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Summary
Paperless-ngx document management: full-text search over scanned documents, correspondents, document types, tags, storage paths and the OCR'd content of any document. REST API on your own instance, token auth.
Try asking
Example prompts for Paperless-ngx
Click any prompt to copy it. Paste into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Gemini, Copilot or OpenClaw to run it against this connector.
Claude is AI and can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.
💡 No install? Use cloud.anythingmcp.com directly. Sign in, click Connectors → Paperless-ngx, paste your credentials, mint an MCP API key — done. No Docker, no
git clone, no local server.
Paperless-ngx + ChatGPT
Paperless-ngx document management: full-text search over scanned documents, correspondents, document types, tags, storage paths and the OCR'd content of any document. REST API on your own instance, token auth.
Prerequisites
See the full setup instructions baked into the connector (visible in the in-app store when you select the connector). The required environment variables for this connector are:
PAPERLESS_URL, PAPERLESS_API_TOKEN
Step 1 — Get credentials
Getting a token
- Sign in to Paperless-ngx, open the user menu → My Profile, and copy the API Auth Token (create one if the field is empty).
- Put it in
PAPERLESS_API_TOKENand your instance's base URL inPAPERLESS_URL— no trailing slash and no/api, e.g.https://paperless.example.com.
The Authorization header is Token …, Django REST Framework's scheme — not Bearer. The adapter sends it correctly.
…(continued in the in-app connector instructions)
Step 2 — Install the adapter
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HelpCode-ai/anythingmcp/main/docker-compose.quickstart.yml -o docker-compose.yml
printf 'JWT_SECRET=%s\nENCRYPTION_KEY=%s\n' "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" > .env
docker compose up -d
Step 3 — Add the connector in ChatGPT
ChatGPT supports MCP servers via the Connectors feature (Plus / Pro / Team / Enterprise plans). The free tier does not support custom connectors.
- Open ChatGPT → Settings → Connectors (or click the 🔧 icon in the composer → Manage connectors).
- Click "Add custom connector".
- Fill in:
- Name:
Paperless-ngx - MCP server URL:
https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp - Authentication: Bearer token → paste your MCP API key (from AnythingMCP → Profile → MCP API Keys → New Key)
- Name:
- Click Connect to authorize.
Available tools
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
paperless_ngx_search_documents | Full-text search across the OCR'd content of every document |
paperless_ngx_list_documents | List documents filtered by correspondent, document type, tag or creation date — the structured alternative to full-text search when you alre |
paperless_ngx_get_document | Read one document's metadata: title, correspondent, type, tags, created and added dates, archive serial number and the full OCR'd content |
paperless_ngx_get_document_metadata | Read the technical metadata of one document: original filename, media type, checksum, page count and any embedded PDF metadata |
paperless_ngx_list_correspondents | List correspondents — the senders documents are filed under — with their document count and matching rules |
paperless_ngx_list_document_types | List the document types configured in the instance (invoice, contract, payslip …) with their document counts |
paperless_ngx_list_tags | List tags with their colour, inbox flag and document count |
paperless_ngx_list_storage_paths | List the storage paths documents are filed into, with their path template and document count |
paperless_ngx_get_statistics | Read instance-wide statistics: total documents, documents in the inbox, character count and the breakdown by file type |
FAQ
Does ChatGPT free tier work with custom MCP connectors? No — Plus, Pro, Team or Enterprise required.
Next steps
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