PDF Reader

PDF Reader Skill

The pdf-reader skill provides functionality to extract text and retrieve metadata from PDF files using PyMuPDF (fitz).

Tool API

The skill provides two commands:

extract

Extracts plain text from the specified PDF file.

• Parameters:
  • file_path (string, required): Path to the PDF file to extract text from.
  • --max_pages (integer, optional): Maximum number of pages to extract.

Usage:

python3 skills/pdf-reader/reader.py extract /path/to/document.pdf
python3 skills/pdf-reader/reader.py extract /path/to/document.pdf --max_pages 5

Output: Plain text content from the PDF.

metadata

Retrieve metadata about the document.

• Parameters:
  • file_path (string, required): Path to the PDF file.

Usage:

python3 skills/pdf-reader/reader.py metadata /path/to/document.pdf

Output: JSON object with PDF metadata including:

• title: Document title
• author: Document author
• subject: Document subject
• creator: Application that created the PDF
• producer: PDF producer
• creationDate: Creation date
• modDate: Modification date
• format: PDF format version
• encryption: Encryption info (if any)

Implementation Notes

• Uses PyMuPDF (imported as pymupdf) for fast, reliable PDF processing
• Supports encrypted PDFs (will return error if password required)
• Handles large PDFs efficiently with max_pages option
• Returns structured JSON for metadata command

Example

# Extract text from first 3 pages
python3 skills/pdf-reader/reader.py extract report.pdf --max_pages 3

# Get document metadata
python3 skills/pdf-reader/reader.py metadata report.pdf
# Output:
# {
#   "title": "Annual Report 2024",
#   "author": "John Doe",
#   "creationDate": "D:20240115120000",
#   ...
# }

Error Handling

• Returns error message if file not found or not a valid PDF
• Returns error if PDF is encrypted and requires password
• Gracefully handles corrupted or malformed PDFs