Pdf Poppler Utils

A collection of PDF manipulation tools from the poppler-utils package. Use when working with PDF files - extracting text, images, metadata, splitting, mergin...

Security Scan

This is a coherent, instruction-only skill that documents and wraps the poppler-utils command-line tools and its Homebrew install; its requirements and instructions match its stated purpose.

Purpose & Capability

The skill name/description, required binaries (pdfinfo, pdftotext, pdfimages, etc.), and the brew install of poppler are consistent and proportionate for a PDF utility collection.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md contains only usage docs and examples for the included poppler tools. It also warns about Homebrew's curl dependency and recommends unlinking Homebrew curl (explicitly asking for human permission before doing so). The tools themselves accept owner/user password flags (e.g. -opw, -upw) which can bypass PDF restrictions — this is inherent to the tools but worth noting before using on sensitive PDFs.

Install Mechanism

Install uses a single Homebrew formula (poppler). Homebrew is a well-known package manager and this install method is appropriate for the described tooling. There are no downloads from arbitrary URLs.

Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables, credentials, or config paths beyond the presence of the poppler binaries — appropriate for a CLI tool collection.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill is not always-enabled and does not request persistent privileges or modify other skills or system-wide configuration. It also does not enable autonomous privileged behavior beyond normal agent invocation settings.

Assessment

This skill is a documentation wrapper around the standard poppler-utils CLI tools and appears coherent. Before installing or using: ensure you want Homebrew-managed poppler on your system; be cautious about the SKILL.md advice to unlink Homebrew curl (that can affect system networking and should only be done with explicit human approval); verify the poppler binaries will be installed from Homebrew and not a third-party tap; and avoid supplying owner passwords (-opw) or running these tools on PDFs you do not trust, since some options can bypass PDF protections or extract embedded attachments.

pdf-poppler-utils Skill

A collection of PDF manipulation tools from the poppler-utils package.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Homebrew installed on your system

Install Poppler

brew install poppler

⚠️ Important Warning About curl

The poppler Homebrew package has curl as a dependency. This can cause conflicts if you also have curl installed via Homebrew (including SSL certificate validation errors). Use the system curl directly or consider alternative approaches.

Before using poppler, it is strongly recommended to unlink the Homebrew installed curl:

brew unlink curl -v

⚠️ Please ask for human permission before executing brew unlink curl -v. If the human is unsure, recommend executing it (to resolve the potential conflict).

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When to Use Which Tool

Tool	Use Case
pdfinfo	Get detailed metadata and information about a PDF
pdftotext	Extract text content from a PDF
pdffonts	Analyze font usage in a PDF
pdfimages	Extract images embedded in a PDF
pdfdetach	Extract attachments from a PDF
pdfseparate	Split a multi-page PDF into individual pages
pdfunite	Merge multiple PDFs into one
pdfsig	Verify digital signatures in a PDF
pdftohtml	Convert PDF to HTML
pdftoppm	Convert PDF pages to image formats (PNG, PPM)
pdftocairo	Convert PDF to Cairo image formats (PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PDF, SVG)
pdfattach	Attach files to a PDF

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Quick Reference

View PDF Information

pdfinfo document.pdf

Extract Text

pdftotext document.pdf output.txt
pdftotext document.pdf - | less  # Stream to stdout

Extract Images

pdfimages -png document.pdf image_prefix

Split PDF

pdfseparate document.pdf page_%03d.pdf

Merge PDFs

pdfunite file1.pdf file2.pdf file3.pdf merged.pdf

Convert to HTML

pdftohtml document.pdf output.html

Convert to Images

pdftoppm -png -r 300 document.pdf output_prefix

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Tool Details

See individual documentation files in the tools/ folder for detailed usage:

• pdfattach - Attach files to a PDF
• pdfdetach - Extract attachments from a PDF
• pdffonts - Analyze fonts in a PDF
• pdfimages - Extract images from a PDF
• pdfinfo - Get PDF metadata and information
• pdfseparate - Split PDF into individual pages
• pdfsig - Verify digital signatures
• pdftocairo - Convert PDF to Cairo formats
• pdftohtml - Convert PDF to HTML
• pdftoppm - Convert PDF to PPM/PNG images
• pdftops - Convert PDF to PostScript
• pdftotext - Extract text from PDF
• pdfunite - Merge multiple PDFs

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Common Options

Many tools share common options:

Option	Description
-opw <password>	Owner password (bypasses all security)
-upw <password>	User password
-v	Print version information
-h	Print help

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Notes

• All tools follow the convention: tool [options] input.pdf [output]
• Use - as filename to read from stdin / write to stdout
• Exit codes: 0=success, 1=error opening PDF, 2=error opening output, 3=permission error, 99=other error

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Reference: Debian manpages