Pdf Reader

Name: Pdf Reader
Author: bighardperson

bighardperson/computer-science-skills-collection

8 installs
33 repo stars
Updated April 26, 2026
bighardperson/computer-science-skills-collection

pdf-reader is a Claude skill that extracts plain text and metadata from PDF files using PyMuPDF.

About

pdf-reader extracts plain text and retrieves metadata from PDF files using PyMuPDF. It exposes two commands: extract, which pulls text with an optional max-pages limit, and metadata, which returns a JSON object of document fields like title, author, and creation date. A developer uses it to pull text or metadata out of PDFs from the command line.

Extracts plain text and metadata from PDFs using PyMuPDF
Two commands: extract (with optional --max_pages) and metadata (JSON output)
Handles encrypted and large PDFs gracefully

Pdf Reader by the numbers

8 all-time installs (skills.sh)
Ranked #500 of 687 Office & Documents skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
Data as of Jul 30, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)

At a glance

pdf-reader capabilities & compatibility

Free; requires python3 and the PyMuPDF pip package.

Capabilities: pdf parsing · documentation
Use cases: pdf parsing · documentation
Pricing: Free

From the docs

What pdf-reader says it does

Extract text, search inside PDFs, and produce summaries.

SKILL.md

Uses **PyMuPDF** (imported as `pymupdf`) for fast, reliable PDF processing

SKILL.md

npx skills add https://github.com/bighardperson/computer-science-skills-collection --skill pdf-reader

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Installs	8
repo stars	★ 33
Last updated	April 26, 2026
Repository	bighardperson/computer-science-skills-collection ↗

What it does

Extract text or structured metadata from a PDF file from the command line using PyMuPDF.

Who is it for?

Extracting plain text and metadata from PDFs via a simple CLI.

Skip if: Password-protected PDFs, which return an error unless a password is supplied.

When should I use this skill?

You need to pull text or metadata out of a PDF file.

What you get

Plain text or a JSON metadata object extracted from the target PDF.

Extracted plain text from a PDF
A JSON metadata object for a PDF

By the numbers

Exposes 2 commands: extract and metadata
metadata returns 9 fields (title, author, subject, creator, producer, and more)

Files

SKILL.mdMarkdownGitHub ↗

PDF Reader Skill

The pdf-reader skill provides functionality to extract text and retrieve metadata from PDF files using PyMuPDF (fitz).

Tool API

The skill provides two commands:

extract

Extracts plain text from the specified PDF file.

Parameters:
file_path (string, required): Path to the PDF file to extract text from.
--max_pages (integer, optional): Maximum number of pages to extract.

Usage:

python3 skills/pdf-reader/reader.py extract /path/to/document.pdf
python3 skills/pdf-reader/reader.py extract /path/to/document.pdf --max_pages 5

Output: Plain text content from the PDF.

metadata

Retrieve metadata about the document.

Parameters:
file_path (string, required): Path to the PDF file.

Usage:

python3 skills/pdf-reader/reader.py metadata /path/to/document.pdf

Output: JSON object with PDF metadata including:

title: Document title
author: Document author
subject: Document subject
creator: Application that created the PDF
producer: PDF producer
creationDate: Creation date
modDate: Modification date
format: PDF format version
encryption: Encryption info (if any)

Implementation Notes

Uses PyMuPDF (imported as pymupdf) for fast, reliable PDF processing
Supports encrypted PDFs (will return error if password required)
Handles large PDFs efficiently with max_pages option
Returns structured JSON for metadata command

Example

# Extract text from first 3 pages
python3 skills/pdf-reader/reader.py extract report.pdf --max_pages 3

# Get document metadata
python3 skills/pdf-reader/reader.py metadata report.pdf
# Output:
# {
#   "title": "Annual Report 2024",
#   "author": "John Doe",
#   "creationDate": "D:20240115120000",
#   ...
# }

Error Handling

Returns error message if file not found or not a valid PDF
Returns error if PDF is encrypted and requires password
Gracefully handles corrupted or malformed PDFs

import sys
import argparse
import json
import pymupdf

def extract_text(file_path, max_pages=None):
    try:
        doc = pymupdf.open(file_path)
        text = ""
        for i, page in enumerate(doc):
            if max_pages and i >= int(max_pages):
                break
            text += page.get_text() + "\n"
        return text
    except Exception as e:
        return f"Error: {str(e)}"

def get_metadata(file_path):
    try:
        doc = pymupdf.open(file_path)
        return doc.metadata
    except Exception as e:
        return {"error": str(e)}

if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
    parser.add_argument("command", choices=["extract", "metadata"])
    parser.add_argument("file_path")
    parser.add_argument("--max_pages", type=int, default=None)
    
    args = parser.parse_args()
    
    if args.command == "extract":
        print(extract_text(args.file_path, args.max_pages))
    elif args.command == "metadata":
        print(json.dumps(get_metadata(args.file_path), indent=2))