Summarize Document

summarize-document

Summarize a PDF, DOCX, ODT, MD, TXT, or HTML file locally with no network access. Uses a map-reduce chunking strategy so large documents are handled without truncation.

Related docs: ../../SKILLS.md, ../SKILL.md.

1. Purpose

Produce a concise, well-structured summary of any supported document at a user-chosen length and style, entirely offline. Useful for research papers, contracts, meeting notes, and long web pages saved as HTML.

2. Instructions

1. Size guard. Check the file size. If > 50 MB, prompt user_confirm before continuing; abort on decline.
2. Extract text based on file extension:
   • .pdf — pdftotext -layout <path> -
   • .docx / .odt — pandoc --to plain <path>
   • .html / .htm — pandoc --strip-comments --to plain <path>
   • .md / .txt / .rst — read raw
3. Chunk the extracted text into ~3000-token windows with a 200-token overlap. Approximate token count as len(text.split()) * 1.3.
4. Map: send each chunk to the model with the prompt:

   "Summarize this passage in 3-5 sentences. Be factual; do not add information."

5. Reduce: concatenate the per-chunk summaries and send to the model with the target length instruction:
   • short — 2-4 sentences total
   • medium (default) — 1 paragraph (~150 words)
   • long — 3-5 paragraphs
6. Apply style:
   • plain (default) — flowing prose
   • bullets — unordered - list, one item per key point
   • executive — 3 sentences, then Key decisions: and Open questions: sections
7. Emit the summary. Do not emit the extracted text unless --verbose is set.

3. Guardrails

• Never upload or transmit the document.
• No em dashes in output prose; use commas or parentheses instead.
• If the file extension is not in the supported list, report the type and exit; do not guess.
• If pdftotext or pandoc is not installed, emit a clear installation hint rather than failing silently.

4. Example session

User:  Summarize ~/Documents/lease.pdf in bullets
Agent: Extracting text from lease.pdf (142 KB)...
       Chunking into 4 windows...
       Summarizing...

       - Lease term: 12 months starting 2026-06-01.
       - Monthly rent: $1,850 due on the 1st; $50/day late fee after the 5th.
       - Pet policy: one cat or dog under 25 lb with a $500 deposit.
       - Termination: 60-day written notice required from either party.
       - Utilities: tenant pays electric and internet; landlord pays water and trash.

5. Testing

Run from the skill root:

bash tests/test_basic.sh
python3 tests/test_chunking.py
python3 tests/test_length_targets.py

See tests/ for details. Fixtures in fixtures/.

6. Changelog

• 0.1.0 — Initial skill: map-reduce summarizer, three length targets, three styles.