Use this skill whenever the user wants to do anything with PDF files. This includes reading or extracting text/tables from PDFs, combining or merging multiple PDFs into one, splitting PDFs apart, rotating pages, adding watermarks, creating new PDFs, filling PDF forms, encrypting/decrypting PDFs, extracting images, and OCR on scanned PDFs to make them searchable. If the user mentions a .pdf file or asks to produce one, use this skill.
PDF Skill
When to use
- Read or review PDF content where layout and visuals matter.
- Create PDFs programmatically with reliable formatting.
- Validate final rendering before delivery.
Workflow
- Prefer visual review: render PDF pages to PNGs and inspect them.
pdftoppm if available.
- If unavailable, install Poppler or ask the user to review the output locally.
- Use
reportlabto generate PDFs when creating new documents. - Use
pdfplumber(orpypdf) for text extraction and quick checks; do not rely on it 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 when done. - Write final artifacts under
output/pdf/when working in this repo. - Keep filenames stable and descriptive.
Dependencies (install if missing)
Preferuv for dependency management.
Python packages:
uv pip install reportlab pdfplumber pypdfIf
uv is unavailable:python3 -m pip install reportlab pdfplumber pypdfSystem tools (for rendering):
# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install poppler
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install -y poppler-utilsIf installation isn't possible in this 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_PREFIXQuality 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 (non-breaking hyphen) 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.
Skill Information
- Source
- Anthropic
- Category
- Documents & Content
- Repository
- View on GitHub
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