# Readable Pdf

> Extracts text (with original line breaks), metadata, per-page character / image density, and optional rendered PNGs from a PDF using pdfvision. Falls back to --render on pages whose density Overview shows low text coverage so multimodal models can read raster slides. Use when the URL ends in .pdf, the user supplies a local PDF path, or another readable-* skill produced a PDF that still needs stru…

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-yamadashy-agent-readable-readable-pdf`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [yamadashy](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/yamadashy)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Content & Media](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/content-and-media)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [yamadashy](https://github.com/yamadashy)
- **Source:** https://github.com/yamadashy/agent-readable/tree/main/skills/readable-pdf

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-yamadashy-agent-readable-readable-pdf
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# PDF Reader

Uses [pdfvision](https://github.com/yamadashy/pdfvision) for cross-agent PDF extraction. pdfvision returns text with line breaks preserved, document metadata, per-page density, and optional rendered PNGs for multimodal models.

## Prerequisite

```bash
npx pdfvision --version
```

Or install globally: `npm install -g pdfvision`. Requires Node.js >= 22.13.

Run `npx pdfvision --help` once before invoking — the flag set evolves (page selection, render output dir, layout / geometry / image-boxes opt-ins, etc.) and the help text is the source of truth for what the installed version supports.

## Steps

### 1. Get a local PDF path

If the input is a URL, download first:

```bash
curl -L -o /tmp/doc.pdf "{URL}"
```

If the input is already a local path, skip this step.

### 2. Extract text + metadata

```bash
npx pdfvision /tmp/doc.pdf
```

Default output is `markdown` with one `## Page N` section per page and a density Overview at the top.

### 3. Switch format when needed

```bash
# Structured JSON for downstream programmatic use
npx pdfvision /tmp/doc.pdf -f json

# Tag-shaped XML, easier for some LLMs to parse than JSON
npx pdfvision /tmp/doc.pdf -f xml
```

### 4. Render pages for multimodal review

If the Overview shows low character coverage on a page (i.e. the page is largely an image / scan), render PNGs and read them:

```bash
npx pdfvision /tmp/doc.pdf --render -p {pages}
```

The output reports the PNG paths. Read each image with the agent's image-reading capability.

### 5. Page subsets

```bash
npx pdfvision /tmp/doc.pdf -p 1-5
npx pdfvision /tmp/doc.pdf -p 1,3,5
```

## Why pdfvision over a built-in PDF reader

- Works in any agent runtime that can spawn a CLI, not only Claude Code.
- Reports per-page density so the agent can detect rasterised pages and re-extract with `--render`.
- Caches by content hash, so repeated reads of the same PDF are instant.

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [yamadashy](https://github.com/yamadashy)
- **Source:** [yamadashy/agent-readable](https://github.com/yamadashy/agent-readable)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** yes
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-yamadashy-agent-readable-readable-pdf
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/yamadashy
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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