OpenParable
Skip to content
← Back to skills

PDF Translator

Documents
pdf_translator

PDF Translator is an Agent Skill for documents published in the ForceInjection/AI-fundamentals repository on GitHub: a SKILL.md instruction file an AI agent can load to do this task.

Extract text from PDF files, translate it to a target language, and save the result as a Markdown file. Use this skill when the user wants to translate a PDF document or asks to "convert PDF to Chinese".

View on GitHub ↗
QUICK START

How to use this skill

Bring this guide into your coding agent with a prompt tailored to the tool you use.

  1. Open your project in Codex.
  2. Copy and paste the prompt below.
  3. Review files and risks before approving any action.
Prompt to paste
Inspect the Agent Skill at https://github.com/ForceInjection/AI-fundamentals/blob/HEAD/08_agentic_system/agent_skills/pdf_translator/SKILL.md and all supporting files. Report provenance, permissions, scripts, dependencies, and security risks. Propose an exact installation into .agents/skills/pdf-translator, but wait for my approval before writing files or running scripts.

Copying this prompt does not install or run the skill. Review third-party files before use.

PDF Translator Skill

Instructions

Follow these steps to translate a PDF file:

  1. Identify the PDF File: Confirm the path to the PDF file the user wants to translate. If the path is relative, resolve it to an absolute path.
  2. Extract Text: Use the extract_text.py script located in the scripts directory of this skill to extract text from the PDF.
    • Command: python3 skills/pdf_translator/scripts/extract_text.py <path_to_pdf>
    • Note: Ensure you are using the correct python environment (e.g., .venv/bin/python if applicable, or just python3 if dependencies are installed globally).
  3. Translate Content:
    • Read the output from the extraction step.
    • Translate the extracted text into the target language requested by the user (default to the user's primary language or English if ambiguous).
    • Maintain the original structure (headings, paragraphs) as much as possible using Markdown formatting.
  4. Save Output:
    • Write the translated content to a temporary text file (e.g., temp_translation.txt).
    • Use the generate_md.py script to create the final Markdown file with metadata.
    • Command: python3 skills/pdf_translator/scripts/generate_md.py <output_path> <original_filename> <temp_translation_file>
    • Filename format: <original_filename>_translated.md.
    • Notify the user of the output file location.
    • Clean up the temporary text file.

Examples

User: "Translate the file papers/deep_learning.pdf to Chinese."

Claude:

  1. Locates papers/deep_learning.pdf.
  2. Runs: python3 skills/pdf_translator/scripts/extract_text.py papers/deep_learning.pdf
  3. Translates the extracted text to Chinese.
  4. Writes translation to temp_translation.txt.
  5. Runs: python3 skills/pdf_translator/scripts/generate_md.py papers/deep_learning_translated.md deep_learning.pdf temp_translation.txt
  6. Removes temp_translation.txt.
  7. Responds: "I have translated the PDF and saved it to papers/deep_learning_translated.md."

User: "Help me read this manual.pdf"

Claude:

  1. Locates manual.pdf.
  2. Runs extraction script.
  3. Translates/Summarizes based on user intent.