| name | add-pdf-reader |
| description | Add PDF reading to ClaudeClaw agents. Extracts text from PDFs via pdftotext CLI. Handles WhatsApp attachments, URLs, and local files. |
Add PDF Reader
Adds PDF reading capability to all container agents using poppler-utils (pdftotext/pdfinfo). PDFs sent as WhatsApp attachments are auto-downloaded to the group workspace.
Phase 1: Pre-flight
- Check if
agent/skills/pdf-reader/pdf-reader exists — skip to Phase 3 if already applied
- Confirm WhatsApp is installed first (
skill/whatsapp merged). This skill modifies WhatsApp channel files.
Phase 2: Apply Code Changes
Ensure WhatsApp fork remote
git remote -v
If whatsapp is missing, add it:
git remote add whatsapp https://github.com/qwibitai/claudeclaw-whatsapp.git
Merge the skill branch
git fetch whatsapp skill/pdf-reader
git merge whatsapp/skill/pdf-reader || {
git checkout --theirs package-lock.json
git add package-lock.json
git merge --continue
}
This merges in:
agent/skills/pdf-reader/SKILL.md (agent-facing documentation)
agent/skills/pdf-reader/pdf-reader (CLI script)
poppler-utils in src/runtimes/docker/Dockerfile
- PDF attachment download in
src/channels/whatsapp.ts
- PDF tests in
src/channels/whatsapp.test.ts
If the merge reports conflicts, resolve them by reading the conflicted files and understanding the intent of both sides.
Validate
npm run build
npx vitest run src/channels/whatsapp.test.ts
Rebuild container
./src/runtimes/docker/build.sh
Service name: Derived from the directory name: com.claudeclaw.<dirname> (macOS) / claudeclaw-<dirname> (Linux). For example, if cwd is my-assistant, the service is com.claudeclaw.my-assistant. Determine the correct service name before running service commands below.
Restart service
launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.claudeclaw
Phase 3: Verify
Test PDF extraction
Send a PDF file in any registered WhatsApp chat. The agent should:
- Download the PDF to
attachments/
- Respond acknowledging the PDF
- Be able to extract text when asked
Test URL fetching
Ask the agent to read a PDF from a URL. It should use pdf-reader fetch <url>.
Check logs if needed
tail -f logs/claudeclaw.log | grep -i pdf
Look for:
Downloaded PDF attachment — successful download
Failed to download PDF attachment — media download issue
Troubleshooting
Agent says pdf-reader command not found
Container needs rebuilding. Run ./src/runtimes/docker/build.sh and restart the service.
PDF text extraction is empty
The PDF may be scanned (image-based). pdftotext only handles text-based PDFs. Consider using the agent-browser to open the PDF visually instead.
WhatsApp PDF not detected
Verify the message has documentMessage with mimetype: application/pdf. Some file-sharing apps send PDFs as generic files without the correct mimetype.