convert-pdf

name	convert-pdf
description	Convert PDF files to LLM-ready formats using Docling (markdown/DocTags/JSON). Use when converting PDFs to markdown for analysis or summarization. Triggers include "convert pdf", "pdf to markdown", "pdf file", "docling".
argument-hint	<pdf-file(s)> [--format markdown|doctags|json] [--ocr]
allowed-tools	["Bash","Read","Write","Skill"]
model	haiku
context	main
user-invocable	true

Convert PDF → LLM-Ready Format

Convert PDF files using IBM's Docling toolkit.

Steps

1. Install dependency: Use toolsmith:install-dependency skill to ensure docling is installed
2. Parse arguments: Input file(s) $1 (required), format (default: markdown), OCR flag
3. Prepare output: Create ./converted/ if missing
4. Convert:

   source .venv/bin/activate
   docling --to markdown --image-export-mode placeholder input.pdf -o converted/
   

5. Report: Output location, file sizes (original vs converted), token savings estimate

Defaults

• Format: markdown (token-efficient, human-readable)
• Image mode: placeholder (minimal tokens)
• Output: ./converted/

See reference.md for format selection guide, batch processing, VLM pipeline, and OCR options.