How to add a custom okraPDF connector in Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop can talk to outside tools through custom connectors — remote MCP servers it connects to directly. okraPDF runs one, so you can hand Claude a PDF (or a lawfully-reachable PDF URL — a public filing, an open paper, or a doc you have the rights to) and have it read the real structure, pull tables, and cite values back to the exact spot on the page — all inside the chat.

This takes about a minute. No API key. Free with an account.

What you’ll need

• Claude Desktop (the connector UI is in Settings → Connectors).
• An okraPDF login. You don’t create one ahead of time — the connect flow signs you in.

That’s it. You do not need an API key for this. (API keys are a separate thing, for calling okraPDF’s REST API from your own code. Connectors use a browser sign-in instead.)

Step 1 — Open the connector dialog

In Claude Desktop, go to Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. You’ll see a dialog like this:

Fill in two fields:

• Name — anything you like. okraPDF is a good label.
• Remote MCP server URL — paste exactly:

https://api.okrapdf.com/mcp

Leave Advanced settings alone. The OAuth Client ID and Secret are optional, and you should leave them blank — okraPDF’s server advertises its own sign-in, so Claude wires up authentication for you. (More on that below if you’re curious.)

Click Add.

Step 2 — Sign in

The first time Claude uses the connector, it opens a browser window to sign you in to okraPDF. Approve it, and you’re connected. This is a normal OAuth login — Claude never sees a password or a key, and you can revoke access anytime from your okraPDF account.

Step 3 — Use it

Once it’s connected, okraPDF’s tools show up in Claude and it can call them on its own.

Try asking:

• “Read this PDF and pull the revenue table.” (attach a PDF)
• “Open the latest 10-K from NVDA and find gross margin.” (Claude resolves the URL itself)
• “Show me where that number is on the page.” (you get a citation back to the exact region)

Under the hood you’ve given Claude these tools: resolve_pdf_url (point at a lawfully-reachable PDF — public filings, open papers, or a doc you have the rights to), upload_document, view_document (page images with highlighted regions), inspect_html, execute_code (run code over the parsed data), verify_block, and interact.

Why the OAuth fields are blank (for the curious)

You skipped the OAuth Client ID and Secret because okraPDF’s server publishes standard OAuth discovery documents at /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource and /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server. When Claude first hits the server, it reads those, then registers itself automatically (Dynamic Client Registration) and runs the sign-in. That’s the MCP Apps / authorization spec doing the work — you just paste a URL.

Troubleshooting

• The sign-in window never finishes. Close it and click the connector again — a cold start can time out the first attempt. If it persists, make sure you’re online and not behind a proxy that blocks api.okrapdf.com.

• “Should I paste my API key?” No. Connectors use the browser sign-in. API keys are only for calling the REST API from your own code.

• Using an older client that only supports local (stdio) servers? Bridge it with mcp-remote in claude_desktop_config.json:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "okrapdf": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://api.okrapdf.com/mcp"]
      }
    }
  }

The same connector works elsewhere

That same URL — https://api.okrapdf.com/mcp — works in any host that supports remote MCP connectors, including ChatGPT and Cursor. Add it once per app; the sign-in is the same.