| name | pdf |
| description | Read, create, inspect, render, and verify PDF files where visual layout matters. Use Poppler rendering plus Python tools such as reportlab, pdfplumber, and pypdf for generation and extraction. |
| auto-activate | ["pdf","Portable Document Format"] |
PDF Skill
Workflow
- Prefer visual review: render PDF pages to PNGs and inspect them.
- Use
pdftoppm from the current workspace or system Poppler when available.
- If unavailable, install Poppler or ask the user to review the output locally.
- Use
reportlab to generate PDFs when creating new documents.
- Use
pdfplumber or pypdf for text extraction and quick checks; do not rely on text extraction for layout fidelity.
- After each meaningful update, re-render pages and verify alignment, spacing, and legibility.
Temp And Output Conventions
- Use
tmp/pdfs/ for intermediate files; delete them when done.
- Write final artifacts under
output/pdf/ when working in a repository.
- Keep filenames stable and descriptive.
Dependencies
Prefer dependencies already available in the current workspace or runtime:
- Python packages:
reportlab, pdfplumber, pypdf
- Rendering tools:
pdftoppm and pdfinfo from Poppler
If a dependency is missing, install only what is needed.
Python packages:
uv pip install reportlab pdfplumber pypdf
If uv is unavailable:
python3 -m pip install reportlab pdfplumber pypdf
System tools for rendering:
brew install poppler
sudo apt-get install -y poppler-utils
If installation is not possible in the current environment, tell the user which dependency is missing and how to install it locally.
Environment
No required environment variables.
Rendering Command
pdftoppm -png "$INPUT_PDF" "$OUTPUT_PREFIX"
Quality Expectations
- Maintain polished visual design: consistent typography, spacing, margins, and section hierarchy.
- Avoid rendering issues: clipped text, overlapping elements, broken tables, black squares, or unreadable glyphs.
- Charts, tables, and images must be sharp, aligned, and clearly labeled.
- Use ASCII hyphens only. Avoid U+2011 and other Unicode dashes.
- Citations and references must be human-readable; never leave tool tokens or placeholder strings.
Final Checks
- Do not deliver until the latest PNG inspection shows zero visual or formatting defects.
- Confirm headers, footers, page numbering, and section transitions look polished.
- Keep intermediate files organized or remove them after final approval.
