ocrtool-mcp

🇨🇳 中文文档

ocrtool-mcp is an open-source macOS-native OCR MCP server built with Swift and the Vision framework. It is designed for local stdio integrations in tools like Claude Desktop, Cursor, Continue, Windsurf, Cline, Cherry Studio, or custom agents using JSON-RPC over stdin.

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✨ Features

• ✅ Accurate OCR powered by macOS Vision Framework
• ✅ Recognizes both Chinese and English text
• ✅ Standard MCP lifecycle with initialize, tools/list, and tools/call
• ✅ Bundled ocr-workflow skill for agent platforms that prefer skills over raw MCP
• ✅ Returns line-wise OCR results with bounding boxes (in pixels)
• ✅ Multiple image input methods (local path, URL, Base64)
• ✅ Flexible output formats (plain text, Markdown table, JSON, code comments)
• ✅ Lightweight, fast, and fully offline
• ✅ Open source free software

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📦 Installation

Which One Should You Use?

For most users, the choice is simple:

• Use the bundled skill when your agent platform supports skills and you want a more guided, natural-language workflow.
• Use MCP when your agent platform supports MCP servers and you want ocrtool-mcp exposed as a standard tool.

In practical terms:

• Codex / Claude with skills support: install the skill first
• Claude Desktop / Cursor / Continue / Windsurf / Cline / Cherry Studio: connect the MCP server
• Not sure: start with the skill if your platform has a skills directory; otherwise use MCP

Method 1: Using Homebrew (Easiest)

Homebrew availability follows the release pipeline: install or upgrade with Homebrew after the GitHub Actions release workflow finishes and syncs Formula/ocrtool-mcp.rb.

brew tap ihugang/ocrtool
brew install ocrtool-mcp

Ready to use after installation:

ocrtool-mcp --help

Method 2: Download Pre-built Binary

Download the pre-compiled Universal Binary that supports all Macs (Intel and Apple Silicon):

VERSION=""
curl -L -O "https://github.com/ihugang/ocrtool-mcp/releases/download/v${VERSION}/ocrtool-mcp-v${VERSION}-universal-macos.tar.gz"

# Extract
tar -xzf "ocrtool-mcp-v${VERSION}-universal-macos.tar.gz"

# Make executable
chmod +x "ocrtool-mcp-v${VERSION}-universal"

# Move to system path (recommended)
sudo mv "ocrtool-mcp-v${VERSION}-universal" /usr/local/bin/ocrtool-mcp

# Verify installation
ocrtool-mcp --help

Alternatively, you can download directly from the GitHub Releases page.

Method 3: Build from Source

If you prefer to build from source or contribute to development:

git clone https://github.com/ihugang/ocrtool-mcp.git
cd ocrtool-mcp