kovrichard When the user asks to analyze, read, or extract information from a PDF:
How to get the PDF
URL: Use the
pdf-downloadCLI tool to download and archive the PDF:pal cli skill run analyze-pdf pdf-download -- <url> [--filename <name.pdf>]The tool downloads the file, saves it to
memory/downloads/{YYYY}/{MM}/{DD}/{filename}.pdf, and returns JSON with the savedpath.Local path: Use the file directly.
How to read it
Use your native PDF reading capability (e.g. a Read tool or equivalent). Most modern multimodal models can parse PDF content directly — no external dependencies, libraries, or conversion tools are needed.
Do NOT install PDF processing tools (poppler, pdftotext, etc.) unless the user explicitly asks. Native reading is sufficient.
Fallback: when native Read fails
If the Read tool fails to open the PDF (e.g. error mentioning pdftoppm, missing renderer, or unsupported format), fall back to the text-extraction CLI:
pal cli skill run analyze-pdf pdf-read -- <path>
Use the stdout output as the document content and proceed with the user's request as normal.
If pdf-read.ts also fails, stop completely — report the exact errors from both attempts and ask the user how to proceed. Never infer PDF content from filename, metadata, or assumptions.
What to do with it
Follow the user's request. Common tasks:
- Answer a specific question about the PDF content
- Summarize the document (defer to /summarize if installed)
- Extract structured data (tables, references, entities)
- Extract wisdom (defer to /extract-wisdom if installed)
- Compare with other documents or information
Guidelines
- For large PDFs, read specific page ranges rather than the entire document
- Preserve the original structure (headings, lists, tables) when relevant
- Quote verbatim when the user asks about specific content
- If the PDF contains images or diagrams, describe them