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robust-pdf-read

Reliably extract text from PDFs using pdftotext when standard file reading fails.

60

Quality

71%

Does it follow best practices?

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Adds up to 20 points to the overall score

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SecuritybySnyk

Medium

Suggest reviewing before use

Fix and improve this skill with Tessl

tessl review fix ./benchmarks/gdpval/skills/robust-pdf-read/SKILL.md
SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

85%

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

The body is actionable and well-structured for a simple fallback skill, with an executable command and a clear validated workflow. The main weakness is mild verbosity in the Problem and Benefits sections that assumes less of Claude than warranted.

Suggestions

Trim the Problem section's explanation that PDFs are "complex binary formats" — Claude already knows this; keep only the failure-detection criteria.

Cut or condense the Benefits section, which restates advantages Claude can infer rather than adding procedural value.

Keep the lean command-and-flags core as the centerpiece; the Procedure and Example sections are already well-targeted.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

Mostly efficient with an executable command and clear steps, but the Problem section over-explains that PDFs are binary and the Benefits section adds promotional padding Claude does not need.

2 / 3

Actionability

Provides the fully executable, copy-paste-ready command "pdftotext -layout -nopgbrk <file_path> -" with each flag explained and a concrete fallback flow.

3 / 3

Workflow Clarity

The three-step procedure is clearly sequenced with an explicit failure-detection checkpoint (null bytes/base64/garbled) before falling back, which suits this simple single-purpose skill.

3 / 3

Progressive Disclosure

A compact single-file skill with no need for external references, organized into clear sections (Problem/Solution/Procedure/Example/Prerequisites); no nested references to chase.

3 / 3

Total

11

/

12

Passed

Description

57%

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

The description is specific and distinctive, naming a concrete tool and a clear niche, but it only covers a single action and lacks natural-use trigger variations. A "Use when working with PDFs..." clause would lift completeness.

Suggestions

Add a "Use when working with PDFs or when the user mentions PDFs, .pdf files, or document extraction" clause to give explicit natural-use triggers.

Broaden the action coverage beyond a single action (e.g., mention extracting text and preserving layout) to move specificity toward 3.

Include common trigger variations users actually say ("PDFs", ".pdf", "document extraction") alongside the technical "pdftotext".

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

Names a concrete action ("extract text from PDFs") and the specific tool ("pdftotext"), but covers only one action rather than the multiple specific actions expected for a 3.

2 / 3

Completeness

Clearly states what the skill does, and the "when standard file reading fails" clause provides a trigger, but it is a fallback-condition rather than a natural user-facing "Use when..." scenario, so the when guidance is only partial.

2 / 3

Trigger Term Quality

Includes the natural term "PDFs" plus the technical "pdftotext", but misses common variations like "forms", "tables", or ".pdf" that users would also say.

2 / 3

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

The narrow niche of PDF text extraction via pdftotext as a fallback is clearly distinguishable and unlikely to trigger for the wrong skill.

3 / 3

Total

9

/

12

Passed

Validation

93%

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation15 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

CriteriaDescriptionResult

frontmatter_unknown_keys

Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata

Warning

Total

15

/

16

Passed

Repository
HKUDS/OpenSpace
Reviewed

Table of Contents

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