PDF4me MCP Server Works Across Five AI Clients But Needs Three Different Config Formats

PDF4me's MCP server can be integrated into five AI coding clients — Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop, Windsurf, and Continue — using a single command, uvx pdf4me-mcp, as documented in the official getting started guide on 16 August 2026. Despite sharing the same server command, the five clients require three structurally different JSON configuration schemas, a discrepancy rooted in the clients themselves rather than PDF4me. Cursor, Claude Desktop, and Windsurf use an mcpServers object keyed by server name, VS Code uses a servers object that also requires an explicit stdio transport type, and Continue uses mcpServers as an array with the server name declared inside each entry. The API key must be passed as API_KEY inside an env block — not Base64-encoded as required for direct REST calls — since the MCP server handles request signing internally. Windows users whose uvx binary is not on the system PATH must supply the full executable path in the config to prevent silent connection failures.