How do I install the PDF To Md skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add phy041/pdf-to-md in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is PDF To Md safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: docs only. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with PDF To Md?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is PDF To Md free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published PDF To Md?

PHY041 (@phy041) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

PDF To Md by phy041 — Agent Skill

Name: PDF To Md
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: PHY041

PDF To Md

Convert PDF to Markdown so Claude can read it natively in conversations. Three-tier engine: pymupdf4llm (fast, default), marker-pdf (--quality, Apple MPS-accelerated for scanned/equations), docling (--best, IBM, top accuracy on academic/enterprise PDFs). Auto-extracts images. Use when the user pastes a PDF path, asks "read this paper", "convert this PDF", "summarize this report", or whenever a .pdf needs to enter context.

PHY041 Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

PDF → Markdown

When to use

Whenever a .pdf file appears in the conversation and the user wants Claude to read, summarize, quote, or operate on its contents. Native Read tool can open small PDFs but truncates large ones and loses table structure — this skill produces a clean .md you can read fully and grep.

How to invoke

One command does everything (auto-installs missing deps on first run):

python3 ~/.claude/skills/pdf-to-md/bin/convert.py <path-to-pdf>

Output: writes <same-dir>/<same-name>.md next to the PDF, plus an <same-name>_images/ folder if images are extracted.

Common flags:

--quality — force the marker-pdf engine (use for scanned PDFs, academic papers with equations, or when the fast engine output looks sparse)
--out <path> — override output path
--engine pymupdf4llm|marker — pick engine explicitly
--no-images — skip image extraction

After conversion, Read the produced .md.

Engine selection (auto)

PDF type	Engine	Why
Native (most modern PDFs, has selectable text)	`pymupdf4llm`	<30s install, no models, fastest, ~520 pages/sec
Scanned (no extractable text detected)	auto-fallback to `marker-pdf`	Has OCR + layout model
Heavy LaTeX / complex tables	use `--quality` to force `marker-pdf`	LLM-optimized table + equation extraction

The script auto-detects scanned PDFs (text density check) and switches engines without user intervention.

First-run gotchas (tell the user)

pymupdf4llm: installs in ~15s, no model download. Just works.
marker-pdf: first run downloads ~2GB of models from HuggingFace. Subsequent runs are fast. If on slow wifi, warn the user before triggering --quality.
Apple Silicon: both tools have prebuilt wheels — no compilation needed.

Examples

# Quick read — fast engine, default output
python3 ~/.claude/skills/pdf-to-md/bin/convert.py ~/Downloads/paper.pdf

# Academic paper with equations — force quality engine
python3 ~/.claude/skills/pdf-to-md/bin/convert.py ~/Downloads/paper.pdf --quality

# Custom output path, no images
python3 ~/.claude/skills/pdf-to-md/bin/convert.py report.pdf --out /tmp/report.md --no-images

What this skill does NOT do

Does not handle Office docs (use markitdown or pandoc for .docx/.pptx)
Does not call cloud APIs (LlamaParse, Mistral OCR) — pure local. Add a flag later if bulk volume requires it.
Does not transcribe handwritten PDFs (Tesseract-grade OCR only).

---name: pdf-to-mddescription: Convert PDF to Markdown so Claude can read it natively in conversations. Three-tier engine: pymupdf4llm (fast, default), marker-pdf (--quality, Apple MPS-accelerated for scanned/equations), docling (--best, IBM, top accuracy on academic/enterprise PDFs). Auto-extracts images. Use when the user pastes a PDF path, asks "read this paper", "convert this PDF", "summarize this report", or whenever a .pdf needs to enter context.---# PDF → Markdown## When to useWhenever a `.pdf` file appears in the conversation and the user wants Claude to read, summarize, quote, or operate on its contents. Native `Read` tool can open small PDFs but truncates large ones and loses table structure — this skill produces a clean `.md` you can read fully and grep.## How to invokeOne command does everything (auto-installs missing deps on first run):```bashpython3 ~/.claude/skills/pdf-to-md/bin/convert.py <path-to-pdf>```**Output:** writes `<same-dir>/<same-name>.md` next to the PDF, plus an `<same-name>_images/` folder if images are extracted.**Common flags:**- `--quality` — force the marker-pdf engine (use for scanned PDFs, academic papers with equations, or when the fast engine output looks sparse)- `--out <path>` — override output path- `--engine pymupdf4llm|marker` — pick engine explicitly- `--no-images` — skip image extractionAfter conversion, `Read` the produced `.md`.## Engine selection (auto)| PDF type | Engine | Why ||----------|--------|-----|| Native (most modern PDFs, has selectable text) | `pymupdf4llm` | <30s install, no models, fastest, ~520 pages/sec || Scanned (no extractable text detected) | auto-fallback to `marker-pdf` | Has OCR + layout model || Heavy LaTeX / complex tables | use `--quality` to force `marker-pdf` | LLM-optimized table + equation extraction |The script auto-detects scanned PDFs (text density check) and switches engines without user intervention.## First-run gotchas (tell the user)- **pymupdf4llm:** installs in ~15s, no model download. Just works.- **marker-pdf:** first run downloads ~2GB of models from HuggingFace. Subsequent runs are fast. If on slow wifi, warn the user before triggering `--quality`.- **Apple Silicon:** both tools have prebuilt wheels — no compilation needed.## Examples```bash# Quick read — fast engine, default outputpython3 ~/.claude/skills/pdf-to-md/bin/convert.py ~/Downloads/paper.pdf# Academic paper with equations — force quality enginepython3 ~/.claude/skills/pdf-to-md/bin/convert.py ~/Downloads/paper.pdf --quality# Custom output path, no imagespython3 ~/.claude/skills/pdf-to-md/bin/convert.py report.pdf --out /tmp/report.md --no-images```## What this skill does NOT do- Does not handle Office docs (use `markitdown` or pandoc for `.docx`/`.pptx`)- Does not call cloud APIs (LlamaParse, Mistral OCR) — pure local. Add a flag later if bulk volume requires it.- Does not transcribe handwritten PDFs (Tesseract-grade OCR only).

Frequently asked questions