FreezeText MCP Server

OCR anything on your Mac screen from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client.

This is the official Model Context Protocol server for FreezeText — a free native macOS app that freezes the screen and extracts text via Apple Vision OCR. Whether running videos, disappearing popups, protected PDFs, or hover tooltips — FreezeText makes any visible text copyable.

You need the FreezeText app installed and running with its HTTP API enabled (Settings → API). This MCP server talks to the app's local API. Get FreezeText (free) at store.juergenkoller.software/apps/freezetext.

What you can do

"Claude, OCR whatever is on my screen right now and summarize it."

"Cursor, run OCR on this screenshot (base64) and extract the invoice number."

"Search my FreezeText history for everything containing 'tracking number'."

The MCP server exposes 12 tools:

Category	Tools
Capture & OCR	`capture_screen` (freeze + OCR), `capture_region` (OCR a specific rect), `ocr_image` (OCR a base64 image)
History	`list_history`, `search_history`, `get_history_entry`, `add_history`, `delete_history_entry`, `clear_history`, `export_history` (JSON/CSV)
OCR config	`get_ocr_languages`, `set_ocr_languages`

All OCR runs locally via Apple Vision Framework — no cloud, no data transmission.

Installation

Prerequisites

macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later
FreezeText app installed and running — get it free here — with the HTTP API enabled in Settings
Swift 5.9+ (Xcode 15+) if building from source

Build from source

hljs language-bash

git clone https://github.com/juergenkoller-software/freezetext-mcp.git
cd freezetext-mcp
swift build -c release
# Binary: .build/release/FreezeTextMCP

Pre-built binary

See Releases.

Configuration

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

hljs language-json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "freezetext": {
      "command": "/path/to/FreezeTextMCP",
      "env": {
        "FREEZETEXT_API_PORT": "9876",
        "FREEZETEXT_API_TOKEN": "your-token-if-set"
      }
    }
  }
}

FREEZETEXT_API_TOKEN is only required if you set an API token in FreezeText's Settings.

Claude Code

hljs language-bash

claude mcp add freezetext /path/to/FreezeTextMCP \
  --env FREEZETEXT_API_PORT=9876

Cursor / other MCP clients

Same pattern — stdio MCP server, configured via the two env vars above.

How it works

hljs language-scss

┌────────────────┐  JSON-RPC stdio   ┌────────────────┐   HTTP(+Bearer)   ┌────────────────┐
│  Claude/Cursor │ ───────────────►  │ FreezeTextMCP  │ ────────────────► │  FreezeText.app│
│  (MCP client)  │ ◄───────────────  │   (this repo)  │ ◄──────────────── │  (port 9876)   │
└────────────────┘                    └────────────────┘                   └────────────────┘

This is a full MCP server (built on the official modelcontextprotocol/swift-sdk) that maps MCP tool calls to FreezeText's local HTTP API. The OCR engine (Apple Vision), screen capture, and history storage live in the FreezeText app.

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
`FREEZETEXT_API_PORT`	`9876`	Port of FreezeText's local HTTP API
`FREEZETEXT_API_TOKEN`	(none)	Bearer token — only if set in FreezeText Settings

About FreezeText

FreezeText is a free native macOS OCR utility. Highlights:

Free, no subscription, no sign-up
Lightning-fast OCR — Apple Vision Framework, under 0.3 seconds
Freeze the screen — capture text from videos, popups, protected PDFs, hover tooltips
Global hotkey (⌘⇧7)
QR code & barcode detection
Searchable history with color tags + JSON/CSV export
HTTP API (40+ endpoints) — this MCP server is built on it
100% local — no cloud, no data transmission

→ Get FreezeText free at store.juergenkoller.software

License

MIT — see LICENSE. This MCP server is open source; the FreezeText app is free (proprietary).

Issues & support

MCP server bugs: open an issue
App support: support@juergenkoller.software

Built by Juergen Koller Software GmbH.

freezetext-mcp