| name | pdf-reader |
| description | Read PDFs in workspace: extract text for normal PDFs, or convert pages to images and use vision for scanned/image-heavy PDFs. Use when the user asks to read a PDF, summarize a document, convert a PDF to images, or answer questions about a PDF.
|
| metadata | {"openclaw":{"emoji":"📄","requires":{"bins":["python3"]}}} |
PDF Reader — text extraction and PDF to images
Read PDF files in the workspace in two ways: extract text (for normal PDFs) or convert pages to images (for scanned/image PDFs), then optionally use image-vision to "read" each page.
When to use
- "Read this PDF" / "Summarize this document"
- "Convert this PDF to images" / "What does this PDF say?"
- When the user has provided or saved a PDF path in workspace
Pipeline A — Text extraction (prefer when you need quick text)
- Ensure PDF path is under workspace (e.g.
/home/openclaw/.openclaw/workspace/...). If the user shared a file, use the path the gateway provides.
- Run the extraction script:
python3 /home/openclaw/.openclaw/workspace/skills/pdf-reader/scripts/extract_text.py <path-to-pdf>
Optional: --max-chars 80000 to cap output length.
- Use stdout as document text: Summarize, answer questions, or quote. If stdout is empty or the script fails, consider Pipeline B.
Pipeline B — PDF to images (for scanned/image PDFs or when text is empty)
- Ensure PDF path is under workspace. Use the canonical output dir for extracted images:
workspace/skills/pdf-reader/pages/ (or a subdir under it per run, e.g. pages/<pdf-basename>/). This dir is the only place the garbage collector cleans.
- Run the PDF-to-images script:
python3 /home/openclaw/.openclaw/workspace/skills/pdf-reader/scripts/pdf_to_images.py <path-to-pdf> --output-dir /home/openclaw/.openclaw/workspace/skills/pdf-reader/pages/<run-id> [--format png|jpeg] [--dpi 150] [--max-pages 50]
The script runs the garbage collector first if free disk < 20%, then writes one image per page and prints each path on stdout (one per line).
- Use the printed image paths. To "read" the content, run the image-vision skill's
describe-image.sh on each path (or first N pages), e.g. "What text is visible in this image?" or "Describe this page." Then summarize or answer the user from those descriptions. (On pibot, image-vision is already available.)
- Optional: If the user only wanted "convert PDF to images", confirm and list the paths (or send the first page as a photo if appropriate).
Garbage collector (disk space)
When free disk space drops below 20%, the skill automatically frees space by deleting extracted PDF-to-image files (JPEG/PNG) from the canonical dir so the disk is never exhausted by repeated extractions. No agent action required; pdf_to_images.py runs GC at start. Optionally run standalone to trigger cleanup without doing a conversion:
python3 /home/openclaw/.openclaw/workspace/skills/pdf-reader/scripts/gc_pdf_images.py
Rules
- Paths must be in workspace; do not use
/tmp for output (Rule 6b).
- Do not mention script names, "extraction", or "rendering" in the user-facing reply.
