| name | handwritten-ocr |
| description | This skill should be used when the user wants to convert a scanned handwritten PDF into a Word document, or wants to launch the handwritten OCR web interface. Trigger phrases include "convert this handwritten PDF", "transcribe my handwritten notes", "OCR this scanned PDF", "extract text from handwritten PDF", "open the OCR web app", "launch handwritten OCR", "convert handwritten to Word", or "read my handwritten document". |
Handwritten OCR Skill
This skill converts scanned handwritten PDF files into editable Word (.docx) documents using Claude's Vision API. It supports two modes:
- CLI Mode — Convert a PDF directly from the terminal. Progress is shown page by page. Output
.docx is saved alongside the input file (or to a path you specify).
- Web App Mode — Launch the full browser-based web interface with drag-and-drop upload, progress bar, and download button.
App Location
The web app and all supporting code lives at:
/Users/ranjithgonugunta/Documents/Python/claude-skills/handwritten-ocr/
The skill's own scripts live at:
~/.claude/skills/handwritten-ocr/scripts/
Virtual Environment
Always use the app's isolated venv:
source /Users/ranjithgonugunta/Documents/Python/claude-skills/handwritten-ocr/.venv/bin/activate
Mode 1: CLI Conversion
Use this when the user provides a file path and wants the conversion done directly in the terminal without a browser.
Trigger examples
- "Convert
/path/to/notes.pdf to Word"
- "Transcribe my handwritten PDF at
~/Desktop/lecture.pdf"
- "OCR this file:
/Users/ranjithgonugunta/Documents/notes.pdf"
How to run
source /Users/ranjithgonugunta/Documents/Python/claude-skills/handwritten-ocr/.venv/bin/activate && \
python ~/.claude/skills/handwritten-ocr/scripts/run_ocr.py "/absolute/path/to/input.pdf"
With a custom output path:
source /Users/ranjithgonugunta/Documents/Python/claude-skills/handwritten-ocr/.venv/bin/activate && \
python ~/.claude/skills/handwritten-ocr/scripts/run_ocr.py "/path/to/input.pdf" "/path/to/output.docx"
What happens
- PDF is validated and auto-repaired if needed (using existing PDFSkill)
- Each page is rendered to a PNG image at 150 DPI
- Each image is sent to Claude Vision API — text is extracted page by page
- A
.docx file is built with page breaks matching the original PDF
- Output path is printed when complete
Output
- Default output: same directory as input, with
.docx extension
- e.g.
/path/to/notes.pdf → /path/to/notes.docx
- Custom output: whatever path is specified as the second argument
Mode 2: Launch Web App
Use this when the user wants to use the browser UI — drag and drop upload, visual progress bar, download button.
Trigger examples
- "Open the handwritten OCR web app"
- "Launch the OCR interface"
- "Start the OCR web server"
- "I want to use the web interface for OCR"
How to run
python ~/.claude/skills/handwritten-ocr/scripts/launch_webapp.py
What happens
- Checks if the Flask server is already running on port 5001
- If not running: starts it in the background using the app's venv
- Opens
http://127.0.0.1:5001 in the default browser automatically
- Prints the URL for reference
Stopping the web app
lsof -ti:5001 | xargs kill -9
Environment Variables
The ANTHROPIC_API_KEY must be set. It is loaded from:
/Users/ranjithgonugunta/Documents/Python/claude-skills/handwritten-ocr/.env
If the key is missing, both modes will fail with a clear error message. To set it:
echo "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-YOUR_KEY_HERE" > /Users/ranjithgonugunta/Documents/Python/claude-skills/handwritten-ocr/.env
Architecture (for reference)
claude-skills/handwritten-ocr/
├── app.py # Flask web server
├── config.py # Loads .env, defines constants
├── core/
│ ├── pdf_to_images.py # PDF → PNG bytes (PyMuPDF); reuses PDFSkill for repair
│ ├── claude_ocr.py # Claude Vision API → extracted text per page
│ ├── docx_builder.py # Assembles text into .docx with page breaks
│ └── processor.py # Orchestrator (background thread + job store)
├── templates/index.html # Web UI (drag/drop, progress bar, download)
├── static/ # CSS + JS for web UI
├── uploads/ # Temp uploaded PDFs (auto-deleted after processing)
└── outputs/ # Generated .docx files
Troubleshooting
"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is not configured"
→ Add your key to /Users/ranjithgonugunta/Documents/Python/claude-skills/handwritten-ocr/.env
"ModuleNotFoundError"
→ Ensure you activated the correct venv:
source /Users/ranjithgonugunta/Documents/Python/claude-skills/handwritten-ocr/.venv/bin/activate
"Port 5001 already in use"
→ Stop the existing server:
lsof -ti:5001 | xargs kill -9
PDF fails to open
→ The skill uses PDFSkill's auto-repair (pikepdf → Ghostscript). If both fail, the PDF may be severely corrupted or encrypted.
Poor OCR accuracy
→ Try scanning at higher DPI (300+). The skill renders at 150 DPI by default — to change this, edit PDF_RENDER_DPI in config.py.
