GroupDocs Redaction

MCP server that exposes GroupDocs.Redaction as AI-callable tools for Claude, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and other MCP agents.

NuGet NuGet downloads Docker pulls MCP Registry Integration tests License: MIT

Installation

Install in VS Code Install in VS Code Insiders Add to Cursor Codex CLI setup Windsurf setup

One-click installs pre-fill every supported setting: edit the placeholder documents folder after install (output defaults to the same folder); an empty GROUPDOCS_LICENSE_PATH runs in evaluation mode - point it at your license to lift limits.

More clients - ready-made configs for Claude Code, Codex CLI, Visual Studio 2022, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, and JetBrains Rider live in install/generated/.

Requires .NET 10 SDK.

Run directly with dnx (recommended — no install step):

dnx GroupDocs.Redaction.Mcp --yes

Pulls the latest stable release on every invocation. To pin to a specific version (recommended for shared configs and CI), append @<version>:

dnx [email protected] --yes

Or install as a global dotnet tool:

dotnet tool install -g GroupDocs.Redaction.Mcp
groupdocs-redaction-mcp

Or run via Docker:

docker run --rm -i \
  -v $(pwd)/documents:/data \
  ghcr.io/groupdocs-redaction/redaction-net-mcp:latest

Native prerequisites

The underlying GroupDocs engine uses System.Drawing (GDI+) for image-area redaction (drawing solid-color boxes over page regions). When you run the server natively (via dnx or the global dotnet tool) on Linux or macOS, install the native libgdiplus library first:

Platform	Setup
Windows	Nothing — GDI+ is built into the OS.
Linux	sudo apt-get install -y libgdiplus libfontconfig1
macOS	brew install mono-libgdiplus
Docker	Nothing — the image already bundles libgdiplus.

Skipping this on Linux/macOS surfaces as DllNotFoundException: libgdiplus in the tool response. The simplest zero-setup option on Linux/macOS is the Docker image.

Available MCP Tools

Tool	Description
RedactText	Redact text matching a regex pattern in a document; saves result as <name>_redacted.<ext>
EraseMetadata	Erase document metadata fields (author, title, company, dates, and other properties)
RedactAnnotations	Replace or delete annotations and comments in a document
RedactImageArea	Cover a rectangular page region with a solid-color box (pixel coordinates)
GetDocumentInfo	Return file type, page count, size, and per-page dimensions as JSON (no modification)

Example prompts

• "Redact all occurrences of 'John Smith' in contract.docx"
• "Remove all metadata from report.pdf before sharing it externally"
• "Delete all comments and annotations from review.docx"
• "Cover the signature area on page 1 of agreement.pdf with a black box from (100,200) to (400,300)"
• "How many pages does confidential.pdf have?"

Licensing

The MCP server itself is MIT; the underlying GroupDocs.Redaction engine requires a license for production use. Without one the server runs in evaluation mode:

• Saved output is watermarked.
• A single server process can open at most 1 document in evaluation mode - each redaction needs a fresh server process.

To lift the limits, point GROUPDOCS_LICENSE_PATH at your GroupDocs.Total.lic:

• Get a free 30-day temporary license
• Purchase a license | Product page

Configuration

Variable	Description	Default
GROUPDOCS_MCP_STORAGE_PATH	Base folder for input and output files	current directory
GROUPDOCS_MCP_OUTPUT_PATH	(Optional) separate folder for output files	GROUPDOCS_MCP_STORAGE_PATH
GROUPDOCS_LICENSE_PATH	Path to GroupDocs license file	(evaluation mode)

Usage with Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "groupdocs-redaction": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "dnx",
      "args": ["GroupDocs.Redaction.Mcp", "--yes"],
      "env": {
        "GROUPDOCS_MCP_STORAGE_PATH": "/path/to/documents"
      }
    }
  }
}

To pin to a specific version, replace "GroupDocs.Redaction.Mcp" with "[email protected]" in args. Pinning is recommended for shared / committed configs to avoid surprise upgrades.

Usage with VS Code / GitHub Copilot

NuGet.org generates a ready-to-use mcp.json snippet on the package page. Copy it directly into your .vscode/mcp.json.

Alternatively, add manually to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "storage_path",
      "description": "Base folder for input and output files.",
      "password": false
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "groupdocs-redaction": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "dnx",
      "args": ["GroupDocs.Redaction.Mcp", "--yes"],
      "env": {
        "GROUPDOCS_MCP_STORAGE_PATH": "${input:storage_path}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Same pinning rule as above — swap "GroupDocs.Redaction.Mcp" for "[email protected]" to lock to a specific release.

Usage with Docker Compose

cd docker
docker compose up

Edit docker/docker-compose.yml to point volumes at your local documents folder.

Documentation & guides

Step-by-step deployment guides and a published-package integration test suite live in the companion repo GroupDocs.Redaction.Mcp.Tests:

• Install from NuGet — dnx, global tool, pinned vs always-latest
• Run via Docker
• Verify on the MCP registry
• Use with Claude Desktop
• Use with VS Code / GitHub Copilot
• Run the integration tests
• Use with Cursor

That repo also exercises every advertised tool against the published NuGet artifact on Linux, macOS, and Windows in CI — so the snippets above are verified end-to-end on every release.

License

MIT — see LICENSE