processing-pdfs

name	processing-pdfs
description	Processes PDF files. Extracts text and tables, fills forms, merges and splits documents, batch-processes files, converts to images, and generates PDFs programmatically. Use when working with .pdf files. Do NOT use for Word documents, spreadsheets, or presentations.
user-invocable	false
allowed-tools	Bash, Read, Write, Edit, Glob
argument-hint	<file.pdf | task>

PDF Processing

Essential PDF operations using Python libraries and CLI tools.

Decision Matrix

Task	Best Tool	Reference
Merge / split / metadata / rotate	pypdf	recipes.md
Extract text (layout preserved)	pdfplumber	recipes.md
Extract tables	pdfplumber	recipes.md
Create new PDF	reportlab	recipes.md
Batch CLI ops	qpdf / pdftk	recipes.md
OCR scanned PDFs	pytesseract + pdf2image	advanced.md
Add watermark / extract images / encrypt	pypdf / pdfimages	advanced.md
Fill PDF forms	pdf-lib / pypdf	FORMS.md
Advanced pypdfium2 / pdf-lib JS	—	REFERENCE.md

Quick Start

from pypdf import PdfReader
reader = PdfReader("document.pdf")
print(f"Pages: {len(reader.pages)}")
text = "".join(page.extract_text() for page in reader.pages)

Workflow

1. Identify task — text extraction? table? creation? form? Pick row from matrix above.
2. Load reference — recipes.md covers 90% of tasks; advanced.md for OCR / encrypt; FORMS.md for forms.
3. Implement — copy-adapt recipe; verify output.
4. Validate — open in a viewer or grep extracted text.

Library Selection

Library	Use for
pypdf	Merge, split, metadata, encryption, rotation
pdfplumber	Text extraction with layout, tables
reportlab	Generate PDFs programmatically
pdf2image + pytesseract	OCR scanned documents
qpdf / pdftk (CLI)	Batch ops, no Python needed