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Agent skill

PDF Text Extraction Fallback

by HKUDS in HKUDS/OpenSpace

Extract text from PDFs using pdftotext when readfile returns binary data

MITAuto-check passedDocuments & Office

Install PDF Text Extraction Fallback

skills CLI
$ npx skills add HKUDS/OpenSpace --skill pdf-text-extraction-fallback -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install HKUDS/OpenSpace pdf-text-extraction-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-text-extraction-fallback .claude/skills/pdf-text-extraction-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/

Facts

Skill name
pdf-text-extraction-fallback
GitHub stars
7.8k
Token cost
~741 tokens
SKILL.md length
218 words
Files
2
Skills in repo
199
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Extract text from PDFs using pdftotext when readfile returns binary data

  • Works in 4 steps: Validate Parameters First → Detect Binary Data Issue → Extract Text via pdftotext → …
  • Tasks that involve PDF
  • SKILL.md covers When to Use This Skill, Steps, Example Workflow and Installation Notes, plus 2 more sections
  • Calls apt-get and brew

What it does

PDF Text Extraction Fallback is an agent skill from HKUDS/OpenSpace. Extract text from PDFs using pdftotext when readfile returns binary data

Its SKILL.md is about 740 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. 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-text-extraction-fallback”

Requirements

  • Python 3

Workflow steps

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

  1. Validate Parameters First
  2. Detect Binary Data Issue
  3. Extract Text via pdftotext
  4. Handle Output and Errors

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:

    • 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 Text Extraction Fallback loads about 741 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 26 tokens; SKILL.md has 218 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~26
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~741

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 HKUDS/OpenSpace at commit 3827781, republished under its MIT licence (© HKUDS). 218 words, ~741 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/pdf-text-extraction-fallback/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
pdf-text-extraction-fallback
description
Extract text from PDFs using pdftotext when read_file returns binary data

PDF Text Extraction Fallback

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when read_file with filetype="pdf" returns binary/image data instead of readable text content. This is a common issue with PDF files that contain embedded images or complex formatting.

Steps

1. Validate Parameters First

Before attempting extraction, ensure you're using the correct parameter name:

  • Use filetype (not file_type) for the read_file function
  • Incorrect parameter names can cause silent failures
python
# Correct
read_file(filetype="pdf", file_path="document.pdf")

# Incorrect - may fail silently
read_file(file_type="pdf", file_path="document.pdf")
2. Detect Binary Data Issue

After calling read_file, check if the result contains:

  • Garbled/binary characters
  • Image data representations (e.g., b'...' byte strings with non-text content)
  • Unreadable or corrupted-looking content

If yes, proceed with the pdftotext workaround.

3. Extract Text via pdftotext

Use run_shell to call pdftotext, which extracts text directly from PDF files:

python
# Extract text to stdout
result = run_shell(command="pdftotext /path/to/document.pdf -")
text_content = result.stdout

The - flag tells pdftotext to output to stdout instead of creating a file.

4. Handle Output and Errors
python
result = run_shell(command="pdftotext /path/to/document.pdf -")

if result.stderr:
    # Check for errors like "pdftotext not found"
    # May need to install poppler-utils
    pass

text_content = result.stdout
# text_content now contains the extracted text

Example Workflow

python
# Step 1: Try normal read with correct parameters
content = read_file(filetype="pdf", file_path="reference.pdf")

# Step 2: Check if content is readable
if not content or looks_like_binary(content):
    # Step 3: Fall back to pdftotext
    result = run_shell(command="pdftotext reference.pdf -")
    text_content = result.stdout
    
    # Step 4: Verify extraction succeeded
    if result.stderr:
        # Handle error (e.g., install pdftotext)
        pass

Installation Notes

pdftotext is part of the poppler-utils package:

  • Debian/Ubuntu: apt-get install poppler-utils
  • macOS: brew install poppler
  • Many Linux environments: Pre-installed

Alternative: Output to File

If stdout approach has issues, output to a temporary file:

python
run_shell(command="pdftotext /path/to/document.pdf /tmp/output.txt")
text_content = read_file(filetype="txt", file_path="/tmp/output.txt")

Best Practices

  1. Always validate the filetype parameter spelling before troubleshooting
  2. Check both stdout and stderr from pdftotext
  3. For multi-page PDFs, pdftotext preserves page breaks with form feeds
  4. This method works better for text-based PDFs than image-scanned PDFs

© HKUDS, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

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

  • SKILL.md
  • .skill_id

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 3827781

Compare with similar skills

PDF Text Extraction 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 Text Extraction Fallback compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
PDF Text Extraction Fallback this skillHKUDS/OpenSpace7.8k—~741Automated safety check: PassMIT
MarkitdownImCa0/just-laws78214 repos~3.2kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Gzh Designisjiamu/gzh-design-skill3.9k1 repos~2.2kAutomated safety check: PassAGPL-3.0
GenOffice Document CLIgenspark-ai/genoffice9k—~19kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Harness Book Best Practicewquguru/harness-books3.2k—~4.1kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Bookforge Korean Ebook PDF Makergongnyang/bookforge3151 repos~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about PDF Text Extraction Fallback

What does PDF Text Extraction Fallback do?

Extract text from PDFs using pdftotext when readfile returns binary data. PDF Text Extraction Fallback is an agent skill from HKUDS/OpenSpace.

When should I use PDF Text Extraction Fallback?

PDF Text Extraction Fallback fits situations like: tasks that involve PDF.

How do I install PDF Text Extraction Fallback in Claude Code?

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

How do I install PDF Text Extraction Fallback in Codex?

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

Can I use PDF Text Extraction 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-text-extraction-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-text-extraction-fallback, .gemini/skills/pdf-text-extraction-fallback, .github/skills/pdf-text-extraction-fallback and .opencode/skills/pdf-text-extraction-fallback in your project.

What does PDF Text Extraction Fallback need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, PDF Text Extraction Fallback needs the command-line tools its instructions call (apt-get and brew). Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does PDF Text Extraction 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 Text Extraction Fallback 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 PDF Text Extraction Fallback use?

PDF Text Extraction 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 Text Extraction Fallback use?

About 741 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3k 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 Text Extraction Fallback?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with PDF Text Extraction Fallback: Markitdown (ImCa0/just-laws, 782 stars), Gzh Design (isjiamu/gzh-design-skill, 3.9k stars), GenOffice Document CLI (genspark-ai/genoffice, 9k stars) and Harness Book Best Practice (wquguru/harness-books, 3.2k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains PDF Text Extraction Fallback?

HKUDS (a GitHub organization) maintains it in HKUDS/OpenSpace, which has 7,750 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.