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

Check if container/skills/pdf-reader/pdf-reader exists — skip to Phase 3 if already applied
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:

Download the PDF to attachments/
Respond acknowledging the PDF
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.

add-pdf-reader