SKILLbundledHermes Bundled Skills

Pdf

Name: Pdf
Author: Nous Research

Create, read, merge, fill, and secure PDF files

pdfdocumentsformsreportlabpypdfpdfplumberBundledHermes skill

Last registry verification2026-08-18v1.0.0Nous Research

Open original source ↗اقرأ بالعربية

Plain meaning

What does it add to Hermes?

Create, read, merge, fill, and secure PDF files

Pdf is a skill related to files and documents. It can let the agent read, organize, or create documents within the folder or account scope you grant.

This plain-language explanation is based on the publisher description. The original text remains visible for verification.

Use it when

Use it when your goal in files and documents is clear and you can limit it to the data and actions it actually needs.

Skip it when

Do not add it merely to experiment when Hermes already has a simpler path, or when you cannot review its source and permissions.

Who is it for?

Best for users who want a repeatable way of working inside Hermes.

Safe first test

Use a test folder containing copies of non-sensitive files and begin with one read operation.

Original publisher description

Create, read, merge, fill, and secure PDF files

✓

Data source

This entry was indexed from Hermes Bundled Skills. Our explanation interprets the type and domain without inventing a capability not present upstream.

Security review

The source is official or editorially reviewed, but you still need to review permissions and version compatibility.

Safe setup path

Inspect, install, then test.

01
Open the source
Match the publisher, license, and description to your need. Check the real update history.
02
Review permissions and secrets
Never paste a secret value into this site. Use environment-variable names and grant the smallest scope.
03
Copy setup only after review
The controls below copy text. They do not execute commands on your device.
04
Test with a non-sensitive task
Inspect the visible tools, then exclude write or delete tools you do not need.

Setup method

Already installed with Hermes.

This skill ships with Hermes and loads when the agent decides it is relevant. There is nothing to install; read the definition below so you know what it will do.

Open the official page ↗

The full skill definition

Exactly what Hermes loads when this skill runs.

Reproduced from the official documentation. Read it before enabling the skill: this text becomes the agent's instructions.

Create, read, merge, fill, and secure PDF files.

Skill metadata

A lookup table. Do not read it all; find the row that applies to you.

Source	Bundled (installed by default)
Path	`skills/productivity/pdf`
Version	`1.0.0`
Author	Nous Research
License	MIT
Platforms	linux, macos, windows
Tags	`pdf`, `documents`, `forms`, `reportlab`, `pypdf`, `pdfplumber`
Related skills	`docx`, `xlsx`, `powerpoint`, `ocr-and-documents`

Reference: full SKILL.md

Explains the idea itself. Read it slowly; the later sections build on it.

Create PDFs from structured specs, extract text/tables/metadata, merge/split/rotate/watermark pages, fill AcroForm form fields, and encrypt/decrypt — using pypdf, reportlab, and pdfplumber. Scanned (image-only) PDFs contain no text layer: OCR is explicitly out of scope here — when a page is image-only, stop and use the ocr-and-documents skill instead of pretending to extract text.

When to Use

Explains the idea itself. Read it slowly; the later sections build on it.

Generate a report, invoice, or multi-page document as PDF.
Pull text, tables (JSON/CSV), metadata, or form-field values out of a PDF.
Merge, split, rotate, extract page subsets, watermark, bookmark, or compress PDFs.
Fill or flatten AcroForm forms; encrypt or decrypt with passwords.
NOT for scanned/image-only PDFs (use ocr-and-documents) and NOT for pixel-perfect HTML-to-PDF rendering (use a headless browser).

Prerequisites

Explains the idea itself. Read it slowly; the later sections build on it.

Python 3.10+ with pypdf, reportlab, pdfplumber: python3 -m pip install pypdf reportlab pdfplumber
Each helper script checks imports lazily and prints an install hint if a dependency is missing.

How to Run

Explains the idea itself. Read it slowly; the later sections build on it.

All helpers live in scripts/ and are argparse CLIs — run them with the terminal tool; every one supports --help. They read/write JSON strictly as UTF-8, print JSON results to stdout, and exit non-zero on failure.

Shell11 lines

python3 scripts/pdf_create.py spec.json -o out.pdf         # build PDF from JSON spec
python3 scripts/pdf_read.py doc.pdf --text                 # per-page text (JSON)
python3 scripts/pdf_read.py doc.pdf --tables --csv-dir t/  # tables to JSON + CSV files
python3 scripts/pdf_read.py doc.pdf --meta                 # metadata, page sizes, encrypted/scanned flags
python3 scripts/pdf_read.py form.pdf --fields              # form fields: name, type, value
python3 scripts/pdf_merge.py a.pdf b.pdf -o merged.pdf [--bookmarks]
python3 scripts/pdf_split.py doc.pdf --pages 1-3,7 -o part.pdf [--rotate 90]
python3 scripts/pdf_fill_form.py form.pdf --fields-json values.json -o filled.pdf [--flatten]
python3 scripts/pdf_secure.py doc.pdf --encrypt -o enc.pdf --user-password your-password
python3 scripts/pdf_secure.py enc.pdf --decrypt -o dec.pdf --password your-password
python3 scripts/pdf_watermark.py doc.pdf --stamp mark.pdf -o stamped.pdf [--under]

Quick Reference

A lookup table. Do not read it all; find the row that applies to you.

Task	Tool	Command / API
Create doc (headings, tables, images)	reportlab platypus	`pdf_create.py spec.json -o out.pdf`
Per-page text	pdfplumber	`pdf_read.py f.pdf --text`
Tables → JSON/CSV	pdfplumber	`pdf_read.py f.pdf --tables`
Metadata / sizes / encrypted / scanned	pypdf + pdfplumber	`pdf_read.py f.pdf --meta`
Merge (+ outline)	pypdf	`pdf_merge.py a.pdf b.pdf -o m.pdf`
Split / extract / rotate	pypdf	`pdf_split.py f.pdf --pages 2-5 --rotate 90`
List / fill / flatten form	pypdf	`pdf_read.py --fields`, `pdf_fill_form.py`
Encrypt / decrypt (AES-256)	pypdf	`pdf_secure.py --encrypt/--decrypt`
Watermark / stamp	pypdf	`pdf_watermark.py f.pdf --stamp w.pdf`
Compress content streams	pypdf	`pdf_split.py f.pdf --pages 1-N --compress`

Procedure

Explains the idea itself. Read it slowly; the later sections build on it.

Inspect first. Run pdf_read.py file.pdf --meta. Check encrypted (if true, decrypt first with pdf_secure.py --decrypt) and likely_scanned_pages. If pages are image-only, hand off to the ocr-and-documents skill — do not report empty text as "no content".
Create. Write a JSON spec with write_file (elements: heading, paragraph, table, image, pagebreak; optional title/author metadata; page numbers are added automatically), then run pdf_create.py. Verify visually with vision_analyze on a rendered page image if layout matters.
Extract. --text gives a JSON list of per-page strings; --tables gives row arrays per page and can also emit CSV files. Read results with read_file; never eyeball a binary PDF directly.
Manipulate. pdf_merge.py concatenates and can add one bookmark per source file; pdf_split.py handles page ranges (1-based, e.g. 1-3,5,9-), rotation in 90° steps, and --compress. Watermark by preparing a single-page stamp PDF (e.g. via pdf_create.py) and overlaying it with pdf_watermark.py.
Forms. List fields (--fields) to learn exact names and types, write a UTF-8 JSON of {"FieldName": "value"} with write_file (checkboxes accept true/false; radio/choice values must match the field's export options), then pdf_fill_form.py. Re-read with --fields to confirm values landed.
Secure. Encrypt with distinct user/owner passwords and AES-256. To remove a password you know, --decrypt writes an unencrypted copy.
Verify (see below) before reporting success.

Pitfalls

Explains the idea itself. Read it slowly; the later sections build on it.

Scanned PDFs: empty extract_text() plus page images means there is no text layer. Route to ocr-and-documents; do not fabricate text.
Flattening limits: pdf_fill_form.py --flatten uses pypdf's flatten support, which converts widget appearances into page content. It is reliable for plain text fields and checkboxes but can drop or misrender exotic widgets (rich text, custom appearance streams, some radio groups). Verify the flattened output visually with vision_analyze; for bulletproof flattening use an external renderer (e.g. Ghostscript or pdftoppm+reassembly) as a fallback.
NeedAppearances: after filling, viewers only render values if appearance streams exist. The fill script sets the AcroForm NeedAppearances flag so conforming viewers regenerate them; some minimal viewers ignore it — flatten if display fidelity matters.
Non-Latin form values: values are stored correctly (UTF-16), but the field's default font may lack glyphs, so a viewer can show blanks even though the data round-trips. Verify with --fields, not just visually.
Compression expectations: --compress only deflates content streams. Typical savings are 0–20%; it does nothing for PDFs dominated by images or already-compressed streams. It is not a substitute for image downsampling (Ghostscript territory).
Permission flags don't enforce: owner-password permission bits (no-print, no-copy) are polite requests that viewers may honor; any library (including pypdf) can read and strip them. Only the user password actually gates content via encryption. Never present permission flags as security.
Table extraction is heuristic: pdfplumber detects tables from ruling lines/word alignment; borderless or merged-cell tables may need table_settings tuning or manual cleanup.
Page indexing: helper CLIs take 1-based pages; pypdf APIs are 0-based. The scripts convert — don't double-convert.
Rotation must be a multiple of 90; encrypted inputs must be decrypted before any other operation.

Verification

Explains the idea itself. Read it slowly; the later sections build on it.

After create/merge/split: pdf_read.py out.pdf --meta — confirm page_count, and per-page rotation when you rotated.
After extraction: check the JSON is non-empty and spot-check a known string or cell.
After form fill: pdf_read.py filled.pdf --fields and compare values (exact match, including non-ASCII).
After encrypt: --meta shows "encrypted": true and opening without a password fails; after decrypt, text extraction matches the original.
For anything visual (watermarks, flattened forms), render and inspect with vision_analyze.