| name | boof |
| description | Convert PDFs and documents to markdown, index them locally for RAG retrieval, and analyze them token-efficiently. Use when asked to: read/analyze/summarize a PDF, process a document, boof a file, extract information from papers/decks/NOFOs, or when you need to work with large documents without filling the context window. Supports batch processing and cross-document queries. |
Boof 🍑
Local-first document processing: PDF → markdown → RAG index → token-efficient analysis.
Documents stay local. Only relevant chunks go to the LLM. Maximum knowledge absorption, minimum token burn.
Quick Reference
Convert + index a document
bash {SKILL_DIR}/scripts/boof.sh /path/to/document.pdf
Convert with custom collection name
bash {SKILL_DIR}/scripts/boof.sh /path/to/document.pdf --collection my-project
Query indexed content
qmd query "your question" -c collection-name
Core Workflow
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Boof it: Run boof.sh on a PDF. This converts it to markdown via Marker (local ML, no API) and indexes it into QMD for semantic search.
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Query it: Use qmd query to retrieve only the relevant chunks. Send those chunks to the LLM — not the entire document.
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Analyze it: The LLM sees focused, relevant excerpts. No wasted tokens, no lost-in-the-middle problems.
When to Use Each Approach
"Analyze this specific aspect of the paper" → Boof + query (cheapest, most focused)
"Summarize this entire document" → Boof, then read the markdown section by section. Summarize each section individually, then merge summaries. See advanced-usage.md.
"Compare findings across multiple papers" → Boof all papers into one collection, then query across them.
"Find where the paper discusses X" → qmd search "X" -c collection for exact match, qmd query "X" -c collection for semantic match.
Output Location
Converted markdown files are saved to knowledge/boofed/ by default (override with --output-dir).
Setup
If boof.sh reports missing dependencies, see setup-guide.md for installation instructions (Marker + QMD).
Environment
MARKER_ENV — Path to marker-pdf Python venv (default: ~/.openclaw/tools/marker-env)QMD_BIN — Path to qmd binary (default: ~/.bun/bin/qmd)BOOF_OUTPUT_DIR — Default output directory (default: ~/.openclaw/workspace/knowledge/boofed)
