Our review
This skill enables reading, extracting, and analyzing PDF documents with simple commands.
Strengths
- Native PDF reading without external tools
- Targeted extraction of information (tables, citations, contacts)
- Ability to summarize and compare multiple PDFs
Limitations
- Scanned PDFs without OCR may not be extracted correctly
- Some protected PDFs prevent text extraction
- Very large PDFs (100+ pages) may require manual pagination
Use this skill when you need to extract or summarize text content from a PDF file.
Avoid using it for PDFs containing only scanned images without underlying text, as OCR is not included.
Security analysis
CautionThe skill primarily uses the built-in Read tool for PDF files, which is low-risk. However, it also instructs users to run a Python utility via `uv run`, a command that executes a Python script. While the script likely performs benign PDF operations, any command-line execution carries potential risk if the tool is maliciously modified or input is not sanitized. No destructive or exfiltration commands are directly present.
- •Uses a bash command `uv run tools/pdf_util.py` which invokes a Python script; if the script or its dependencies are compromised, it could lead to arbitrary code execution. However, the script is local and intended for PDF processing, so risk is moderate.
Examples
Read /path/to/document.pdf and give me a concise summary of the main points.Extract all tables from /path/to/report.pdf and display them as markdown.Compare /path/to/draft1.pdf and /path/to/draft2.pdf and list the differences.name: pdf description: This skill should be used when the user asks to "read pdf", "view pdf", "extract text from pdf", "summarize pdf", or shares a PDF file path.
Read, extract, and analyze PDF documents.
Instructions
When the user provides a PDF path or asks about PDF content:
1. Reading PDFs
Use the Read tool directly on the PDF file. Claude Code supports reading PDF files natively:
Read: /path/to/document.pdf
This extracts both text and visual content for analysis.
2. Common Tasks
Summarize: Provide a concise summary of the document
- Key points and main arguments
- Document structure overview
- Important figures, tables, or data
Extract specific info: Find and extract:
- Tables (convert to markdown format)
- Code snippets
- Citations/references
- Contact information
- Dates and deadlines
Compare PDFs: When given multiple PDFs:
- Identify differences
- Highlight common themes
- Cross-reference information
3. Python Utility
For batch operations or programmatic access:
uv run tools/pdf_util.py extract /path/to/file.pdf
uv run tools/pdf_util.py info /path/to/file.pdf
uv run tools/pdf_util.py search /path/to/file.pdf "search term"
4. Output Format
When presenting PDF content:
- Use markdown headers for document sections
- Convert tables to markdown tables
- Note page numbers for reference:
(p. 5) - Flag any extraction issues (scanned images, encrypted content)
5. Limitations
- Scanned PDFs may have limited text extraction (OCR not included)
- Some PDFs have copy-protection that prevents text extraction
- Very large PDFs (100+ pages) may need pagination
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