tools-only PDF Skill Analysis
Comprehensive analysis of the PDF generation and processing skill.
Overview
The PDF skill handles PDF creation and processing through a multi-route architecture. Unlike other skills that use a single toolchain, PDF generation requires different approaches depending on document type.
HTML Route is best for business documents and reports. It uses Playwright plus Paged.js.
LaTeX Route is best for academic papers and citations. It uses the Tectonic compiler.
Process Route is for existing PDF manipulation. It uses pikepdf plus pdfplumber.
Convert Route is for Office format conversion. It uses LibreOffice.
Multi-Route Architecture
PDF Request
↓
Route Selection:
├── Business report with complex layout → HTML Route
├── Academic paper with citations → LaTeX Route
├── Modify existing PDF → Process Route
└── Convert Office document → Convert Route
HTML Route (Primary)
The HTML route is the default and most complex. It uses html_to_pdf.js, a roughly 600 line Node.js script orchestrating the conversion.
Conversion Pipeline
Input HTML
↓
Load & Inject Playwright ──→ Custom CSS (optional)
↓
Detect Counters ──→ Warn if CSS counters used
Detect Mermaid ──→ Wait for SVG rendering
Detect KaTeX ──→ Trigger math rendering
↓
Fix Counters ──→ Burn in counter values
Fix Tall Elements ──→ Remove page-break-inside
↓
Inject Paged.js ──→ Local bundle or CDN
↓
Wait for Pages ──→ Poll until count stable
↓
Detect Overflow ──→ Warn if elements overflow
Get Statistics ──→ Word count, figures, tables
Detect Anomalies ──→ Blank/low-content pages
↓
Export PDF (scale=1.5 workaround)
Critical Workarounds
CSS Counter Detection:
Paged.js reorders DOM during pagination, breaking CSS counters. The script detects counter usage and warns users.
// Detect counter-reset, counter-increment, content: counter()
const counterWarnings = await page.evaluate(() => {
const warnings = [];
const styles = document.querySelectorAll('style');
styles.forEach((style, idx) => {
const css = style.textContent || '';
if (/content\s*:\s*[^;]*counter\s*\(/i.test(css)) {
// ... warn
}
});
return warnings;
});
Counter Fix (Burn-in):
Before Paged.js runs, the script "burns in" counter values as data attributes.
const counterFixCount = await page.evaluate(() => {
let fixedCount = 0;
const olLists = document.querySelectorAll('ol');
olLists.forEach(ol => {
const liItems = ol.querySelectorAll(':scope > li');
const hasCustomNumbering = computedStyle.listStyleType === 'none';
if (hasCustomNumbering) {
ol.setAttribute('data-counter-fixed', 'true');
liItems.forEach((li, index) => {
li.setAttribute('data-counter', index + 1);
fixedCount++;
});
}
});
return fixedCount;
});
Mermaid Rendering Wait:
The script waits for Mermaid diagrams to render before pagination.
const hasMermaid = await page.evaluate(() => {
return document.querySelectorAll('.mermaid').length > 0;
});
if (hasMermaid) {
await page.waitForFunction(() => {
const mermaids = document.querySelectorAll('.mermaid');
for (const m of mermaids) {
if (!m.querySelector('svg') && !m.getAttribute('data-processed')) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}, { timeout: 30000 });
await delay(2000); // Stabilization time
}
Pagination Stability Detection:
The script waits for the page count to stabilize.
let lastPageCount = 0;
let stableCount = 0;
const maxWaitTime = 120000; // 2 minutes max
while (stableCount < 3) {
if (Date.now() - startTime > maxWaitTime) {
console.log('Warning: Pagination timeout');
break;
}
await delay(1000);
const currentPageCount = await page.evaluate(() =>
document.querySelectorAll('.pagedjs_page').length
);
if (currentPageCount === lastPageCount) {
stableCount++;
} else {
stableCount = 0;
lastPageCount = currentPageCount;
console.log(` Pagination in progress: ${currentPageCount} pages...`);
}
}
PDF Export Scale Workaround:
The script uses scale: 1.5 to fix a page filling issue.
await page.pdf({
path: outputPath,
format: 'A4',
printBackground: true,
preferCSSPageSize: true,
tagged: true,
scale: 1.5 // Critical workaround
});
Critical Constraints
Paged.js Loading: The conversion script injects automatically. Do NOT duplicate.
JS Chart Libraries: PROHIBITED. ECharts, Chart.js, D3.js, and Plotly cause layout conflicts.
Data Charts: Use img tags with pre-generated matplotlib PNG.
Mermaid Layout: Default to flowchart LR. TB risks overflow.
Mermaid Nodes: Maximum 12 total, maximum 3 subgraphs, maximum 5 nodes per subgraph.
CSS Counters: PROHIBITED. Paged.js DOM reordering breaks counters.
Cover Design Requirements
Full-bleed covers require all three CSS rules:
body { margin: 0; padding: 0; } /* Reset browser default */
@page :first { margin: 0; } /* Remove page margin */
.cover { margin: 0; position: relative; /* Element positioning */
width: 210mm; height: 297mm; overflow: hidden; }
LaTeX Route
The LaTeX route uses the Tectonic compiler, a 57.4MB binary and modern LaTeX engine that auto-downloads packages.
Compilation
python3 /app/.kimi/skills/pdf/scripts/compile_latex.py main.tex --runs 2
The wrapper provides log filtering to remove noise, multiple compilation passes, PDF statistics extraction, and error and warning categorization.
Log Filtering
FILTER_PATTERNS = [
r'^note: "version 2" Tectonic command-line interface activated',
r'^note: Running TeX',
r'^note: Rerunning TeX because',
r'^note: Running xdvipdfmx',
r'^note: downloading ',
r'^note: Skipped writing .* intermediate files',
]
Issue Categorization
Errors matching ^error: are critical.
Warnings matching ^warning: are medium priority.
Layout issues like Overfull/Underfull \[hv]box are medium priority.
Fonts issues matching Font shape or Missing character are low priority.
Package Loading Order
% Required base packages
\usepackage{graphicx, xcolor, geometry, amsmath}
% ... other packages ...
% hyperref MUST be loaded LAST
\usepackage[colorlinks=true, linkcolor=blue, citecolor=darkgray,
urlcolor=blue, bookmarks=true, unicode=true]{hyperref}
Process Route
The Process route uses pikepdf and pdfplumber for existing PDF manipulation.
pdf.py <command> <subcommand> [options]
Commands
form with subcommands info and fill handles form field inspection and filling.
extract with subcommands text, table, and image handles content extraction.
pages with subcommands merge, split, rotate, and crop handles page operations.
meta with subcommands get and set handles metadata operations.
convert handles format conversion.
Output Format
// Success
{"status": "success", "data": {...}}
// Error
{"status": "error", "error": "ErrorType", "message": "...", "hint": "..."}
Exit Codes
Exit code 0 means success.
Exit code 1 means argument error.
Exit code 2 means file not found.
Exit code 3 means PDF parse error.
Exit code 4 means operation failed.
Paged.js Library
The skill includes a bundled copy of Paged.js (922KB, version 0.4.3) for offline operation.
Why Bundled?
- Offline Operation: No CDN dependency
- Version Stability: Fixed, tested version
- Performance: Local file loads faster than network
- Reliability: Avoids CDN availability issues
Key Features
@pagerule processing- Page break control (
page-break-before,page-break-after,page-break-inside) - Running headers and footers (
@top-center,@bottom-center) - Named pages (
page: cover) - Page number counters (
counter(page))
Script Inventory
html_to_pdf.js is roughly 600 lines of Node.js code for HTML to PDF conversion.
paged.polyfill.js is a 922KB library containing the Paged.js pagination library.
compile_latex.py is roughly 350 lines of Python for LaTeX compilation wrapper.
pdf.py is roughly 260 lines of Python for the unified CLI entry point.
cmd_extract.py is roughly 150 lines of Python for text, table, and image extraction.
cmd_pages.py is roughly 150 lines of Python for merge, split, rotate, and crop operations.
cmd_form.py is roughly 120 lines of Python for form filling.
cmd_meta.py is roughly 80 lines of Python for metadata operations.
cmd_convert.py is roughly 100 lines of Python for format conversion.
browser_helper.js is roughly 100 lines of Node.js for Playwright utilities.
Output Statistics
========================
PDF Information
========================
File: document.pdf
Pages: 12
Size: 245.6 KB
Words: ~3,456
Figures/Tables: 5 figures / 3 tables
Path: /mnt/okcomputer/output/document.pdf
========================
Anomaly Detection
========================
P8: [Low content] 45 words (avg 320, only 14%)
Key Insights
1. Route Selection is Critical
Different document types require different tools. The skill provides intelligent routing based on content analysis.
2. HTML Route Complexity
The HTML route is the most complex due to browser-based pagination via Paged.js, multiple rendering engines for Mermaid and KaTeX, workarounds for CSS limitations, and real-time overflow detection.
3. LaTeX for Academic Precision
Tectonic provides automatic package management, superior math typesetting, citation and bibliography support, and academic formatting standards.
4. Process Route for Manipulation
pikepdf and pdfplumber enable form field operations, content extraction, page manipulation, and metadata handling.
5. Bundled Dependencies
The skill bundles key dependencies like Paged.js and Tectonic to ensure offline operation, version stability, and consistent output.