Documents

PDF Editor

Edit, merge, split, rotate, and convert PDFs from the command line with the ComPDFKit CLI engine.

What it does

PDF Editor wraps the ComPDFKit CLI binary to perform common page-level PDF operations: split, merge, extract, rotate, delete, insert (from another PDF or image), convert to PDF/A, PDF/X, PDF/E or PDF/UA standards, optimize for size, compare two documents as overlays, and apply text or image watermarks. On first use the agent downloads the CLI from download.compdf.com and activates a free trial license via email. The skill runs on Windows and Mac; encrypted files are skipped automatically during merge.

When to use it

Merging several PDFs into a single file
Splitting or extracting specific page ranges
Converting documents to PDF/A or PDF/UA for archival
Compressing large PDFs by lowering image quality and PPI

The skill document

PDF Editor — PDF Document Processing CLI Tool

Platform Detection (Agent must execute automatically)

Before running any CLI command, the Agent must automatically detect the platform (read env.platform: win32→Windows, darwin→Mac; or run uname -s). Do NOT ask the user about their platform.

Variable	[Windows]	[Mac]
``	`{skill_root}/scripts/win/compdf_cli.exe`	`{skill_root}/scripts/mac/compdf_cli`
``	`{skill_root}/scripts/win/license_key_windows.xml`	`{skill_root}/scripts/mac/license_key_mac.xml`
``	`{"email":""}`	`{"email":""}`
``	`{skill_root}/scripts/win/PDFA/sRGB2014.icc`	`{skill_root}/scripts/mac/PDFA/sRGB2014.icc`
``	`{skill_root}/scripts/win/PDFA/CoatedFOGRA39.icc`	`{skill_root}/scripts/mac/PDFA/CoatedFOGRA39.icc`
Shell syntax	`cmd` + `REM`	`bash` + `#`

{skill_root} = the absolute path of the directory containing this SKILL.md.

CLI Download & Installation (Required on first use)

The CLI binary is not included in the Skill package. It is downloaded from the official ComPDFKit distribution server (download.compdf.com) operated by PDF Technologies, Inc. The Agent must complete the following steps before the first execution:

Check whether `` exists → skip if it does
Inform the user that the CLI binary will be downloaded from download.compdf.com (official ComPDFKit CDN)
Download the appropriate archive for the platform:
- [Windows]: https://download.compdf.com/skills/winCLI/win.zip
- [Mac]: https://download.compdf.com/skills/macCLI/mac.zip
Extract the archive to the {skill_root}/scripts/ directory (the zip already contains a win/ or mac/ prefix, so the correct directory structure is formed automatically after extraction)
[Mac] After extraction, run: chmod +x {skill_root}/scripts/mac/compdf_cli
Verify: run --help to confirm the binary is executable

Download is performed once on first use only; no re-download is needed on subsequent runs.

License Activation (Required on first use)

Check whether `` exists → skip if it does
Ask the user for their email address (explain: the email is sent to the official ComPDFKit license server to obtain a free trial license; no other data is transmitted)
After the user confirms, send POST https://wms.compdf.com/api/license/skillsTrial, Body: ``
- code=200: write the data.license XML to ``
- code=500: prompt the user to retry with a different email address
Run --help to verify activation

Common Options

The following options apply to all commands (they are not repeated in individual command references):

Option	Description	Default
`--output, -o`	Output file path or directory	Directory of the input file
`--name`	Output filename	`{original_filename}_{command_name}.pdf`
`--overwrite`	Allow overwriting existing files	No

Command Reference

split — Split PDF

split [options]

Option	Description	Default
`--mode`	`all`=split into individual pages, `range`=split by range	`all`
`--range`	Page range, e.g.`"1-3"` (range mode only)	—

Output naming: all → {original_filename}_page_{page_number}.pdf; range → {original_filename}_pages_{start}-{end}.pdf

merge — Merge PDFs

merge [file3.pdf ...] [options]

Encrypted PDFs are skipped automatically; if fewer than 2 unencrypted files remain, the command fails.

extract — Extract Pages

extract --range [options]

Option	Description
`--range`	Required, e.g. `"2-5"` or `"3"`

rotate — Rotate Pages

rotate --pages --angle <90|180|270> [options]

Option	Description
`--pages`	Required, page range
`--angle <90	180

delete — Delete Pages

delete --pages [options]

Option	Description
`--pages`	Required, page range to delete

insert — Insert Pages/Images

 insert  --source  --pages  --at  [options]
 insert  --image  --at  --width  --height  [options]

Option	Description
`--source`	Source PDF (mutually exclusive with`--image`)
`--image`	Image path (mutually exclusive with`--source`)
`--pages`	Page range from the source PDF;`--source` mode only
`--at`	Required, insert before page N (1-based)
`--width` / `--height`	Image page dimensions;`--image` mode only (A4: 595×842)

convert — Standard Format Conversion

convert --standard [options]

Option	Description	Default
`--standard`	Required: `pdfa-1a` `pdfa-1b` `pdfa-2a` `pdfa-2b` `pdfa-2u` `pdfx-4` `pdfe-1` `pdfua-1`	—
`--icc`	ICC profile file	`or`
`--title`	PDF/UA title (`pdfua-1` only)	Input filename
`--language`	PDF/UA language (`pdfua-1` only)	Win:`en-US` / Mac: `en`

--language supported values: Win en-US/zh-CN/ja-JP/ko-KR/fr-FR/de-DE | Mac en/zh/ja/ko

Examples:

 convert "report.pdf" --standard pdfa-1a --overwrite
 convert "report.pdf" --standard pdfua-1 --title "My Document" --language zh-CN --overwrite

optimize — Document Optimization & Compression

optimize [options]

Option	Description	Default
`--compress-images`	Enable image compression	No
`--image-quality <0-100>`	Image quality	`50`
`--target-ppi`	Target image PPI	`150`
`--upper-ppi`	Compression upper-limit PPI	Win`300` / Mac `225`
`--image-alg`	`jpeg`/`jpeg2000`/`jbig2`/`ccitt3`/`ccitt4`	`jpeg2000`
`--fast-web-view`	Fast Web View optimization	No
`--optimize-page-content`	Page content optimization	No
`--remove-annotations`	Remove annotations	No
`--remove-bookmarks`	Remove bookmarks	No
`--remove-form`	Remove forms	No
`--remove-metadata`	Remove metadata	No
`--remove-doc-info`	Remove document info	No
`--incremental`	Incremental save mode	No

Default behavior: removes unused/empty objects and enables Flate compression. Image compression is only enabled when --compress-images or image-related parameters are explicitly passed.

Examples:

 optimize "report.pdf" --overwrite
 optimize "report.pdf" --compress-images --image-quality 55 --target-ppi 144 --overwrite

compare — Overlay Document Comparison

compare [options]

Option	Description	Default
`--old-pages` / `--new-pages`	Page range	All pages
`--old-color` / `--new-color`	Stroke color`R,G,B`	`255,0,0` / `0,0,255`
`--old-stroke-alpha` / `--new-stroke-alpha`	Stroke opacity 0-1	`0.8`
`--old-fill-alpha` / `--new-fill-alpha`	Fill opacity 0-1	`0.2`
`--no-fill`	Hide fill	No
`--blend-mode`	`normal`/`multiply`/`screen`/`overlay`/`darken`/`lighten`/`difference`	`overlay`

watermark-text — Add Text Watermark

watermark-text --text [options]

watermark-image — Add Image Watermark

watermark-image --image [options]

Shared Watermark Options

Option	Description	[Win] Default	[Mac] Default
`--text`	Watermark text (watermark-text only)	—	—
`--image`	Image path (watermark-image only)	—	—
`--pages`	Page range to apply	All	All
`--font`	Font (text only)	`Helvetica`	`Helvetica`
`--font-size`	Font size (text only)	`24`	`48.0`
`--color`	Text color (text only)	`192,192,192`	`0,0,0`
`--opacity`	Opacity	`120` (0-255)	`0.5` (0-1)
`--rotation`	Rotation angle	`45`	`0.0`
`--scale`	Scale factor	`1.0`	`1.0`
`--h-align` / `--v-align`	Alignment`left	center	right`/`top
`--x-offset` / `--y-offset`	Offset	`0`	`0`
`--h-spacing` / `--v-spacing`	Spacing	`80`	`0.0`
`--front` / `--back`	Foreground/background	Foreground	Foreground
`--full-screen` / `--single`	Tiled/single	Tiled	Must be passed explicitly

⚠️ Mac: --full-screen is not enabled by default; tiled watermarks must be passed explicitly.

Examples — [Windows]:

 watermark-text "report.pdf" --text "CONFIDENTIAL" --overwrite
 watermark-image "report.pdf" --image "logo.png" --scale 0.5 --opacity 100 --overwrite

Examples — [Mac]:

 watermark-text "report.pdf" --text "CONFIDENTIAL" --full-screen --overwrite
 watermark-image "report.pdf" --image "logo.png" --scale 0.5 --opacity 0.3 --full-screen --overwrite

watermark-delete — Remove All Watermarks

watermark-delete [options]

[Win] DeleteWatermarks() removes all watermarks; [Mac] iterates and removes one by one. Selective removal is not supported.

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning	Action
`0`	Success	—
`1`	Parameter error	Check required parameters
`2`	File not found	Check path; wrap paths with spaces in double quotes
`3`	Runtime error	PDF processing failed or output directory is not writable
`4`	License failure	Missing → run activation; Expired → direct user tocontact sales

Usage Patterns (Agent quick reference)

User says	Command
"Split into single pages"	`split "input.pdf" --mode all --overwrite`
"Merge PDFs"	`merge "a.pdf" "b.pdf" --output "merged.pdf" --overwrite`
"Extract pages X to Y"	`extract "input.pdf" --range X-Y --output "out.pdf" --overwrite`
"Convert to PDF/A"	`convert "input.pdf" --standard pdfa-1a --overwrite`
"Compress PDF"	`optimize "input.pdf" --compress-images --image-quality 50 --overwrite`
"Compare two PDFs"	`compare "old.pdf" "new.pdf" --overwrite`
"Add text watermark"	`watermark-text "input.pdf" --text "CONFIDENTIAL" --overwrite`
"Add image watermark"	`watermark-image "input.pdf" --image "logo.png" --overwrite`
"Remove watermark"	`watermark-delete "input.pdf" --overwrite`
"Rotate pages"	`rotate "input.pdf" --pages X-Y --angle 90 --overwrite`
"Delete page X"	`delete "input.pdf" --pages X --overwrite`
"Insert pages"	`insert "target.pdf" --source "src.pdf" --pages X --at N --overwrite`
"Insert image"	`insert "target.pdf" --image "img.png" --at N --width 595 --height 842 --overwrite`

⚠️ Mac watermark commands require --full-screen to be passed explicitly (when tiling is desired).

Limitations

Page ranges only support "N" or "N-M"; comma-separated values are not supported
Except for merge (which skips encrypted files automatically), encrypted PDFs will cause an error and exit
Wildcards, output path equal to input path, and multi-threaded parallel execution are not supported
Results of standard format conversion and optimization depend on the content of the input PDF
watermark-delete removes all watermarks; selective removal is not supported
compare performs visual overlay comparison and does not output a structured diff list

Troubleshooting

Issue	Resolution
Exit 4 / License error	`` missing → run activation; exists but still errors → License expired, direct user to https://www.compdf.com/contact-sales?utm_source=clawhub&utm_medium=skillhub&utm_campaign=pdf_skill_pdf_editor&ref_platform_id=clawhub_skills
File not found	Check path; wrap paths containing spaces in double quotes
Page number out of range	First confirm the total page count of the PDF
Standard format conversion failed	Check font embedding and whether the ICC file matches the target standard
Optimize/compare/watermark failed	Confirm the input PDF can be opened and is not encrypted; check parameter format and output path permissions

Security & Privacy

All PDF processing is performed locally. No file content is uploaded.

External Endpoint	Purpose	Data Sent	When	User Consent
`https://download.compdf.com/skills/...`	Download CLI binary	None (HTTP GET)	First use only, if CLI not present	User is informed before download
`POST https://wms.compdf.com/api/license/skillsTrial`	SDK license activation	Email address only	First use only, if license not present	User provides email and confirms

Official Source: Both endpoints are operated by PDF Technologies, Inc. (a KDAN Company), the publisher of ComPDFKit SDK.
No Telemetry: The CLI does not collect usage statistics, crash reports, or any anonymous data.
No Network Dependency: After initial setup, all commands run fully offline without accessing any external services.
License File: The license_key_windows.xml / license_key_mac.xml generated after activation is stored only in the local scripts/ directory.

Copyright & License

License file: License.txt | Terms of Service: https://www.compdf.com/terms-of-service/?utm_source=clawhub&utm_medium=skillhub&utm_campaign=pdf_skill_pdf_editor&ref_platform_id=clawhub_skills
Privacy Policy: https://www.compdf.com/privacy-policy/?utm_source=clawhub&utm_medium=skillhub&utm_campaign=pdf_skill_pdf_editor&ref_platform_id=clawhub_skills | Commercial Licensing: https://www.compdf.com/contact-sales/?utm_source=clawhub&utm_medium=skillhub&utm_campaign=pdf_skill_pdf_editor&ref_platform_id=clawhub_skills