Agent skill

PDF Engine Fallback

Retry PDF generation with alternative engines when pandoc fails

Install PDF Engine Fallback

skills CLI

$ npx skills add HKUDS/OpenSpace --skill pdf-engine-fallback -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install HKUDS/OpenSpace pdf-engine-fallback --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/HKUDS/OpenSpace.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback .claude/skills/pdf-engine-fallback && 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 "pdf-engine-fallback" agent skill from https://github.com/HKUDS/OpenSpace/tree/main/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback into .claude/skills/pdf-engine-fallback/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pdf-engine-fallback", 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/HKUDS/OpenSpace/tree/main/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback

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 HKUDS/OpenSpace --skill pdf-engine-fallback -a codex

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

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install HKUDS/OpenSpace pdf-engine-fallback --agent codex

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

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/HKUDS/OpenSpace.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback .agents/skills/pdf-engine-fallback && 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 "pdf-engine-fallback" agent skill from https://github.com/HKUDS/OpenSpace/tree/main/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback into .agents/skills/pdf-engine-fallback/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pdf-engine-fallback", 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 HKUDS/OpenSpace --skill pdf-engine-fallback -a cursor

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

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install HKUDS/OpenSpace pdf-engine-fallback --agent cursor

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

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/HKUDS/OpenSpace.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback .cursor/skills/pdf-engine-fallback && 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 "pdf-engine-fallback" agent skill from https://github.com/HKUDS/OpenSpace/tree/main/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback into .cursor/skills/pdf-engine-fallback/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pdf-engine-fallback", 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/HKUDS/OpenSpace.git --path benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback

--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 HKUDS/OpenSpace --skill pdf-engine-fallback -a gemini-cli

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

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install HKUDS/OpenSpace pdf-engine-fallback --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/HKUDS/OpenSpace.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback .gemini/skills/pdf-engine-fallback && 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 "pdf-engine-fallback" agent skill from https://github.com/HKUDS/OpenSpace/tree/main/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback into .gemini/skills/pdf-engine-fallback/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pdf-engine-fallback", 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 HKUDS/OpenSpace pdf-engine-fallback

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 HKUDS/OpenSpace --skill pdf-engine-fallback -a github-copilot

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

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/HKUDS/OpenSpace.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback .github/skills/pdf-engine-fallback && 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 "pdf-engine-fallback" agent skill from https://github.com/HKUDS/OpenSpace/tree/main/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback into .github/skills/pdf-engine-fallback/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pdf-engine-fallback", 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 HKUDS/OpenSpace --skill pdf-engine-fallback -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 HKUDS/OpenSpace pdf-engine-fallback --agent opencode

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

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/HKUDS/OpenSpace.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback .opencode/skills/pdf-engine-fallback && 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 "pdf-engine-fallback" agent skill from https://github.com/HKUDS/OpenSpace/tree/main/benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback into .opencode/skills/pdf-engine-fallback/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pdf-engine-fallback", 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: pdf-engine-fallback
GitHub stars: 7.7k
Token cost: ~1k tokens
SKILL.md length: 191 words
Files: 2
Skills in repo: 199
Repo updated: Aug 12, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: MIT

At a glance

Retry PDF generation with alternative engines when pandoc fails

Works in 4 steps: Attempt Initial PDF Generation → Diagnose on Failure → Retry with Alternative Engine → …
Tasks that involve PDF
SKILL.md covers When to Use, Steps, Complete Fallback Script and Usage, plus 2 more sections
Calls pandoc, apt-get and brew

What it does

PDF Engine Fallback is an agent skill from HKUDS/OpenSpace. Retry PDF generation with alternative engines when pandoc fails

Its SKILL.md is about 1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 1 other file.

It sits in Documents & Office, covering PDF. It works with Pandoc and LaTeX. The repository describes itself as: "OpenSpace: The Skill Management Layer for AI Agents" -- https://open-space.cloud/. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

Tasks that involve PDF

Example prompts

“/pdf-engine-fallback”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

Attempt Initial PDF Generation
Diagnose on Failure
Retry with Alternative Engine
Handle Missing Engines

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 3827781. 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
Shell commands in SKILL.md call:
- pandoc
- apt-get
- brew
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

PDF Engine Fallback loads about 1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 21 tokens; SKILL.md has 191 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: ~1k

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: notes

The automated check noted patterns worth knowing about, such as sudo or a known installer.

NoteRuns commands with sudoSKILL.md:63
```
sudo apt-get install texlive-xetex
```

NoteRuns commands with sudoSKILL.md:66

sudo apt-get install texlive-latex-base texlive-latex-extra

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 HKUDS/OpenSpace at commit 3827781, republished under its MIT licence (© HKUDS). 191 words, ~1,027 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/pdf-engine-fallback/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.

name: pdf-engine-fallback
description: Retry PDF generation with alternative engines when pandoc fails

PDF Engine Fallback

This skill provides a diagnostic-retry workflow for PDF generation when Pandoc's default PDF engine fails. It systematically checks available engines and retries with alternatives optimized for different content types (e.g., xelatex for Unicode).

When to Use

Pandoc PDF generation fails with errors
Document contains non-ASCII characters (Unicode, CJK, etc.)
Need robust PDF generation across different system configurations
Working in CI/CD or automated document pipelines

Steps

1. Attempt Initial PDF Generation

First, try generating with pandoc's default engine:

bash

pandoc input.md -o output.pdf

2. Diagnose on Failure

If the initial attempt fails, check which PDF engines are available:

bash

# Check for pdflatex
which pdflatex && echo "pdflatex: available" || echo "pdflatex: not found"

# Check for xelatex (better Unicode support)
which xelatex && echo "xelatex: available" || echo "xelatex: not found"

# Check for wkhtmltopdf (HTML-based rendering)
which wkhtmltopdf && echo "wkhtmltopdf: available" || echo "wkhtmltopdf: not found"

3. Retry with Alternative Engine

Based on available engines and document content, retry with an appropriate engine:

bash

# For documents with Unicode/special characters - prefer xelatex
pandoc input.md -o output.pdf --pdf-engine=xelatex

# Alternative: use pdflatex for simple Latin documents
pandoc input.md -o output.pdf --pdf-engine=pdflatex

# For HTML-heavy content or complex layouts
pandoc input.md -o output.pdf --pdf-engine=wkhtmltopdf

4. Handle Missing Engines

If no PDF engines are available, install one:

bash

# Ubuntu/Debian - install texlive with xelatex
sudo apt-get install texlive-xetex

# Or install minimal teTeX
sudo apt-get install texlive-latex-base texlive-latex-extra

# macOS with Homebrew
brew install basictex

Complete Fallback Script

bash

#!/bin/bash
# pdf-fallback.sh - Robust PDF generation with engine fallback

INPUT_FILE="${1:-input.md}"
OUTPUT_FILE="${2:-output.pdf}"

echo "Attempting PDF generation: $INPUT_FILE -> $OUTPUT_FILE"

# Try default engine first
if pandoc "$INPUT_FILE" -o "$OUTPUT_FILE" 2>/dev/null; then
    echo "SUCCESS: PDF generated with default engine"
    exit 0
fi

echo "Default engine failed. Checking available engines..."

# Check and try engines in priority order
if command -v xelatex &>/dev/null; then
    echo "Retrying with xelatex (Unicode support)..."
    if pandoc "$INPUT_FILE" -o "$OUTPUT_FILE" --pdf-engine=xelatex; then
        echo "SUCCESS: PDF generated with xelatex"
        exit 0
    fi
fi

if command -v pdflatex &>/dev/null; then
    echo "Retrying with pdflatex..."
    if pandoc "$INPUT_FILE" -o "$OUTPUT_FILE" --pdf-engine=pdflatex; then
        echo "SUCCESS: PDF generated with pdflatex"
        exit 0
    fi
fi

if command -v wkhtmltopdf &>/dev/null; then
    echo "Retrying with wkhtmltopdf..."
    if pandoc "$INPUT_FILE" -o "$OUTPUT_FILE" --pdf-engine=wkhtmltopdf; then
        echo "SUCCESS: PDF generated with wkhtmltopdf"
        exit 0
    fi
fi

echo "FAILURE: No available PDF engine succeeded"
echo "Install a PDF engine (texlive-xetex recommended) and retry"
exit 1

Usage

bash

# Make executable
chmod +x pdf-fallback.sh

# Run with defaults (input.md -> output.pdf)
./pdf-fallback.sh

# Run with custom files
./pdf-fallback.sh report.md report.pdf

Engine Selection Guide

Engine	Best For	Unicode	Speed
xelatex	Non-Latin scripts, modern fonts	Excellent	Moderate
pdflatex	Simple Latin documents	Limited	Fast
wkhtmltopdf	HTML/CSS styling	Good	Fast

Troubleshooting

Font errors: Install required fonts or use xelatex with system fonts
Package errors: Install missing LaTeX packages via tlmgr
Large documents: Try pdflatex for speed, xelatex for compatibility
Citation issues: Ensure pandoc-citeproc or citeproc is installed

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file in benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback of HKUDS/OpenSpace.

SKILL.md
.skill_id

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 3827781

Compare with similar skills

PDF Engine Fallback 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.

PDF Engine Fallback compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
PDF Engine Fallback this skillHKUDS/OpenSpace	7.7k	—	~1k	Automated safety check: Notes	MIT	1 mo ago
Harness Book Best Practicewquguru/harness-books	3.2k	—	~4.1k	Automated safety check: Pass	None	5 mo ago
Pandic OfficeTeam-Commonly/commonly	1.4k	—	~642	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	today
Render PDF DocAperivue/medsci-skills	329	—	~2.1k	Automated safety check: Notes	MIT	2 days ago
Md To PDFMathews-Tom/armory	327	—	~2.4k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	yesterday
Md To PDF Academicwentorai/research-plugins	298	1 repos	~1.8k	Automated safety check: Notes	MIT	3 mo ago

Similar skills

Harness Book Best Practice
wquguru/harness-books
Best practices for working on the Harness books repo. An agent skill from wquguru/harness-books.
3.2k GitHub stars~4.1k tokensUpdated 5 mo ago
Documents & OfficeAuto-check passed
Pandic Office
Team-Commonly/commonly
Convert Markdown to PDF (or DOCX/EPUB/HTML) using the pandoc CLI.
1.4k GitHub stars~642 tokensUpdated today
Documents & OfficeAuto-check passed
Render PDF Doc
Aperivue/medsci-skills
A skill your agent uses when rendering a Markdown document (English or Korean) such as a proposal, IRB cover letter, handout or reference table to PDF via pandoc and xelatex, with auto-fitted table…
329 GitHub stars~2.1k tokensUpdated 2 days ago
Documents & OfficeAuto-check: notes
Md To PDF
Mathews-Tom/armory
Convert Markdown to styled PDFs with Mermaid diagrams, LaTeX/KaTeX math, tables, and code highlighting.
327 GitHub stars~2.4k tokensUpdated yesterday
Documents & OfficeAuto-check passed
Md To PDF Academic
wentorai/research-plugins
Convert Markdown to publication-quality PDF with LaTeX math rendering
298 GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.8k tokens
Documents & OfficeAuto-check: notes
Office Tools
Tai609/NebulaMat
A skill your agent uses when 需要处理 WPS/Office/PDF 文件——"Excel 数据处理"、"转成 Excel"、"提取 PDF 里的图"、"markdown 转 xlsx/docx/pptx"。触发词含 xlsx/docx/pptx/Excel/表格/配图。
100 GitHub stars~1k tokensUpdated 1 mo ago
Documents & OfficeAuto-check passed

Questions about PDF Engine Fallback

What does PDF Engine Fallback do?

Retry PDF generation with alternative engines when pandoc fails. PDF Engine Fallback is an agent skill from HKUDS/OpenSpace.

When should I use PDF Engine Fallback?

PDF Engine Fallback fits situations like: tasks that involve PDF.

How do I install PDF Engine Fallback in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add HKUDS/OpenSpace --skill pdf-engine-fallback -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback in HKUDS/OpenSpace) into .claude/skills/pdf-engine-fallback in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install PDF Engine Fallback in Codex?

Run `npx skills add HKUDS/OpenSpace --skill pdf-engine-fallback -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (benchmarks/gdpval/skills/pdf-engine-fallback in HKUDS/OpenSpace) into .agents/skills/pdf-engine-fallback in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use PDF Engine Fallback 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 HKUDS/OpenSpace --skill pdf-engine-fallback -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/pdf-engine-fallback, .gemini/skills/pdf-engine-fallback, .github/skills/pdf-engine-fallback and .opencode/skills/pdf-engine-fallback in your project.

What does PDF Engine Fallback need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, PDF Engine Fallback needs the command-line tools its instructions call (pandoc, apt-get and brew).

Does PDF Engine Fallback 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 PDF Engine Fallback safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found notes only (runs commands with sudo), nothing it rates as a warning. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does PDF Engine Fallback use?

PDF Engine Fallback is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does PDF Engine Fallback use?

About 1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.1k 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 PDF Engine Fallback?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with PDF Engine Fallback: Harness Book Best Practice (wquguru/harness-books, 3.2k stars), Pandic Office (Team-Commonly/commonly, 1.4k stars), Render PDF Doc (Aperivue/medsci-skills, 329 stars) and Md To PDF (Mathews-Tom/armory, 327 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains PDF Engine Fallback?

HKUDS (a GitHub organization) maintains it in HKUDS/OpenSpace, which has 7,743 GitHub stars. The repository holds 199 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on August 12, 2026.

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

Install PDF Engine Fallback

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

PDF Engine Fallback

When to Use

Steps

1. Attempt Initial PDF Generation

2. Diagnose on Failure

3. Retry with Alternative Engine

4. Handle Missing Engines

Complete Fallback Script

Usage

Engine Selection Guide

Troubleshooting

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from HKUDS/OpenSpace

Related

Questions about PDF Engine Fallback