PDF Mechanics

Role

The mechanical layer for PDF work. Domain skills (legal, finance, regulatory packets) decide what the document should say. This skill decides how to produce it correctly. Domain skills delegate here rather than re-derive PDF mechanics each session.

Scope: PDF only. DOCX track-changes, XLSX, image manipulation belong in their own skills.

First step: inspect, then choose path

SOURCE                     GOAL              PATH
──────                     ────              ────
PDF (encrypted)            anything          decrypt first → re-inspect
PDF (AcroForm fields > 0)  fill              scripts/fill_acroform.py
PDF (AcroForm fields > 0)  redline           overlay onto AcroForm; fill is for values, not markup
PDF (flat, 0 fields)       fill              scripts/fill_overlay.py
PDF (flat, 0 fields)       redline           scripts/render_redlines.py
Markdown                   generate PDF      scripts/markdown_to_pdf.py