pdf-extract

name	PDF Extract
description	Extract plain UTF-8 text from local PDF files; pipeline input for summarize.
requires	{"bins":[],"env":[]}

PDF Extract

Use this skill whenever the user drops a PDF and wants its content read, quoted, searched, or summarized. The extension decodes PDFs in pure Rust (no pdftotext, no Python), returns plain text, and truncates to keep the result within a safe LLM window.

Use when

• "Read this PDF"
• "What does this document say?" (after a PDF attachment)
• Summarizing a PDF — call this first, then pass the output to summarize_text
• Searching for specific text inside a PDF

Do not use when

• The file is an image scan with no embedded text layer (OCR not done here)
• The file is a form with no flowing text (only fields)
• The user wants editing, not extraction — this tool is read-only

Tools

status

No arguments. Returns provider info, file-size limit, default char cap.

extract_text

• path (string, required) — absolute or relative path to the PDF (≤ 25 MB)
• max_chars (integer, optional, 1..=1 000 000, default 200 000) — truncates output

Returns:

{
  "path": "...",
  "bytes": 12345,
  "max_chars": 200000,
  "truncated": false,
  "char_count": 1200,
  "total_char_count": 1200,
  "text": "..."
}

Execution guidance

• Prefer max_chars: 50000 when chaining into summarize_text (summarize rejects inputs > 60 000 chars).
• If truncated: true, warn the user the summary is based on the first N chars; offer to do a second pass on later pages with a different max_chars + byte offset (not yet supported).
• Error -32602 on bad path → ask the user to confirm the absolute path.
• Error -32006 on extraction failure → likely a scanned PDF with no text layer, or a corrupted file. Suggest an OCR tool (out of scope).
• For multi-step work (extract → summarize → store decision), wrap the chain in a TaskFlow so a restart doesn't lose progress.