pdftk-server

Name: pdftk-server
Author: github

github.com/githubDocuments40.5k10.0k installsUpdated 1d ago

About pdftk-server

PDFtk Server is a command-line tool and skill for manipulating PDF documents. It is intended for users who need to edit, secure, inspect, or repair PDFs through terminal commands, with operations ranging from page changes to form filling and metadata extraction.

Key features

01Merge, split, and remove pages
02Rotate and collate pages
03Encrypt and decrypt PDFs
04Fill and flatten form fields
05Apply watermarks and stamps
06Extract metadata and repair PDFs

Use cases

01Combine or extract pages from PDFs
02Secure documents with passwords
03Populate and flatten PDF forms
04Inspect metadata or repair damaged files

Install

Copy the command and run it in a terminal.

$npx skills add https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot --skill pdftk-server

After installing, type/pdftk-serverin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.

Bundled files

References and scripts installed along with SKILL.md.

references/

download.md

pdftk-cli-examples.md

pdftk-man-page.md

pdftk-server-license.md

third-party-materials.md

Details

From the project README

PDFtk Server

PDFtk Server is a command-line tool for working with PDF documents. It can merge, split, rotate, encrypt, decrypt, watermark, stamp, fill forms, extract metadata, and manipulate PDFs in a variety of ways.

When to Use This Skill

Merging or joining multiple PDF files into one
Splitting or bursting a PDF into individual pages
Rotating PDF pages
Encrypting or decrypting PDF files
Filling PDF form fields from FDF/XFDF data
Applying background watermarks or foreground stamps
Extracting PDF metadata, bookmarks, or form field information
Repairing corrupted PDF files
Attaching or extracting files embedded in PDFs
Removing specific pages from a PDF
Collating separately scanned even/odd pages
Compressing or decompressing PDF page streams

Prerequisites

PDFtk Server must be installed on the system
- Windows: winget install --id PDFLabs.PDFtk.Server
- macOS: brew install pdftk-java
- Linux (Debian/Ubuntu): sudo apt-get install pdftk
- Linux (Red Hat/Fedora): sudo dnf install pdftk
Access to a terminal or command prompt
Verify installation by running pdftk --version

Step-by-Step Workflows

Merge Multiple PDFs

pdftk file1.pdf file2.pdf cat output merged.pdf

Using handles for more control:

pdftk A=file1.pdf B=file2.pdf cat A B output merged.pdf

Split a PDF into Individual Pages

pdftk input.pdf burst

Extract Specific Pages

Extract pages 1-5 and 10-15:

pdftk input.pdf cat 1-5 10-15 output extracted.pdf

Remove Specific Pages

Remove page 13:

pdftk input.pdf cat 1-12 14-end output output.pdf

Rotate Pages

Rotate all pages 90 degrees clockwise:

pdftk input.pdf cat 1-endeast output rotated.pdf

Encrypt a PDF

Set an owner password and a user password with 128-bit encryption (default):

pdftk input.pdf output secured.pdf owner_pw mypassword user_pw userpass

Decrypt a PDF

Remove encryption using the known password:

pdftk secured.pdf input_pw mypassword output unsecured.pdf

Fill a PDF Form

Populate form fields from an FDF file and flatten to prevent further edits:

pdftk form.pdf fill_form data.fdf output filled.pdf flatten

Apply a Background Watermark

Place a single-page PDF behind every page of the input (input should have transparency):

pdftk input.pdf background watermark.pdf output watermarked.pdf

Stamp an Overlay

Place a single-page PDF on top of every page of the input:

pdftk input.pdf stamp overlay.pdf output stamped.pdf

Extract Metadata

Export bookmarks, page metrics, and document information:

pdftk input.pdf dump_data output metadata.txt

Repair a Corrupted PDF

Pass a broken PDF through pdftk to attempt automatic repair:

pdftk broken.pdf output fixed.pdf

Collate Scanned Pages

Interleave separately scanned even and odd pages:

pdftk A=even.pdf B=odd.pdf shuffle A B output collated.pdf

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
`pdftk` command not found	Verify installation; check that pdftk is in your system PATH
Cannot decrypt PDF	Ensure you are providing the correct owner or user password via `input_pw`
Output file is empty or corrupt	Check input file integrity; try running `pdftk input.pdf output repaired.pdf` first
Form fields not visible after fill	Use the `flatten` flag to merge fields into the page content
Watermark not appearing	Ensure the input PDF has transparent regions; use `stamp` for opaque overlays
Permission denied errors	Check file permissions on input and output paths

References

Bundled reference documents in the references/ folder:

pdftk-man-page.md - Complete manual reference with all operations, options, and syntax
pdftk-cli-examples.md - Practical command-line examples for common tasks
download.md - Installation and download instructions for all platforms
pdftk-server-license.md - PDFtk Server licensing information
third-party-materials.md - Third-party library licenses

Comments

Markdown supported

Details

Author: github
Repository: github/awesome-copilot
Category: Documents
Installs: 9,981
GitHub stars: 40,516

Report

More skills

All skills

handoff

github.com/mattpocock

1.1M

Compact the current conversation into a handoff document for another agent to pick up

lark-doc

open.feishu.cn

823.9k

Operate on Feishu cloud documents (Docx / Wiki): read, create, and edit documents; insert or download image attachments; and work with mind notes. Use when the user provides a document URL/token (including /docx/ or /wiki/ on doubao.com); route by URL path/token rather than domain. `/page/<token>` is a Miaoda app, not a Feishu cloud document. Route embedded document resources according to the unified rules in the reading reference. Use lark-drive for standalone comment operations; use docs +fetch to read comments alongside the main text. Operations on spreadsheet or Base internal data are outside this skill.

lark-drive

open.feishu.cn

823.2k

Feishu cloud storage (Drive): manage Drive files and folders, including uploads/downloads, folder creation, copying/moving/deleting, viewing metadata, checking permission settings, comments/permissions/subscriptions, titles, versions, Feishu document security labels (secure labels), and local file imports. Use when users need to organize Drive folders, handle cloud storage resource URLs/tokens, identify link types/actual tokens/titles, or import Word/Markdown/Excel/CSV/PPTX/.base as docx/sheet/bitable/slides. Route doubao.com cloud storage URLs/tokens by resource path and token too; do not fall back to WebFetch. Not responsible for: editing document content (use lark-doc), spreadsheet/Base table data operations (use lark-sheets/lark-base), knowledge space node/member management (use lark-wiki), or native Markdown file read/write/patch/diff (use lark-markdown).

lark-sheets

open.feishu.cn

821.8k

Feishu Spreadsheets: create and operate spreadsheets. Supports worksheets and row/column structures (add/delete/merge/size/hide/freeze/group), cell read/write (values/formulas/styles/comments/cell images), range copy/move/sort/fill, find and replace, bulk updates, and creating and maintaining objects such as charts, pivot tables, conditional formatting, filters and filter views, dropdown lists, sparklines, and floating images. Also supports formula validation, restoring historical versions, and importing/exporting local Excel/CSV files and Feishu spreadsheets. Use when users need to create or edit spreadsheets, summarize and visualize data, format spreadsheets, calculate formulas (including migrating Excel formulas), or build financial models (DCF, three statements, budgets, Sensitivity, etc.). For multidimensional tables (Base/bitable), use lark-base. If users want to search for spreadsheet files in cloud storage (Drive/cloud storage) by name or keyword, use lark-drive's drive +search to locate resources first. When users provide a doubao.com /sheets/ URL/token, use this skill directly; do not fall back to WebFetch because the domain is not Feishu. Routing is based on the URL path pattern and token, not the domain.