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vosslabvosslab/vosslab-skills/skills/documentation/pdf-guide/SKILL.md

pdf-guide

Skill5 starsChanged 21 days agoMITView on GitHub

Use when PDF rendering, pagination, or visual page layout is part of correctness while reading, creating, or reviewing a PDF.

  • Installs packages

The file

Show its rules and text

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

20 rules. About 0 are common, 13 are distinctive, and 7 are very specific to this project.

  • ≈0

    Common · estimate

    Many files like this have a rule of this kind.

  • ≈13

    Distinctive · estimate

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 7

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Distinctive:

    Read or review PDF content where layout and visuals matter.

    line 10
  2. Distinctive:

    Create PDFs programmatically with reliable formatting.

    line 11
  3. Distinctive:

    Prefer visual review: render PDF pages to temporary PNGs and inspect them.

    line 15
  4. Distinctive:

    Keep final named review screenshots as inspected WebP files at quality 90.

    line 16
  5. Very specific:

    Use pdftoppm if available.

    line 17
  6. Distinctive:

    If unavailable, install Poppler or ask the user to review the output locally.

    line 18
  7. Very specific:

    Use reportlab to generate PDFs when creating new documents.

    line 19
  8. Very specific:

    Use pdfplumber (or pypdf) for text extraction and quick checks.

    line 20
  9. Distinctive:

    After each meaningful update, re-render pages and verify alignment, spacing, and legibility.

    line 21
  10. Very specific:

    Use tmp/pdfs/ for intermediate files.

    line 24
  11. Very specific:

    Write final artifacts under output/pdf/ when working in this repo.

    line 25
  12. Distinctive:

    Keep filenames stable and descriptive.

    line 26
  13. Very specific:

    Prefer uv for dependency management.

    line 29
  14. Very specific:

    If uv is unavailable:

    line 35
  15. Distinctive:

    If installation isn't possible in this environment, tell the user which dependency is missing and how to install it locally.

    line 48
  16. Distinctive:

    No required environment variables.

    line 51
  17. Distinctive:

    Avoid rendering issues: clipped text, overlapping elements, broken tables, black squares, or unreadable glyphs.

    line 60
  18. Distinctive:

    Use ASCII hyphens only. Avoid U+2011 (non-breaking hyphen) and other Unicode dashes.

    line 62
  19. Distinctive:

    Do not deliver until the latest PNG inspection shows zero visual or formatting defects.

    line 66
  20. Distinctive:

    Keep intermediate files organized or remove them after final approval.

    line 68

≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

PDF Guide

When to use

  • Read or review PDF content where layout and visuals matter.
  • Create PDFs programmatically with reliable formatting.
  • Validate final rendering before delivery.

Workflow

  1. Prefer visual review: render PDF pages to temporary PNGs and inspect them. Keep final named review screenshots as inspected WebP files at quality 90.
    • Use pdftoppm if available.
    • If unavailable, install Poppler or ask the user to review the output locally.
  2. Use reportlab to generate PDFs when creating new documents.
  3. Use pdfplumber (or pypdf) for text extraction and quick checks; do not rely on it for layout fidelity.
  4. After each meaningful update, re-render pages and verify alignment, spacing, and legibility.

Temp and output conventions

  • Use tmp/pdfs/ for intermediate files; delete when done.
  • Write final artifacts under output/pdf/ when working in this repo.
  • Keep filenames stable and descriptive.

Dependencies (install if missing)

Prefer uv for dependency management.

Python packages:

uv pip install reportlab pdfplumber pypdf

If uv is unavailable:

python3 -m pip install reportlab pdfplumber pypdf

System tools (for rendering):

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install poppler

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install -y poppler-utils

If installation isn't possible in this environment, tell the user which dependency is missing and how to install it locally.

Environment

No required environment variables.

Rendering command

pdftoppm -png $INPUT_PDF $OUTPUT_PREFIX

Quality expectations

  • Maintain polished visual design: consistent typography, spacing, margins, and section hierarchy.
  • Avoid rendering issues: clipped text, overlapping elements, broken tables, black squares, or unreadable glyphs.
  • Charts, tables, and images must be sharp, aligned, and clearly labeled.
  • Use ASCII hyphens only. Avoid U+2011 (non-breaking hyphen) and other Unicode dashes.
  • Citations and references must be human-readable; never leave tool tokens or placeholder strings.

Final checks

  • Do not deliver until the latest PNG inspection shows zero visual or formatting defects.
  • Confirm headers/footers, page numbering, and section transitions look polished.
  • Keep intermediate files organized or remove them after final approval.

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