view-pdf

Interactive PDF viewer. Use when the user wants to open, show, or view a PDF and collaborate on it visually — annotate, highlight, stamp, fill form fields, place signature/initials, or review markup together. Not for summarization or text extraction (use native Read instead).

By anthropics · 5,996 installs

npx skills add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins --skill view-pdf

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PDF Viewer — Interactive Document Workflows You have access to a local PDF server that renders documents in a live viewer and lets you annotate, fill forms, and place signatures with real time visual feedback. When to use this skill Use the PDF viewer when the user wants interactivity: "Show me this contract" / "Open this paper" "Highlight the key terms and let me review" "Help me fill out this form" "Sign this on page 3" / "Add my initials to each page" "Stamp this CONFIDENTIAL" / "Mark this as approved" "Walk me through this document and annotate the important parts" Do NOT use the viewer for pure ingestion: "Summarize this PDF" → use the native Read tool directly "What does page 5 say?" → use Read "Extract the table from section 3" → use Read The viewer's value is showing the user the document and collaborating on markup — not streaming text back to you. Tools list pdfs List available local PDFs and allowed local directories. No arguments. display pdf Open a PDF in the interactive viewer. Call once per document. url — local file path or HTTPS URL page — initial page (optional, default 1) elicit form inputs — if true , prompts the user to fill form fields before displaying (use for interactive form filling) Returns a viewUUID — pass this to every interact call. Calling display pdf again creates a separate viewer; interact calls with the new UUID won't reach the one the user is looking at. Also returns formFields (name, type, page, bounding box) if the PDF has fillable fields — use these coordinates for signature placement. interact All follow up actions after display pdf . Pass viewUUID plus one or more commands. Batch multiple commands in one call via the commands array — they run sequentially. End batches with get screenshot to verify changes visually. Annotation actions: add annotations — add markup (see types below) update annotations — modify existing (id + type required) remove annotations — delete by id array highlight text — auto find text by query and highlight it (preferred over manual rects for text markup) Navigation actions: navigate (page), search (query), find (query, silent), search navigate (matchIndex), zoom (scale 0.5–3.0) Extraction actions: get text — extract text from page ranges (max 20 pages). Use for reading content to decide what to annotate, NOT for summarization. get screenshot — capture a page as an image (verify your annotations) Form action: fill form — fill named fields: fields: [{name, value}, ...] Annotation Types All annotations need id (unique string), type , page (1 indexed). Coordinates are PDF points (1/72 inch), origin top left , Y increases downward. US Letter is 612×792pt. Type Key properties Use for highlight rects , color? , content? Mark important text underline rects , color? Emphasize terms strikethrough rects , color? Mark deletions note x , y , content , color? Sticky note comments freetext x , y , content , fontSize? Visible text on page rectangle x , y , width , height , color? , fillColor? Box regions circle x , y , width , height , color? , fillColor? Circle regions line x1 , y1 , x2 , y2 , color? Draw lines/arrows stamp x , y , label , color? , rotation? APPROVED, DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, etc. image imageUrl , x? , y? , width? , height? Signatures, initials , logos Image annotations accept a local file path or HTTPS URL (no data: URIs). Dimensions auto detected if omitted. Users can also drag & drop images directly onto the viewer. Interactive Workflows Collaborative annotation (AI driven) 1. display pdf to open the document 2. interact → get text on relevant page range to understand content 3. Propose a batch of annotations to the user (describe what you'll mark) 4. On approval, interact → add annotations + get screenshot 5. Show the user, ask for edits, iterate 6. When done, remind them they can download the annotated PDF from the viewer toolbar Form filling (visual, not programmatic) Unlike headless form tools, this gives the user live visual feedback and handles forms with cryptic/unnamed fields where the label is printed on the page rather than in field metadata. 1. display pdf — inspect returned formFields (name, type, page, bounding box) 2. If field names are cryptic ( Text1 , Field 7 ), get screenshot the pages and match bounding boxes to visual labels 3. Ask the user for values using the visual labels, or infer from context 4. interact → fill form , then get screenshot to show the result 5. User confirms or edits directly in the viewer For simple well labeled forms, display pdf with elicit form inputs: true prompts the user upfront instead. Signing (visual, not certified) 1. Ask for the signature/initials image path 2. display pdf , check formFields for signature type fields or ask which page/position 3. interact → add annotations with type: "image" at the target coordinates 4. get screenshot to confirm placement Disclaimer: This places a visual signature image. It is not a certified or cryptographic digital signature. Supported Sources Local files (paths under client MCP roots) arXiv ( /abs/ URLs auto convert to PDF) Any direct HTTPS PDF URL (bioRxiv, Zenodo, OSF, etc. — use the direct PDF link, not the landing page) Out of Scope Summarization / text extraction — use native Read instead Certified digital signatures — image stamping only PDF creation — this works on existing PDFs only