Read, write, merge, split, rotate, watermark, encrypt, and OCR PDF files using Python (pypdf, pdfplumber, reportlab, pypdfium2) and command-line tools (poppler-utils, qpdf). Use when the user asks to
Install
Use withClaudeCursorCodex
The file stays in the publisher's repository. PlugMCP does not host or rewrite it.
Read, write, merge, split, rotate, watermark, encrypt, and OCR PDF files using Python (pypdf, pdfplumber, reportlab, pypdfium2) and command-line tools (poppler-utils, qpdf). Use when the user asks to extract text/tables/images from a PDF, create or modify a PDF, combine or split PDFs, OCR a scanned PDF, password-protect a PDF, or render PDF pages as images.
name: hive.pdf
description: Read, write, merge, split, rotate, watermark, encrypt, and OCR PDF files using Python (pypdf, pdfplumber, reportlab, pypdfium2) and command-line tools (poppler-utils, qpdf). Use when the user asks to extract text/tables/images from a PDF, create or modify a PDF, combine or split PDFs, OCR a scanned PDF, password-protect a PDF, or render PDF pages as images.
metadata:
author: hive
type: default-skill
PDF Processing Guide
Overview
This guide covers essential PDF processing operations using Python libraries and command-line tools. For advanced features, JavaScript libraries (pdf-lib, pdfjs-dist), pypdfium2 details, performance tips, and troubleshooting, see REFERENCE.md.
Quick Start
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter
# Read a PDF
reader = PdfReader("document.pdf")
print(f"Pages: {len(reader.pages)}")
# Extract text
text = ""
for page in reader.pages:
text += page.extract_text()
Python Libraries
pypdf - Basic Operations
Merge PDFs
from pypdf import PdfWriter, PdfReader
writer = PdfWriter()
for pdf_file in ["doc1.pdf", "doc2.pdf", "doc3.pdf"]:
reader = PdfReader(pdf_file)
for page in reader.pages:
writer.add_page(page)
with open("merged.pdf", "wb") as output:
writer.write(output)
Split PDF
reader = PdfReader("input.pdf")
for i, page in enumerate(reader.pages):
writer = PdfWriter()
writer.add_page(page)
with open(f"page_{i+1}.pdf", "wb") as output:
writer.write(output)
import pdfplumber
with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf:
for page in pdf.pages:
text = page.extract_text()
print(text)
Extract Tables
with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf:
for i, page in enumerate(pdf.pages):
tables = page.extract_tables()
for j, table in enumerate(tables):
print(f"Table {j+1} on page {i+1}:")
for row in table:
print(row)
Advanced Table Extraction
import pandas as pd
with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf:
all_tables = []
for page in pdf.pages:
tables = page.extract_tables()
for table in tables:
if table: # Check if table is not empty
df = pd.DataFrame(table[1:], columns=table[0])
all_tables.append(df)
# Combine all tables
if all_tables:
combined_df = pd.concat(all_tables, ignore_index=True)
combined_df.to_excel("extracted_tables.xlsx", index=False)
reportlab - Create PDFs
Basic PDF Creation
from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter
from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
c = canvas.Canvas("hello.pdf", pagesize=letter)
width, height = letter
# Add text
c.drawString(100, height - 100, "Hello World!")
c.drawString(100, height - 120, "This is a PDF created with reportlab")
# Add a line
c.line(100, height - 140, 400, height - 140)
# Save
c.save()
Create PDF with Multiple Pages
from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter
from reportlab.platypus import SimpleDocTemplate, Paragraph, Spacer, PageBreak
from reportlab.lib.styles import getSampleStyleSheet
doc = SimpleDocTemplate("report.pdf", pagesize=letter)
styles = getSampleStyleSheet()
story = []
# Add content
title = Paragraph("Report Title", styles['Title'])
story.append(title)
story.append(Spacer(1, 12))
body = Paragraph("This is the body of the report. " * 20, styles['Normal'])
story.append(body)
story.append(PageBreak())
# Page 2
story.append(Paragraph("Page 2", styles['Heading1']))
story.append(Paragraph("Content for page 2", styles['Normal']))
# Build PDF
doc.build(story)
Subscripts and Superscripts
IMPORTANT: Never use Unicode subscript/superscript characters (₀₁₂₃₄₅₆₇₈₉, ⁰¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹) in ReportLab PDFs. The built-in fonts do not include these glyphs, causing them to render as solid black boxes.
Instead, use ReportLab's XML markup tags in Paragraph objects:
from reportlab.platypus import Paragraph
from reportlab.lib.styles import getSampleStyleSheet
styles = getSampleStyleSheet()
# Subscripts: use <sub> tag
chemical = Paragraph("H<sub>2</sub>O", styles['Normal'])
# Superscripts: use <super> tag
squared = Paragraph("x<super>2</super> + y<super>2</super>", styles['Normal'])
For canvas-drawn text (not Paragraph objects), manually adjust font the size and position rather than using Unicode subscripts/superscripts.
Command-Line Tools
pdftotext (poppler-utils)
# Extract text
pdftotext input.pdf output.txt
# Extract text preserving layout
pdftotext -layout input.pdf output.txt
# Extract specific pages
pdftotext -f 1 -l 5 input.pdf output.txt # Pages 1-5
# Requires: pip install pytesseract pdf2image
import pytesseract
from pdf2image import convert_from_path
# Convert PDF to images
images = convert_from_path('scanned.pdf')
# OCR each page
text = ""
for i, image in enumerate(images):
text += f"Page {i+1}:\n"
text += pytesseract.image_to_string(image)
text += "\n\n"
print(text)
Add Watermark
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter
# Create watermark (or load existing)
watermark = PdfReader("watermark.pdf").pages[0]
# Apply to all pages
reader = PdfReader("document.pdf")
writer = PdfWriter()
for page in reader.pages:
page.merge_page(watermark)
writer.add_page(page)
with open("watermarked.pdf", "wb") as output:
writer.write(output)
Extract Images
# Using pdfimages (poppler-utils)
pdfimages -j input.pdf output_prefix
# This extracts all images as output_prefix-000.jpg, output_prefix-001.jpg, etc.
Password Protection
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter
reader = PdfReader("input.pdf")
writer = PdfWriter()
for page in reader.pages:
writer.add_page(page)
# Add password
writer.encrypt("userpassword", "ownerpassword")
with open("encrypted.pdf", "wb") as output:
writer.write(output)
Quick Reference
Task
Best Tool
Command/Code
Merge PDFs
pypdf
writer.add_page(page)
Split PDFs
pypdf
One page per file
Extract text
pdfplumber
page.extract_text()
Extract tables
pdfplumber
page.extract_tables()
Create PDFs
reportlab
Canvas or Platypus
Command line merge
qpdf
qpdf --empty --pages ...
OCR scanned PDFs
pytesseract
Convert to image first
Next Steps
For advanced pypdfium2 usage, see REFERENCE.md
For JavaScript libraries (pdf-lib, pdfjs-dist), see REFERENCE.md
For performance tips and troubleshooting, see REFERENCE.md
How do I install hive.pdf?
Download core/framework/skills/_default_skills/pdf/SKILL.md from the publisher, or copy the path and open the repository. PlugMCP lists the skill and does not host the file.
Where does hive.pdf live?
The publisher keeps it at https://github.com/aden-hive/hive.
Which agents can use hive.pdf?
Claude, Cursor, and Codex can read a SKILL.md you add from the publisher's repository.