Lathe — File & Media Processing MCP Server

Transforming raw files into precision output — the Swiss army knife for file processing.

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What It Does

Lathe is an MCP server that gives AI assistants direct access to file and media processing operations. Install the free package for image processing, or purchase a license to unlock all 16 tools across four categories: image manipulation, PDF operations, audio/video processing, and OCR text extraction.

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Free vs Full

	Free	Full (Licensed)
Image tools (6)	Included	Included
PDF tools (4)	—	Included
Audio/Video tools (4)	—	Included
OCR (1)	—	Included
Health + upgrade_info	Included	Health only
Total tools	8	16
Install	pip install lathe-mcp	Purchase at seayniclabs.com
Price	Free	$19 one-time

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Tool Reference

Image (Free)

Tool	Description	Key Parameters
image_info	Get image metadata (dimensions, format, mode, EXIF)	input_path
image_resize	Resize with aspect ratio preservation	input_path, output_path, width, height, percentage
image_convert	Convert format (png, jpeg, webp, avif, bmp)	input_path, output_path, format
image_optimize	Optimize for web delivery	input_path, output_path, quality, strip_metadata
image_crop	Crop a rectangular region	input_path, output_path, x, y, width, height
image_thumbnail	Generate a square-fit thumbnail	input_path, output_path, size

PDF (Licensed)

Tool	Description	Key Parameters
pdf_info	Get PDF metadata (pages, title, author, encryption)	input_path
pdf_extract_text	Extract text, with OCR fallback	input_path, pages
pdf_merge	Merge multiple PDFs into one	input_paths, output_path
pdf_to_images	Convert pages to images (requires ghostscript)	input_path, output_dir, pages, format

Audio / Video (Licensed)

Tool	Description	Key Parameters
audio_convert	Convert audio format (mp3, wav, flac, aac, ogg)	input_path, output_path, format
audio_info	Get audio metadata (duration, bitrate, sample rate)	input_path
video_thumbnail	Extract a frame from video as image	input_path, output_path, timestamp
video_info	Get video metadata (duration, resolution, codec)	input_path

OCR (Licensed)

Tool	Description	Key Parameters
ocr_image	Extract text from image via Tesseract	input_path

Utility (Free)

Tool	Description	Key Parameters
health	Server status, version, tier, dependency availability	—
upgrade_info	What the full version includes and where to buy (free tier only)	—

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Installation

Free install (image tools + health):

pip install lathe-mcp

Full install (all tools — requires license key):

pip install "lathe-mcp[full]"

Activating a License

After purchasing at seayniclabs.com, activate your license using either method:

Option 1: Environment variable

export LATHE_LICENSE_KEY="SL-XXXX-XXXX"

Option 2: License file

Place your license at ~/.seayniclabs/license.json:

{
  "key": "SL-XXXX-XXXX",
  "product": "lathe-mcp",
  "email": "you@example.com",
  "issued": "2026-01-01"
}

The health tool reports your current tier (free or licensed) and available tool count.

System Dependencies

Some tools require external binaries. Install only what you need:

Dependency	Required For	Install
ffmpeg	Audio/video tools	brew install ffmpeg / apt install ffmpeg
tesseract	OCR tools	brew install tesseract / apt install tesseract-ocr
ghostscript	pdf_to_images	brew install ghostscript / apt install ghostscript

The health tool reports which dependencies are available at runtime.

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Usage

Run the server directly:

lathe

Or via the MCP CLI:

mcp run lathe

Claude Code

claude mcp add lathe -- /path/to/venv/bin/lathe

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lathe": {
      "command": "/path/to/venv/bin/lathe",
      "env": {
        "LATHE_WORKING_DIR": "/path/to/allowed/directory"
      }
    }
  }
}

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Configuration

Variable	Description	Default
LATHE_WORKING_DIR	Root directory for all file operations	Current working directory

All input and output paths are resolved relative to and constrained within LATHE_WORKING_DIR.

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Security

• Sandboxed file access — all paths validated against LATHE_WORKING_DIR
• Path traversal protection — ../ and absolute paths outside the sandbox are rejected
• Symlink escape detection — symlinks resolving outside the working directory are blocked
• Decompression bomb guard — Pillow's built-in protections are active
• File size limits — 500 MB maximum per input file

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Development

git clone https://github.com/seayniclabs/lathe.git
cd lathe
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[test,full]"
python -m pytest tests/ -q

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License

Proprietary. Copyright (c) 2026 Seaynic Labs LLC. All rights reserved.

See LICENSE for details.