PDF Scanning

PDF Document Scanning

The scan_pdf_document MCP tool scans PDF files by parsing their binary structure. It checks against three rule layers aligned with the PDF/UA standard (ISO 14289) and the Matterhorn Protocol.

Rule Layers

Layer	Rules	Purpose
PDFUA.*	30 rules	PDF/UA conformance - tagged structure, metadata, navigation, forms, tables, fonts
PDFBP.*	22 rules	Best practices beyond PDF/UA requirements
PDFQ.*	4 rules	Pipeline quality - file size limits, scan detection, encryption checks

Key Detections

• Missing tagged structure (no structure tree)
• Suspect flags indicating scanned-image PDFs
• Missing or empty document title and language
• Figures without /Alt text in the tag tree
• Tables without /TH header cells
• Unlabeled form fields
• Missing bookmarks for navigation
• Non-embedded fonts
• Encryption that restricts assistive technology access

Usage

# Claude Code
/pdf-accessibility scan legal/contract.pdf
/pdf-accessibility check all PDFs in the docs/ directory

# Copilot
@pdf-accessibility review the annual report PDF
@pdf-accessibility scan contract.pdf for PDF/UA conformance

CI/CD Script

The CI scanner at .github/scripts/pdf-a11y-scan.mjs:

• Discovers PDFs recursively (skipping node_modules, .git, vendor)
• Applies .a11y-pdf-config.json if present
• Outputs SARIF 2.1.0 reports
• Emits GitHub Actions annotations
• Exits with code 1 if error-severity findings are detected

- name: Scan PDF documents for accessibility
  run: node .github/scripts/pdf-a11y-scan.mjs