PaperlessMCP/CLAUDE.md

CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.

Build & Test Commands

dotnet build                # Build the solution
dotnet test                 # Run all tests
dotnet test --filter "FullyQualifiedName~DocumentToolsTests"  # Run specific test class
dotnet test --logger "console;verbosity=detailed"             # Verbose test output

Running locally:

# Set required environment variables
export PAPERLESS_BASE_URL=https://your-instance.com
export PAPERLESS_API_TOKEN=your-token

# stdio mode (for Claude Desktop)
dotnet run --project PaperlessMCP -- --stdio

# HTTP mode (runs at http://localhost:5000/mcp)
dotnet run --project PaperlessMCP

Architecture

PaperlessMCP is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that bridges Paperless-ngx with AI assistants. It supports dual transport modes: stdio for Claude Desktop integration and HTTP for remote usage.

Key Components

• Program.cs - Entry point with dual transport setup (stdio vs HTTP). Configures DI, HttpClient with Polly retry policies, and MCP server registration.

• Client/PaperlessClient.cs - Central API client for all Paperless-ngx operations. Uses snake_case JSON serialization to match API conventions.

• Client/PaperlessAuthHandler.cs - DelegatingHandler that injects API token authentication.

• Tools/ - MCP tool implementations, one file per entity type:

  • DocumentTools.cs - Search, CRUD, bulk operations, upload (base64 and file path)
  • TagTools.cs, CorrespondentTools.cs, DocumentTypeTools.cs, StoragePathTools.cs - Entity management with matching algorithms
  • CustomFieldTools.cs - Custom field definitions and assignments
  • HealthTools.cs - Ping and capabilities

• Models/ - Request/response DTOs organized by entity (Documents/, Tags/, etc.). Uses PaginatedResponse<T> for list endpoints.

Configuration

Environment variables (take precedence over appsettings.json):

• PAPERLESS_BASE_URL / PAPERLESS_URL - Paperless-ngx instance URL
• PAPERLESS_API_TOKEN / PAPERLESS_TOKEN - API authentication token
• MAX_PAGE_SIZE - Max items per page (default: 100)
• MCP_PORT - HTTP server port (default: 5000)

Testing

Tests use xUnit with FluentAssertions for assertions, NSubstitute for mocking, and RichardSzalay.MockHttp for HTTP mocking. Test files mirror the main project structure under PaperlessMCP.Tests/.

Conventions

• Use Conventional Commits - version bumps are automatic based on commit type (fix: = patch, feat: = minor, feat!: = major)
• Trunk-based development: feature branches merge directly to main
• All destructive operations (delete, bulk operations) require explicit confirm=true and default to dry-run mode