# Ingest > Ingest PDFs, DOCX, and URLs into your knowledge vault as atomic, interconnected notes. Extracts concepts with semantic deduplication. Use when you want to turn research papers, documentation, or team docs into permanent knowledge. Use when this capability is needed. - Skill: `tomevault-io/ingest-3` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/ingest-3` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/ingest-3/raw - Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS) - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Docs & Writing - Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/ingest-3 --- # Document Ingestion Skill Turn external documents into structured, linkable knowledge notes with semantic deduplication. ## Quick Start ``` /ingest ~/Downloads/attention-paper.pdf /ingest https://example.com/api-docs --internal /ingest spec.docx --title "API Specification v2" /ingest paper.pdf --dry-run # Preview without writing ``` ## Features - **Semantic deduplication**: Merges similar concepts instead of creating duplicates - **Atomic notes**: Extracts 3-15 typed concepts per document - **Multi-source accumulation**: Concepts grow richer with each new source - **Dual mode**: Literature (research) vs Internal (team docs) ## Modes - **Literature** (default): Creates `literature/lit-{slug}.md` for external research, papers, articles - **Internal** (`--internal`): Creates `internal/int-{slug}.md` for team docs, internal specs, processes ## Arguments | Argument | Description | |----------|-------------| | `[file-or-url]` | Path to document (.pdf, .docx, .md, .txt) or URL | | `--internal` | Create internal note instead of literature note | | `--title "..."` | Override the note title (default: derived from filename/URL) | | `--dry-run` | Preview what would be extracted without writing files | ## Prerequisites This skill requires `claude-note` CLI for full functionality (deduplication, PDF parsing). Check if installed: ```bash claude-note --version ``` Install if needed: ```bash # Using uv (recommended) uv tool install git+https://github.com/crimeacs/claude-note.git # Or using pipx pipx install git+https://github.com/crimeacs/claude-note.git ``` **Without CLI**: The skill still works for basic ingestion using built-in tools (pdftotext, pandoc), but advanced features like semantic deduplication require the CLI. ## Process When the user invokes `/ingest`, follow these steps: ### 1. Read the Document **For files:** - Use the Read tool for `.md` and `.txt` files - For `.pdf` files: use Bash with `pdftotext` or `pandoc` to extract text - For `.docx` files: use Bash with `pandoc -t plain` to extract text **For URLs:** - Use WebFetch to retrieve the content ### 2. Get Configuration Read the vault path from `~/.config/claude-note/config.toml`: ```bash cat ~/.config/claude-note/config.toml ``` Look for `vault_root = "..."` to find where notes should be created. If no config exists, ask the user where to create notes. ### 3. Extract Knowledge Analyze the content and extract: - **Summary**: 2-3 sentence overview of what the document covers - **Key Concepts**: Main ideas, terminology, and definitions (3-7 concepts) - **Highlights**: Important findings, quotes, or actionable insights - **Questions**: Open questions or things worth exploring further - **Related Topics**: Connections to other knowledge areas ### 4. Check for Duplicates Before creating a new note, check if a similar note exists: ```bash ls {vault_path}/literature/ 2>/dev/null | grep -i "{keywords}" ls {vault_path}/internal/ 2>/dev/null | grep -i "{keywords}" ``` If a similar note exists, ask the user if they want to: 1. Merge new content into the existing note 2. Create a separate note anyway 3. Cancel ### 5. Create the Note Write a structured note using the appropriate format: - Literature notes: See [literature-format.md](references/literature-format.md) - Internal notes: See [internal-format.md](references/internal-format.md) **Filename conventions:** - Literature: `literature/lit-{slug}.md` - Internal: `internal/int-{slug}.md` Where `{slug}` is a kebab-case version of the title (max 50 chars). ### 6. Confirm Tell the user what was created and offer to open the note. ## Example Workflow User: `/ingest ~/Downloads/transformer-paper.pdf` 1. Extract text from PDF: ```bash pdftotext ~/Downloads/transformer-paper.pdf - 2>/dev/null || pandoc ~/Downloads/transformer-paper.pdf -t plain ``` 2. Read config: ```bash cat ~/.config/claude-note/config.toml ``` 3. Analyze the content and extract knowledge 4. Create note at `{vault_root}/literature/lit-attention-is-all-you-need.md` 5. Confirm to user what was created ## URL Ingestion For URLs, use WebFetch to get the content: ``` /ingest https://docs.example.com/api-guide --internal ``` WebFetch will retrieve the content, then follow the same extraction process. ## Dry Run Preview what would be extracted without writing files: ``` /ingest paper.pdf --dry-run ``` This shows the extracted knowledge and where it would be saved, but doesn't create any files. ## Tips - Use descriptive filenames or `--title` for better slugs - Review created notes and add manual annotations - Link to existing topic notes in your vault using `[[note-name]]` syntax - For large documents, focus on the most important 3-5 concepts - Use `--dry-run` to preview before committing ## See Also - [literature-format.md](references/literature-format.md) - Template for literature notes - [internal-format.md](references/internal-format.md) - Template for internal notes - [sample-output.md](examples/sample-output.md) - Example of a created note ## CLI Alternative For batch processing or automation, use the CLI command instead: ```bash claude-note ingest ~/papers/*.pdf ``` The CLI calls Claude API programmatically and is better for processing multiple documents. --- > Source: [crimeacs/claude-note](https://github.com/crimeacs/claude-note) — distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io).