Agent skill

Academic PDF Redaction

by benchflow-ai in benchflow-ai/skillsbench

Redact text from PDF documents for blind review anonymization

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedDocuments & Office

Install Academic PDF Redaction

skills CLI

$ npx skills add benchflow-ai/skillsbench --skill academic-pdf-redaction -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install benchflow-ai/skillsbench academic-pdf-redaction --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction .claude/skills/academic-pdf-redaction && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "academic-pdf-redaction" agent skill from https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench/tree/main/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction into .claude/skills/academic-pdf-redaction/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "academic-pdf-redaction", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench/tree/main/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add benchflow-ai/skillsbench --skill academic-pdf-redaction -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install benchflow-ai/skillsbench academic-pdf-redaction --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction .agents/skills/academic-pdf-redaction && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "academic-pdf-redaction" agent skill from https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench/tree/main/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction into .agents/skills/academic-pdf-redaction/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "academic-pdf-redaction", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add benchflow-ai/skillsbench --skill academic-pdf-redaction -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install benchflow-ai/skillsbench academic-pdf-redaction --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction .cursor/skills/academic-pdf-redaction && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "academic-pdf-redaction" agent skill from https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench/tree/main/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction into .cursor/skills/academic-pdf-redaction/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "academic-pdf-redaction", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench.git --path tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add benchflow-ai/skillsbench --skill academic-pdf-redaction -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install benchflow-ai/skillsbench academic-pdf-redaction --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction .gemini/skills/academic-pdf-redaction && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "academic-pdf-redaction" agent skill from https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench/tree/main/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction into .gemini/skills/academic-pdf-redaction/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "academic-pdf-redaction", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install benchflow-ai/skillsbench academic-pdf-redaction

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add benchflow-ai/skillsbench --skill academic-pdf-redaction -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction .github/skills/academic-pdf-redaction && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "academic-pdf-redaction" agent skill from https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench/tree/main/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction into .github/skills/academic-pdf-redaction/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "academic-pdf-redaction", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add benchflow-ai/skillsbench --skill academic-pdf-redaction -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install benchflow-ai/skillsbench academic-pdf-redaction --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction .opencode/skills/academic-pdf-redaction && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "academic-pdf-redaction" agent skill from https://github.com/benchflow-ai/skillsbench/tree/main/tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction into .opencode/skills/academic-pdf-redaction/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "academic-pdf-redaction", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: academic-pdf-redaction
GitHub stars: 1.8k
Token cost: ~933 tokens
SKILL.md length: 153 words
Files: 1
Skills in repo: 189
Repo updated: Jul 23, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: Apache-2.0

At a glance

Redact text from PDF documents for blind review anonymization

Works in 3 steps: PRESERVE References section -… → ONLY redact specific text matches -… → VERIFY output - Check that 80%+ of…
Tasks that involve PDF
SKILL.md covers CRITICAL RULES, Common Pitfalls to AVOID, Patterns to Redact (Before… and PyMuPDF (fitz) - Recommended…, plus 1 more section
Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Academic PDF Redaction is an agent skill from benchflow-ai/skillsbench. Redact text from PDF documents for blind review anonymization

Its SKILL.md is about 930 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Documents & Office, covering PDF. The repository describes itself as: SkillsBench evaluates how well skills work and how effective agents are at using them. The licence is Apache-2.0.

When your agent uses it

Tasks that involve PDF

Example prompts

“/academic-pdf-redaction”

Requirements

Python 3

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

PRESERVE References section - Self-citations MUST remain intact
ONLY redact specific text matches - Never redact entire pages/regions
VERIFY output - Check that 80%+ of original text remains

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 9a1f4dd. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are python).
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Academic PDF Redaction loads about 933 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 21 tokens; SKILL.md has 153 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~21
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~933

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from benchflow-ai/skillsbench at commit 9a1f4dd, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© benchflow-ai). 153 words, ~933 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/academic-pdf-redaction/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).

name: academic-pdf-redaction
description: Redact text from PDF documents for blind review anonymization

Redact identifying information from academic papers for blind review.

CRITICAL RULES

PRESERVE References section - Self-citations MUST remain intact
ONLY redact specific text matches - Never redact entire pages/regions
VERIFY output - Check that 80%+ of original text remains

Common Pitfalls to AVOID

python

# ❌ WRONG - This removes ALL text from the page:
for block in page.get_text("blocks"):
    page.add_redact_annot(fitz.Rect(block[:4]))

# ❌ WRONG - Drawing rectangles over text:
page.draw_rect(fitz.Rect(0, 0, 600, 100), fill=(0,0,0))

# ✅ CORRECT - Only redact specific search matches:
for rect in page.search_for("John Smith"):
    page.add_redact_annot(rect)

Patterns to Redact (Before References Only)

IMPORTANT: Use FULL names/phrases, not partial matches!

✅ "John Smith" (full name)
❌ "Smith" (partial - would incorrectly match "Smith et al." citations in References)

Author names - FULL names only (e.g., "John Smith", not just "Smith")
Affiliations - Universities, companies (e.g., "Duke University")
Email addresses - Pattern: *@*.edu, *@*.com
Venue names - Conference/workshop names (e.g., "ICML 2024", "ICML Workshop")
arXiv identifiers - Pattern: arXiv:XXXX.XXXXX
DOIs - Pattern: 10.XXXX/...
Acknowledgement names - Names in "Acknowledgements" section
Equal contribution footnotes - e.g., "Equal contribution", "* Equal contribution"

PyMuPDF (fitz) - Recommended Approach

python

import fitz
import os

def redact_with_pymupdf(input_path: str, output_path: str, patterns: list[str]):
    """Redact specific patterns from PDF using PyMuPDF."""
    doc = fitz.open(input_path)
    original_len = sum(len(p.get_text()) for p in doc)

    # Find References page - stop redacting there
    references_page = None
    for i, page in enumerate(doc):
        if "references" in page.get_text().lower():
            references_page = i
            break

    for page_num, page in enumerate(doc):
        if references_page is not None and page_num >= references_page:
            continue  # Skip References section

        for pattern in patterns:
            # ONLY redact exact search matches
            for rect in page.search_for(pattern):
                page.add_redact_annot(rect, fill=(0, 0, 0))
        page.apply_redactions()

    os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(output_path), exist_ok=True)
    doc.save(output_path)
    doc.close()

    # MUST verify after saving
    verify_redaction(input_path, output_path)

REQUIRED: Verification Function

Always run this after ANY redaction to catch errors early:

python

import fitz

def verify_redaction(original_path, output_path):
    """Verify redaction didn't corrupt the PDF."""
    orig = fitz.open(original_path)
    redc = fitz.open(output_path)

    orig_len = sum(len(p.get_text()) for p in orig)
    redc_len = sum(len(p.get_text()) for p in redc)

    print(f"Original: {len(orig)} pages, {orig_len} chars")
    print(f"Redacted: {len(redc)} pages, {redc_len} chars")
    print(f"Retained: {redc_len/orig_len:.1%}")

    # DEFENSIVE CHECKS - fail fast if something went wrong
    if len(redc) != len(orig):
        raise ValueError(f"Page count changed: {len(orig)} -> {len(redc)}")
    if redc_len < 1000:
        raise ValueError(f"PDF corrupted: only {redc_len} chars remain!")
    if redc_len < orig_len * 0.7:
        raise ValueError(f"Too much removed: kept only {redc_len/orig_len:.0%}")

    orig.close()
    redc.close()
    print("✓ Verification passed")

Files

Just SKILL.md in tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction of benchflow-ai/skillsbench.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 9a1f4dd

Compare with similar skills

Academic PDF Redaction next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Academic PDF Redaction compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
Academic PDF Redaction this skillbenchflow-ai/skillsbench	1.8k	—	~933	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	2 mo ago
Split PDFscunning1975/MixtapeTools	474	2 repos	~2.9k	Automated safety check: Pass	None	1 mo ago
Paper Interpretationdigoal/blog	8.6k	—	~1.5k	Automated safety check: Pass	GPL-2.0	yesterday
Paper2slidesQuZhan51496/paper2anything	450	—	~3.8k	Automated safety check: Notes	Apache-2.0	2 mo ago
Paper LensYSQ-boop/paper-lens	101	—	~1.3k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	11 days ago
Geng Academic Fraud Detectorwooly99/geng-academic-fraud-detector	278	—	~970	Automated safety check: Pass	None	4 mo ago

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Questions about Academic PDF Redaction

What does Academic PDF Redaction do?

Redact text from PDF documents for blind review anonymization. Academic PDF Redaction is an agent skill from benchflow-ai/skillsbench.

When should I use Academic PDF Redaction?

Academic PDF Redaction fits situations like: tasks that involve PDF.

How do I install Academic PDF Redaction in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add benchflow-ai/skillsbench --skill academic-pdf-redaction -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction in benchflow-ai/skillsbench) into .claude/skills/academic-pdf-redaction in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Academic PDF Redaction in Codex?

Run `npx skills add benchflow-ai/skillsbench --skill academic-pdf-redaction -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (tasks/paper-anonymizer/environment/skills/academic-pdf-redaction in benchflow-ai/skillsbench) into .agents/skills/academic-pdf-redaction in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Academic PDF Redaction in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add benchflow-ai/skillsbench --skill academic-pdf-redaction -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/academic-pdf-redaction, .gemini/skills/academic-pdf-redaction, .github/skills/academic-pdf-redaction and .opencode/skills/academic-pdf-redaction in your project.

What does Academic PDF Redaction need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Academic PDF Redaction is instructions for the agent only. Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Academic PDF Redaction access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Academic PDF Redaction safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Academic PDF Redaction use?

Academic PDF Redaction is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Academic PDF Redaction use?

About 933 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.7k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Academic PDF Redaction?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Academic PDF Redaction: Split PDF (scunning1975/MixtapeTools, 474 stars), Paper Interpretation (digoal/blog, 8.6k stars), Paper2slides (QuZhan51496/paper2anything, 450 stars) and Paper Lens (YSQ-boop/paper-lens, 101 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Academic PDF Redaction?

benchflow-ai (a GitHub organization) maintains it in benchflow-ai/skillsbench, which has 1,835 GitHub stars. The repository holds 189 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on July 23, 2026.

Source: benchflow-ai/skillsbench on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

Academic PDF Redaction

Install Academic PDF Redaction

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Requirements

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

PDF Redaction for Blind Review

CRITICAL RULES

Common Pitfalls to AVOID

Patterns to Redact (Before References Only)

PyMuPDF (fitz) - Recommended Approach

REQUIRED: Verification Function

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

Split PDF

Paper Interpretation

Paper2slides

Paper Lens

Geng Academic Fraud Detector

Paper2poster

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Questions about Academic PDF Redaction

Install Academic PDF Redaction

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Requirements

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

PDF Redaction for Blind Review

CRITICAL RULES

Common Pitfalls to AVOID

Patterns to Redact (Before References Only)

PyMuPDF (fitz) - Recommended Approach

REQUIRED: Verification Function

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from benchflow-ai/skillsbench

Related

Questions about Academic PDF Redaction