pdfs

file_type	documentation
name	pdfs
description	Reliable, workflow-driven PDF processing: render → verify → operate → re-render/verify, covering reading, inspection, extraction, editing, forms, OCR, redaction, conversion, and diffing. Prefer authoring in DOCX or PPTX (then converting to PDF) for text-heavy docs or slide-like layouts; use ReportLab here for programmatic PDF generation.

PDF Skill (Read • Inspect • Extract • Edit • Render • Forms • OCR • Redact • Convert • Diff)

This skill is designed for reliable, workflow-driven PDF work: render -> verify -> operate -> re-render verify.

Before you touch PDFs: should this be DOCX/PPTX instead?

Even if the user asks for a PDF deliverable, the best workflow is often:

• Text-heavy, business-doc layout (headings, TOC, long tables, rich lists) -> use the DOCX skill to author, then convert to PDF with lo_convert_to_pdf.py.
• Slide-like visual layout (charts, callouts, fixed positioning, figure captions) -> use the Slides skill (PPTX) to author, then export to PDF.
• Programmatic generation -> ReportLab (this skill) is fine.

If you find yourself hand-tuning line breaks or typography in ReportLab, you probably picked the wrong authoring format.

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Core loop (always)

1. Render to images

python /home/oai/skills/pdfs/scripts/render_pdf.py input.pdf --out_dir /mnt/data/_renders/in --dpi 200

1. Inspect PNGs (tables/figures/layout are authoritative)

2. Perform the edit/extract/create

3. Re-render and compare

python /home/oai/skills/pdfs/scripts/compare_renders.py before.pdf after.pdf --out_dir /mnt/data/_diff --dpi 200

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Task index (progressive)

Start with the smallest task that answers the user:

Read / review

• tasks/read_review.md

Extract (text/layout/tables/images/attachments/forms)

• tasks/extract.md
• tasks/coords.md (coordinate sanity)

Edit (merge/split/rotate/crop/watermark/paginate/encrypt/repair)

• tasks/edit.md
• tasks/compare.md (visual regression)

Forms

• Fillable forms: tasks/forms_annotations.md
• Debugging/introspection: tasks/forms_debugging.md
• Non-fillable / stamping workflow: tasks/forms_nonfillable.md

OCR

• tasks/ocr.md

Preflight / normalize

• tasks/preflight.md

Redaction

• tasks/redact.md

Renderer parity

• tasks/parity.md

Batch processing

• tasks/batch.md

Create / convert

• tasks/create.md
• tasks/convert.md
• tasks/js_tools.md (pdf-lib, pdfjs)

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Package map (where things live)

This pack includes a manifest.txt that is a pure list of relative file paths used by download tooling.

Quick map:

• tasks/ (what to do)

  • read_review.md - render-first reading/review
  • extract.md - extract text/layout/tables/images/attachments/forms
  • coords.md - coordinate system cheatsheet (PDF pt vs image px)
  • edit.md - merge/split/select/rotate/crop/watermark/paginate/encrypt/repair
  • compare.md - visual diff workflow
  • forms_annotations.md - fillable forms + appearance pitfalls + correctness checklist
  • forms_debugging.md - widget-level introspection + acceptable values
  • forms_nonfillable.md - stamp-by-boxes workflow for non-fillable forms
  • ocr.md - OCR scanned PDFs to searchable
  • preflight.md - quick triage + normalization guidance
  • redact.md - true redaction workflows
  • parity.md - render parity across engines
  • batch.md - batch helpers for corpora
  • create.md - choose reportlab/latex/html/docx/pptx pipeline
  • convert.md - docx/pptx/html/markdown/latex to PDF conversion
  • js_tools.md - pdf-lib/pdfjs helper CLIs

• scripts/ (run these)

  • render_pdf.py - render to PNGs (pdfium or poppler)
  • compare_renders.py - render-and-diff two PDFs (pixel diff)
  • pdf_inspect.py - metadata/structure overview
  • pdf_extract.py - text/words/chars/tables/images/attachments/annots/forms
  • pdf_edit.py - editing toolkit (merge/split/select/rotate/crop/watermark/paginate/encrypt/repair/optimize)
  • pdf_preflight.py - preflight/triage warnings
  • pdf_redact.py - true redaction (remove underlying content)
  • renderer_parity.py - diff pdftoppm vs pdfium renders
  • batch_pdf.py - batch runner for common ops
  • box_picker_html.py - generate interactive HTML to pick rectangles -> JSON in PDF coords
  • place_text_by_boxes.py - stamp text/checkmarks into rectangles (non-fillable forms)
  • ocr_pdf.py - OCR wrapper
  • html_to_pdf.py, md_to_pdf.py, latex_to_pdf.py, lo_convert_to_pdf.py - conversion helpers

• js/ (Node helpers)

  • install_deps.sh - installs pdf-lib + pdfjs-dist
  • fill_form.mjs - fill + optional flatten (supports flags and positional args)
  • extract_form_fields.mjs - list AcroForm fields
  • extract_text_pdfjs.mjs - extract text via pdfjs-dist

• examples/

  • smoke_test.md - runnable smoke flows

• troubleshooting/

  • common.md - common pitfalls and fixes

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