pdf

Use this skill whenever the user wants to do anything with PDF files. This includes reading or extracting text/tables from PDFs, combining or merging multiple PDFs into one, splitting PDFs apart, rotating pages, adding watermarks, creating new PDFs, filling PDF forms, encrypting/decrypting PDFs, extracting images, and OCR on scanned PDFs to make them searchable. If the user mentions a .pdf file or asks to produce one, use this skill.

Quality

86%

Does it follow best practices?

Run evals on this skill

Adds up to 20 points to the overall score

View guide

Securityby

High

Do not use without reviewing

The canonical home for this skill is pdf in anthropics/skills

Quality

Content

72%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

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

The body is highly actionable with copy-paste code for most PDF tasks and is reasonably concise, but it functions as a flat reference catalog: it lacks validation/feedback loops for batch and destructive operations, and its references to FORMS.md and REFERENCE.md point to files that are not present in the bundle.

Suggestions

Add validation checkpoints to batch/destructive operations (e.g., after merging verify 'len(reader.pages) == expected', after encrypting confirm the file opens only with the password) to lift workflow clarity above the cap of 3.

Create the referenced FORMS.md and REFERENCE.md files (or repoint the body to the existing scripts/ helpers like fill_fillable_fields.py and extract_form_field_info.py), so the 'see FORMS.md' navigation resolves to real content.

Move the bulk library/catalog content (e.g., the full reportlab and qpdf/pdftk sections) into REFERENCE.md and keep SKILL.md as a lean overview with one canonical example per task.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The body is code-forward with minimal prose and avoids explaining concepts Claude already knows, but spans ~310 lines across many libraries (pypdf, pdfplumber, reportlab, qpdf, pdftk, pytesseract), some of which could be trimmed or moved to references; efficient but not perfectly lean.	4 / 5
Actionability	Provides fully executable, copy-paste-ready code and commands covering the common cases (merge, split, extract text/tables, create, rotate, OCR, watermark, encrypt), matching the 5 anchor.	5 / 5
Workflow Clarity	Operations are presented as standalone snippets with no sequencing or validation checkpoints for batch/destructive operations like merge, split, and encrypt; the rubric caps workflow clarity at 3 when batch operations lack validation.	3 / 5
Progressive Disclosure	Section headers, a Quick Reference table, and a Next Steps list give real structure, and references to REFERENCE.md/FORMS.md are clearly signaled—but those referenced files do not exist in the bundle, and a large API catalog is inlined rather than split out, leaving organization incomplete.	3 / 5
	Total	15 / 20 Passed

Description

100%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

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 exemplary: it names a comprehensive set of concrete capabilities, includes natural trigger terms with the .pdf extension, and explicitly states both what the skill does and when to use it. Voice is acceptable and aligned with the 'Use when...' good examples.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	Lists many concrete actions—'reading or extracting text/tables', 'combining or merging', 'splitting', 'rotating pages', 'adding watermarks', 'filling PDF forms', 'encrypting/decrypting', 'extracting images', and 'OCR'—giving comprehensive coverage, matching the 5 anchor.	5 / 5
Completeness	Explicitly answers both what (the enumerated operations) and when ('whenever the user wants to do anything with PDF files', 'If the user mentions a .pdf file or asks to produce one'), matching the 5 anchor.	5 / 5
Trigger Term Quality	Covers natural terms and synonyms including 'PDF files', 'PDFs', 'PDF forms', and the '.pdf' file extension, matching the comprehensive 5 anchor.	5 / 5
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	Scoped tightly to PDF files with distinct, PDF-specific triggers and file-extension guidance, yielding minimal conflict risk with other skills.	5 / 5
	Total	20 / 20 Passed

Validation

93%

Warnings & errors only

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

Validation — 15 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

Criteria	Description	Result
frontmatter_unknown_keys	Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata	Warning

	Total	15 / 16 Passed

Repository: zebbern/claude-code-guide
Path: skills/pdf/SKILL.md
Commit: 9d252b3

Reviewed: 2 days ago

Table of Contents

Discovery Implementation Validation

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If you maintain this skill, you can claim it as your own. Once claimed, you can manage eval scenarios, bundle related skills, attach documentation or rules, and ensure cross-agent compatibility.