Agent skill

PDF

by Team-Commonly in Team-Commonly/commonly

Manipulate PDF files — extract text, count pages, render thumbnails, merge or split documents.

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedDocuments & Office

Install PDF

skills CLI

$ npx skills add Team-Commonly/commonly --skill pdf -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI

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

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 Team-Commonly/commonly --skill pdf -a codex

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

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install Team-Commonly/commonly pdf --agent codex

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

Manual copy

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

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

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install Team-Commonly/commonly pdf --agent cursor

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

Manual copy

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

--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 Team-Commonly/commonly --skill pdf -a gemini-cli

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

GitHub CLI

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

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 Team-Commonly/commonly --skill pdf -a github-copilot

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

Manual copy

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

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

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Team-Commonly/commonly.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/backend/commonly-bundled-skills/pdf .opencode/skills/pdf && 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" agent skill from https://github.com/Team-Commonly/commonly/tree/main/backend/commonly-bundled-skills/pdf into .opencode/skills/pdf/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "pdf", 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
GitHub stars: 1.4k
Token cost: ~572 tokens
SKILL.md length: 108 words
Files: 1
Skills in repo: 7
Repo updated: Oct 7, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: Apache-2.0

At a glance

Manipulate PDF files — extract text, count pages, render thumbnails, merge or split documents.

PDF-specific operations that dont fit markdown-converter (general read)
SKILL.md covers Common operations and When NOT to use this skill
Calls pdftotext and pdftoppm
Pandic-office (write from markdown)

What it does

PDF is an agent skill from Team-Commonly/commonly. Manipulate PDF files — extract text, count pages, render thumbnails, merge or split documents. Use for PDF-specific operations that don't fit markdown-converter (general read) or pandic-office (write from markdown).

Its SKILL.md is about 570 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 and Markdown. The repository describes itself as: Open-source room for humans + cross-vendor AI agents. Every agent gets its own name, memory, skills, and workstation. Any runtime, your infra — no per-agent fees. The licence is Apache-2.0.

When your agent uses it

PDF-specific operations that dont fit markdown-converter (general read)
Pandic-office (write from markdown)

Example prompts

“/pdf”

Requirements

Python 3

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit e597fb4. 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:
- pdftotext
- pdftoppm
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 loads about 572 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 56 tokens; SKILL.md has 108 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~56
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~572

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 Team-Commonly/commonly at commit e597fb4, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© Team-Commonly). 108 words, ~572 tokens.

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

name: pdf
description: Manipulate PDF files — extract text, count pages, render thumbnails, merge or split documents. Use for PDF-specific operations that don't fit `markdown-converter` (general read) or `pandic-office` (write from markdown).

pdf — PDF manipulation toolkit

The gateway image ships:

pdftotext, pdftoppm, pdfinfo from poppler-utils (apt)
pypdf (Python) for programmatic merge / split / metadata edits

Common operations

Extract text from a PDF

bash

pdftotext /workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/input.pdf /workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/input.txt
# Or stream to stdout:
pdftotext /workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/input.pdf -

For LLM-friendly output, prefer the markdown-converter skill (which uses markitdown and handles tables better). Use pdftotext only when you need raw text quickly.

Count pages

bash

pdfinfo /workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/input.pdf | grep Pages

Render a page to PNG (preview / OCR input)

bash

# All pages → PNG at 150dpi
pdftoppm -png -r 150 /workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/input.pdf /workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/page

# Just page 1
pdftoppm -png -r 150 -f 1 -l 1 /workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/input.pdf /workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/cover

Merge multiple PDFs

python

python3 - <<'PY'
from pypdf import PdfWriter
w = PdfWriter()
for f in ["a.pdf", "b.pdf", "c.pdf"]:
    w.append(f)
w.write("/workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/merged.pdf")
PY

Split a PDF into per-page files

python

python3 - <<'PY'
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter
r = PdfReader("/workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/input.pdf")
for i, page in enumerate(r.pages):
    w = PdfWriter()
    w.add_page(page)
    w.write(f"/workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/page_{i+1}.pdf")
PY

Edit PDF metadata

python

python3 - <<'PY'
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter
r = PdfReader("/workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/input.pdf")
w = PdfWriter(clone_from=r)
w.add_metadata({"/Title": "New Title", "/Author": "Theo"})
w.write("/workspace/$(basename "$PWD")/output.pdf")
PY

When NOT to use this skill

To read a PDF for context — use markdown-converter (cleaner output).
To create a PDF from markdown — use pandic-office (pandoc).
To create or edit Office docs (DOCX/XLSX/PPTX) — use officecli.

Files

Just SKILL.md in backend/commonly-bundled-skills/pdf of Team-Commonly/commonly.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit e597fb4

Compare with similar skills

PDF 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 compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
PDF this skillTeam-Commonly/commonly	1.4k	—	~572	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	today
MarkitdownImCa0/just-laws	781	14 repos	~3.2k	Automated safety check: Notes	MIT	8 days ago
Gzh Designisjiamu/gzh-design-skill	3.9k	1 repos	~2.2k	Automated safety check: Pass	AGPL-3.0	4 days ago
Bookforge Korean Ebook PDF Makergongnyang/bookforge	314	1 repos	~1.7k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	1 mo ago
Huashu Markdown Publishing Pipelinealchaincyf/huashu-md-html	908	—	~4.8k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	1 mo ago
Paper Interpretationdigoal/blog	8.6k	—	~1.5k	Automated safety check: Pass	GPL-2.0	9 days ago

Similar skills

Markitdown
ImCa0/just-laws
Convert files and office documents to Markdown. An agent skill from ImCa0/just-laws.
781 GitHub starsUsed in 14 repos~3.2k tokens
Documents & OfficeAuto-check: notes
Gzh Design
isjiamu/gzh-design-skill
微信公众号文章排版引擎，将 Markdown 转换为可直接粘贴到公众号编辑器的 HTML。主题风格从 references/theme-index.md 注册的自定义主题库中选取，自动章节编号、关键词下划线标记、引言卡片、目录导航、代码块、图片/GIF、作者签名。支持 Markdown / Word(.docx) / PDF / 纯文本输入（非 Markdown…
3.9k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~2.2k tokens
Documents & OfficeAuto-check passed
Bookforge Korean Ebook PDF Maker
gongnyang/bookforge
Produces book-style Korean ebook PDFs from a topic or finished manuscript, with six design styles, real book parts and quality-check gates before output.
314 GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.7k tokens
Documents & OfficeAuto-check passed
Huashu Markdown Publishing Pipeline
alchaincyf/huashu-md-html
Converts files and web pages into clean Markdown, then turns Markdown into polished HTML, Word, PDF and EPUB using four templates.
908 GitHub stars~4.8k tokensUpdated 1 mo ago
Documents & OfficeAuto-check passed
Paper Interpretation
digoal/blog
从论文 PDF 文件或论文 PDF URL 生成通俗易懂、图文并茂、带批判性评估的中文 Markdown 解读，并保存到当前项目的 markdown 目录。Use when the user asks to interpret,精读,解读,summarize,explain,analyze, or write an article from an academic paper PDF…
8.6k GitHub stars~1.5k tokensUpdated 9 days ago
Documents & OfficeAuto-check passed
Doc Cleaner
notoriouslab/doc-cleaner
Convert PDF, DOCX, XLSX, and text files to clean, structured Markdown.
309 GitHub stars~712 tokensUpdated 1 mo ago
Documents & OfficeAuto-check passed

More from Team-Commonly/commonly

Commonly
Team-Commonly/commonly
You are a member of a Commonly workspace — a shared space where humans and AI agents from any origin collaborate in pods (chat rooms with memory).
1.4k GitHub stars~2.9k tokensUpdated today
Auto-check passed
GitHub
Team-Commonly/commonly
Interact with GitHub (issues, PRs, repos, releases) using the gh CLI.
1.4k GitHub stars~857 tokensUpdated today
Auto-check passed
Markdown Converter
Team-Commonly/commonly
Convert binary documents (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, HTML, EPUB, images) to clean LLM-friendly Markdown using Microsoft's markitdown Python tool.
1.4k GitHub stars~557 tokensUpdated today
Auto-check passed
Officecli Commonly Templates
Team-Commonly/commonly
A skill your agent uses when producing a polished, Commonly-branded deliverable (.docx brief / memo, .xlsx data matrix, .pptx deck) and you do not have specific brand guidance from the user.
1.4k GitHub stars~1.7k tokensUpdated today
Auto-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
Auto-check passed
Tmux
Team-Commonly/commonly
Manage long-running shell sessions with tmux — start a detached session, run a long task, reattach later, capture output.
1.4k GitHub stars~488 tokensUpdated today
Auto-check passed

Questions about PDF

What does PDF do?

Manipulate PDF files — extract text, count pages, render thumbnails, merge or split documents. PDF is an agent skill from Team-Commonly/commonly. Manipulate PDF files — extract text, count pages, render thumbnails, merge or split documents.

When should I use PDF?

PDF fits situations like: PDF-specific operations that dont fit markdown-converter (general read); pandic-office (write from markdown).

How do I install PDF in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add Team-Commonly/commonly --skill pdf -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (backend/commonly-bundled-skills/pdf in Team-Commonly/commonly) into .claude/skills/pdf in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install PDF in Codex?

Run `npx skills add Team-Commonly/commonly --skill pdf -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (backend/commonly-bundled-skills/pdf in Team-Commonly/commonly) into .agents/skills/pdf in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use PDF 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 Team-Commonly/commonly --skill pdf -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, .gemini/skills/pdf, .github/skills/pdf and .opencode/skills/pdf in your project.

What does PDF need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, PDF needs the command-line tools its instructions call (pdftotext and pdftoppm). Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does PDF 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 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 use?

PDF 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 PDF use?

About 572 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.3k 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?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with PDF: Markitdown (ImCa0/just-laws, 781 stars), Gzh Design (isjiamu/gzh-design-skill, 3.9k stars), Bookforge Korean Ebook PDF Maker (gongnyang/bookforge, 314 stars) and Huashu Markdown Publishing Pipeline (alchaincyf/huashu-md-html, 908 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains PDF?

Team-Commonly (a GitHub organization) maintains it in Team-Commonly/commonly, which has 1,359 GitHub stars. The repository holds 7 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

Source: Team-Commonly/commonly 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

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Requirements

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

pdf — PDF manipulation toolkit

Common operations

Extract text from a PDF

Count pages

Render a page to PNG (preview / OCR input)

Merge multiple PDFs

Split a PDF into per-page files

Edit PDF metadata

When NOT to use this skill

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from Team-Commonly/commonly

Related

Questions about PDF