Claude PDF skill: what it does and how to install it

The Claude PDF skill is Anthropic’s own skill for PDF work: extracting text and tables, merging and splitting files, filling forms, creating new PDFs and making scanned pages searchable. It is built into Claude apps and the Claude API, and in Claude Code you install it from Anthropic’s skills repository:

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills
/plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

Applies to: the pdf skill in anthropics/skills, Claude Code, Claude apps and the Claude API, docs as of October 2, 2026. Last checked: October 2, 2026.

On this page

What the PDF skill covers

The skill lives in skills/pdf of the anthropics/skills repository. The folder holds SKILL.md, two longer guides (forms.md and reference.md), a scripts/ directory and LICENSE.txt (folder listing). In summary, per the files themselves:

The repository README says the four document skills (docx, pdf, pptx, xlsx) are the ones that power Claude’s document capabilities, shared “as a reference for more complex skills that are actively used in a production AI application”. Directory listing: /skills/anthropic-pdf.

How skills load

Anthropic’s Agent Skills overview describes three levels of loading, called progressive disclosure:

For the PDF skill, that means the long form-filling guide stays out of context until a form job comes up. The same page says skills run in a code execution environment with filesystem access, which is why Claude apps require code execution to be on.

Install the PDF skill in Claude Code

The anthropics/skills README gives two routes.

1. Register the repository as a plugin marketplace, inside a Claude Code session:

   /plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills
   

2. Install the document-skills plugin, which bundles the xlsx, docx, pptx and pdf skills (marketplace.json):

   /plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills
   

   The interactive route is Browse and install plugins → anthropic-agent-skills → document-skills → Install now.

3. Ask for it by name or by task. The README’s example prompt is: “Use the PDF skill to extract the form fields from path/to/some-file.pdf”.

Claude Code’s skills docs say plugin skills use a plugin-name:skill-name namespace, so they cannot conflict with personal or project skills, and that Claude uses a skill when relevant or when you invoke it with /skill-name.

The skill’s instructions run Python libraries and command-line tools on your own machine in Claude Code. If a library or tool is missing, the commands it proposes fail until you install it; Claude Code’s normal permission prompts apply to those commands (Claude Code security).

Use it in Claude apps

Anthropic’s help article Use skills in Claude lists “PDF creation and processing” among the Anthropic skills available to all users and says Claude uses them automatically when relevant; you do not invoke them by name. Requirements from the same article:

• Skills are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans and require code execution.
• Free, Pro and Max: turn on Code execution and file creation in Settings > Capabilities, then manage skills in Customize > Skills.
• Team and Enterprise: an owner enables Code execution and file creation and Skills in Organization settings > Skills.

The help article Create and edit files with Claude says code execution and file creation is available to all Claude users on the web, Claude Desktop and Claude Mobile, that Claude can create PDF files you can download or save to Google Drive, and that the maximum file size is 30MB per file for uploads and downloads.

Use it through the Claude API

The Agent Skills quickstart lists the pre-built API skills as pptx, xlsx, docx and pdf. You list them with the Skills API:

curl --fail-with-body -sS "https://api.anthropic.com/v1/skills?source=anthropic" \
  -H "x-api-key: $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" \
  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01"

A request attaches a skill through the container parameter and must include the code execution tool. The quickstart’s example uses pptx; for PDF work the same shape takes "skill_id": "pdf":

{
  "container": {
    "skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "pdf", "version": "latest"}]
  },
  "tools": [{"type": "code_execution_20260521", "name": "code_execution"}]
}

The overview says pre-built skills are available on claude.ai, the Claude API, Claude Platform on AWS and Microsoft Foundry (Foundry requires a Hosted on Anthropic deployment). API usage is billed at API rates; see Anthropic’s pricing page and the API billing listing.

License: source-available, not open source

The README says most skills in the repository are Apache 2.0, but the four document skills “are source-available, not open source”. The PDF skill’s LICENSE.txt ties use to your agreement with Anthropic (or its Consumer or Commercial Terms) and lists restrictions, including no copies outside the Services, no derivative works and no redistribution. In practice: you can read it and use it through Anthropic’s products, but you cannot fork it into your own skill or ship it elsewhere. Write your own PDF skill if you need one you control; Skill Creator is Anthropic’s Apache-licensed skill for that.

Warning

The anthropics/skills README says these skills are “provided for demonstration and educational purposes only”, that Claude’s behavior may differ from what the files show, and to test skills in your own environment before relying on them for critical tasks.