benspdf
Server Configuration
Describes the environment variables required to run the server.
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| BENSTOOLS_WORKSPACE | No | Set to put the scratch folder somewhere other than ~/.benstools/work. |
Instructions
Guidance the server publishes about itself, which clients place ahead of the tool catalog so the model reads it before choosing anything.
This server publishes no instructions, or was last inspected before Glama recorded them.
Capabilities
Features and capabilities supported by this server
Protocol revision2025-11-25
| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| tools | {
"listChanged": false
} |
| prompts | {
"listChanged": false
} |
| resources | {
"subscribe": false,
"listChanged": false
} |
| experimental | {} |
Tools
Functions exposed to the LLM to take actions
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| exportA | Save one or more results to a real location on disk. The only tool that writes to the user's filesystem, so call it once at the end, when they have said where the output should go. Never hand an artifact id back as if it were a finished file; artifacts expire. Args:
refs: Artifact id, or list of artifact ids, to export.
dest: Where to write. For a single artifact this may be a full file
path. For several artifacts, or when |
| list_artifactsA | List recent temporary artifacts in the workspace, newest first. Useful when you have lost track of an artifact id from earlier in the conversation, so you can find it again instead of redoing the work. Args: limit: Maximum number of artifacts to return. |
| discardA | Delete temporary artifacts from the workspace now. Only accepts artifact ids, never file paths, so this cannot delete the user's own files. Artifacts expire on their own, so this is only needed when the user explicitly asks to clean up. Args: refs: Artifact id, or list of artifact ids, to delete. |
| pdf_page_countA | Count the pages in a PDF. Answers "how many pages is this?". Reads only the document's page tree, so it stays cheap on large files. It does not read page text, page sizes, or document properties. Args: ref: PDF file path, or a workspace artifact id. |
| pdf_metadataA | Read a PDF's document properties: title, author, dates, producer, keywords. Answers "who made this, when, and with what". It does not count pages (use pdf_page_count) and says nothing about whether the pages hold readable text (use pdf_check_text). A PDF can store these fields in two independent places, the legacy Info
dictionary and an XMP packet, and the two often disagree. The normalized
answer is at the top level, preferring XMP, with Args: ref: PDF file path, or a workspace artifact id. |
| pdf_check_textA | Check whether a PDF has a text layer, looks scanned, or needs OCR. Answers "can I read this, or is it a picture of a document?". Worth running before extracting text from a file you have not seen.
Samples up to 10 pages spread across the document, so a true Args: ref: PDF file path, or a workspace artifact id. |
| pdf_check_accessA | Check a PDF's encryption and what it permits: printing, copying, editing. Answers "is this locked, and what am I allowed to do with it?".
Treat restrictions as what the file asks of viewers, not as enforcement: once a document is open nothing stops the bits being ignored, and a file that denies copying still yields its text to pdf_extract_text. Report them as the author's intent, never as an action being impossible. Worth reaching for when another tool reports a file as encrypted; this one still answers, since the encryption dictionary is readable when the pages are not. Args: ref: PDF file path, or a workspace artifact id. |
| pdf_page_layoutA | Measure a PDF's page sizes, orientation and rotation. Answers "what size is this, is it all the same, and why does one page come out sideways?". Reads page geometry only, so it stays cheap on long documents.
Pass It does not look at page content; for whether the pages hold readable text use pdf_check_text. Args: ref: PDF file path, or a workspace artifact id. pages: Optional page range for per page detail. Omit for groups only. |
| pdf_render_pagesA | Render PDF pages to images, so a page can be looked at rather than read. Use it to see what a page looks like: checking a change landed (did a redaction remove content, did a split cut where intended), previewing, and pages where appearance is the content — handwriting, signatures, charts, checkbox state. For reading a scan prefer pdf_ocr, whose text layer is searchable and needs no vision model; render when OCR is unavailable or would mangle what matters. Every page is saved as a PNG artifact and its id returned. With Args: ref: PDF file path, or a workspace artifact id. pages: Which pages: "1-20", "3", "1,5,9-12" or "all". Defaults to all, up to the per-call limit. dpi: Resolution, 36 to 600. 150 suits reading and previewing. view: Return the images to look at, not just artifact ids. |
| create_test_pdf_fileA | Create a test PDF, handy for trying the other tools without hunting for one. The pages are blank, so this is for exercising tools rather than for anything that needs real content. Args: output_path: Optional path to also write the PDF to. Omit to keep it as a temporary artifact. num_pages: Number of blank pages to create (default: 3) title: Optional title for the PDF metadata |
Prompts
Interactive templates invoked by user choice
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
No prompts | |
Resources
Contextual data attached and managed by the client
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
No resources | |
TDQS
Scored across 10 tools
Each of the six PDF inspection tools targets a genuinely different aspect: page count, metadata stores, text layer/OCR need, encryption/permissions, page geometry, and visual rendering. Descriptions actively cross-reference and delimit each other (e.g. 'for whether pages hold readable text use pdf_check_text'), leaving no real overlap. The workspace tools (discard/list_artifacts/export/create_test_pdf_file) are likewise distinct in purpose.
Most PDF tools share a 'pdf_' prefix, but verb/noun ordering is inconsistent (pdf_page_count and pdf_metadata are noun-first while pdf_check_text and pdf_render_pages are verb-first), and the four workspace tools drop the prefix entirely (discard, export, list_artifacts, create_test_pdf_file). All snake_case keeps it readable, but the convention is mixed rather than predictable.
Ten tools is well-scoped for a PDF utility server, with a coherent split between PDF inspection (six tools), artifact/file lifecycle (three tools), and a test-fixture generator. Each tool earns its place without redundancy.
Several descriptions explicitly point users to pdf_extract_text and pdf_ocr ('use pdf_extract_text', 'prefer pdf_ocr'), yet neither tool is in the set, so the surface can check for text and render pages but cannot extract text or run OCR. Core inspection and output/export flows are covered, but this text-extraction hole is a notable gap.