

Add to Claude

claude.ai: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → paste the endpoint URL. When asked about authentication, choose None — this server uses API keys, not OAuth. To use a Pro key, add a request header in the same dialog: name Authorization, value Bearer f2m_…. Without a key you get the free tier (5 conversions/day per network).

Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http file2markdown https://mcp.file2markdown.ai/mcp

Cursor / generic clients (JSON config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "file2markdown": {
      "url": "https://mcp.file2markdown.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Tiers

The free tier is limited per network IP, so shared networks (and hosted agents) may hit it sooner. A Pro key removes the limit: create one on your account page and send it as Authorization: Bearer f2m_…. Plans: pricing.

Prefer a browser?

The same converter runs at /tools/website-to-markdown for URLs, and on the main converter for file uploads.