Docling MCP: making docling agentic
A document processing service using the Docling-MCP library and MCP (Model Context Protocol) for tool integration.
Overview
Docling MCP is a service that provides tools for document conversion, processing and generation. It uses the Docling library to convert PDF documents into structured formats and provides a caching mechanism to improve performance. The service exposes functionality through a set of tools that can be called by client applications.
Compatibility
| docling-mcp | MCP Python SDK |
|---|
>=3.0.0 | mcp>=2.0.0 |
>=2.0.0,<3.0.0 | mcp>=1.9.4,<2.0.0 |
If your MCP client application has not yet migrated to MCP SDK v2, pin:
pip install "docling-mcp<3.0.0"
See MIGRATION.md for the full migration guide.
Installation Options
Remote Mode (Recommended - Lightweight)
For users with access to Docling Serve API:
Getting Docling Serve: Visit docling-serve for installation guides. You can deploy it from published container images or look for managed Docling SaaS offerings.
pip install docling-mcp
Then configure your environment:
export DOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_URL=https://your-docling-service.example.com
export DOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_API_KEY=your-api-key-here
export DOCLING_MCP_CONVERSION_MODE=remote
Local Mode (Full Features)
For users who need local conversion or don't have Docling Serve access:
pip install docling-mcp[local]
Then configure your environment:
export DOCLING_MCP_CONVERSION_MODE=local
Hybrid Mode (Best of Both)
Install with local support and enable automatic fallback:
pip install docling-mcp[local]
Configure for remote with fallback:
export DOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_URL=https://your-docling-service.example.com
export DOCLING_MCP_CONVERSION_MODE=remote
export DOCLING_MCP_FALLBACK_TO_LOCAL=true
Features
- Conversion tools:
- Generation tools:
- Document generation in DoclingDocument, which can be exported to multiple formats
- Local document caching for improved performance
- Support for local files and URLs as document sources
- Memory management for handling large documents
- Logging system for debugging and monitoring
- RAG applications with Milvus upload and retrieval
Configuration
All settings use the DOCLING_MCP_ prefix and can be supplied as environment
variables, in a .env file in the working directory, or via the env block of
your MCP client config. Copy .env.example as a starting point.
Conversion mode
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
DOCLING_MCP_CONVERSION_MODE | remote | remote or local |
Remote service (required when DOCLING_MCP_CONVERSION_MODE=remote)
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
DOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_URL | — | URL of the Docling Serve instance |
DOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_API_KEY | — | API key for the service |
DOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_TIMEOUT | 300.0 | Timeout in seconds for a whole conversion job |
DOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_MAX_RETRIES | 3 | Max retry attempts |
DOCLING_MCP_FALLBACK_TO_LOCAL | false | Fall back to local if service is unreachable (requires docling-mcp[local]) |
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
