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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.

/pdf

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