Automated summary
A command-line tool that extracts text from local or remote PDF files, with optional layout preservation and page-range extraction.
Strengths
- The --layout flag preserves spatial positioning, keeping tables and multi-column documents readable
- Page-range extraction (--pages 1-5) lets you pull only the relevant sections of a long report
- The fetch command downloads a URL, verifies the %PDF header, and cleans up temp files automatically
- info and list expose metadata, page counts and file sizes, and recursively locate every PDF in a directory tree
Limitations
- Text extraction only: no OCR, so scanned or image-only PDFs yield nothing useful
- No described handling of embedded images, fillable form fields, or annotations
- Assumes the pdf-reader binary is installed and that the attachments/ directory matches the path hint provided by the messaging environment
Use it whenever a PDF needs to be read or summarized, whether it is a contract, a financial report, or a document arriving as a chat attachment.
Avoid it for scanned PDFs with no text layer, or when you need embedded images and form fields rather than plain text.
Security analysis
SafeThe skill is narrowly scoped to a pdf-reader CLI via allowed-tools Bash(pdf-reader:*); it only documents extraction, metadata, listing, and URL download of PDFs. No destructive, obfuscated, or secret-exfiltrating actions are instructed. The fetch command makes network requests and can save local copies, but this is a transparent, user-initiated feature of reading PDFs.
No concerns found
How this analysis is madeExamples
Read attachments/contract.pdf and summarize the key terms, renewal dates and termination clauses.Extract pages 1-3 and 15-20 of report.pdf with layout preserved so I can review the executive summary and the financial tables.Download https://example.com/annual-report.pdf, save a local copy as report.pdf, and tell me its page count and author.name: pdf-reader description: Read and extract text from PDF files — documents, reports, contracts, spreadsheets. Use whenever you need to read PDF content, not just when explicitly asked. Handles local files, URLs, and WhatsApp attachments. allowed-tools: Bash(pdf-reader:*)
PDF Reader
Quick start
pdf-reader extract report.pdf # Extract all text
pdf-reader extract report.pdf --layout # Preserve tables/columns
pdf-reader fetch https://example.com/doc.pdf # Download and extract
pdf-reader info report.pdf # Show metadata + size
pdf-reader list # List all PDFs in directory tree
Commands
extract — Extract text from PDF
pdf-reader extract <file> # Full text to stdout
pdf-reader extract <file> --layout # Preserve layout (tables, columns)
pdf-reader extract <file> --pages 1-5 # Pages 1 through 5
pdf-reader extract <file> --pages 3-3 # Single page (page 3)
pdf-reader extract <file> --layout --pages 2-10 # Layout + page range
Options:
--layout— Maintains spatial positioning. Essential for tables, spreadsheets, multi-column docs.--pages N-M— Extract only pages N through M (1-based, inclusive).
fetch — Download and extract PDF from URL
pdf-reader fetch <url> # Download, verify, extract with layout
pdf-reader fetch <url> report.pdf # Also save a local copy
Downloads the PDF, verifies it has a valid %PDF header, then extracts text with layout preservation. Temporary files are cleaned up automatically.
info — PDF metadata and file size
pdf-reader info <file>
Shows title, author, page count, page size, PDF version, and file size on disk.
list — Find all PDFs in directory tree
pdf-reader list
Recursively lists all .pdf files with page count and file size.
WhatsApp PDF attachments
When a user sends a PDF on WhatsApp, it is automatically saved to the attachments/ directory. The message will include a path hint like:
[PDF attached: attachments/document.pdf]
To read the attached PDF:
pdf-reader extract attachments/document.pdf --layout
Example workflows
Read a contract and summarize key terms
pdf-reader info attachments/contract.pdf
pdf-reader extract attachments/contract.pdf --layout
Extract specific pages from a long report
pdf-reader info report.pdf # Check total pages
pdf-reader extract report.pdf --pages 1-3 # Executive summary
pdf-reader extract report.pdf --pages 15-20 # Financial tables
Fetch and analyze a public document
pdf-reader fetch https://example.com/annual-report.pdf report.pdf
pdf-reader info report.pdf
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