phuetz/code-buddy/pdf

Work with PDF files (pypdf + pdf2image)

Use the open-source pypdf (import pypdf) for page operations and form fields, and pdf2image (from pdf2image import convert_from_path) to render pages to images. Work in visible steps; verify before reporting done.

Common tasks

• Extract text: pypdf.PdfReader(path).pages[i].extract_text() (or python3 -m markitdown file.pdf if available).
• Merge: w = pypdf.PdfWriter(); [w.append(p) for p in paths]; w.write('out.pdf').
• Split / select pages: read with PdfReader, writer.add_page(reader.pages[i]) for the pages you want.
• Rotate: page.rotate(90) before writing.
• Form fields: reader.get_fields() to read; writer.update_page_form_field_values(...) to fill.
• Render to image (for visual inspection): convert_from_path('file.pdf')[0].save('page1.png').

Authoring a formatted PDF

pypdf does not lay out rich content. To produce a styled PDF, build a `.docx` or `.pptx` first (see the docx/pptx skills), then convert:

soffice --headless --convert-to pdf --outdir . report.docx

This yields a clean, professionally formatted PDF.

Workflow

1. Identify the operation (extract / merge / split / fill / convert).
2. Run the pypdf (or soffice-convert) command via the bash tool.
3. Verify: reopen the output (PdfReader(out).pages count, or extract a snippet) and print the path.
4. Report the saved path + a one-line summary.