Add PDF Reader

Adds PDF reading capability to all container agents using poppler-utils (pdftotext/pdfinfo). PDFs sent as WhatsApp attachments are auto-downloaded to the group workspace.

Phase 1: Pre-flight

1. Check if

   container/skills/pdf-reader/pdf-reader

   exists — skip to Phase 3 if already applied
2. Confirm WhatsApp is installed first (

   skill/whatsapp

   merged). This skill modifies WhatsApp channel files.

Phase 2: Apply Code Changes

Ensure WhatsApp fork remote

git remote -v

If

whatsapp

is missing, add it:

git remote add whatsapp https://github.com/qwibitai/nanoclaw-whatsapp.git

Merge the skill branch

git fetch whatsapp skill/pdf-reader
git merge whatsapp/skill/pdf-reader || {
  git checkout --theirs package-lock.json
  git add package-lock.json
  git merge --continue
}

This merges in:

• container/skills/pdf-reader/SKILL.md

  (agent-facing documentation)

• container/skills/pdf-reader/pdf-reader

  (CLI script)

• poppler-utils

  in

  container/Dockerfile

• PDF attachment download in

  src/channels/whatsapp.ts

• PDF tests in

  src/channels/whatsapp.test.ts

If the merge reports conflicts, resolve them by reading the conflicted files and understanding the intent of both sides.

Validate

npm run build
npx vitest run src/channels/whatsapp.test.ts

Rebuild container

./container/build.sh

Restart service

launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.nanoclaw  # macOS
# Linux: systemctl --user restart nanoclaw

Phase 3: Verify

Test PDF extraction

Send a PDF file in any registered WhatsApp chat. The agent should:

1. Download the PDF to

   attachments/

2. Respond acknowledging the PDF
3. Be able to extract text when asked

Test URL fetching

Ask the agent to read a PDF from a URL. It should use

pdf-reader fetch <url>

.

Check logs if needed

tail -f logs/nanoclaw.log | grep -i pdf

Look for:

• Downloaded PDF attachment

  — successful download

• Failed to download PDF attachment

  — media download issue

Troubleshooting

Agent says pdf-reader command not found

Container needs rebuilding. Run

./container/build.sh

and restart the service.

PDF text extraction is empty

The PDF may be scanned (image-based). pdftotext only handles text-based PDFs. Consider using the agent-browser to open the PDF visually instead.

WhatsApp PDF not detected

Verify the message has

documentMessage

with

mimetype: application/pdf

. Some file-sharing apps send PDFs as generic files without the correct mimetype.