pdf-oxide — The Fastest PDF CLI Toolkit

A command-line tool for PDF text extraction, markdown conversion, search, merge, split, image extraction, and more. Built on pdf_oxide, the fastest Rust PDF library (0.8ms mean, 100% pass rate on 3,830 PDFs). MIT licensed.

Install

brew install yfedoseev/tap/pdf-oxide    # Homebrew (macOS/Linux)
cargo install pdf_oxide_cli             # Cargo
cargo binstall pdf_oxide_cli            # Pre-built binary via cargo-binstall

Quick Start

pdf-oxide text report.pdf                      # Extract text
pdf-oxide markdown report.pdf -o report.md     # Convert to Markdown
pdf-oxide html report.pdf -o report.html       # Convert to HTML
pdf-oxide search report.pdf "neural.?network"  # Regex search
pdf-oxide images report.pdf -o ./images/       # Extract images
pdf-oxide merge a.pdf b.pdf -o combined.pdf    # Merge PDFs
pdf-oxide split report.pdf -o ./pages/         # Split into pages

All Commands

Command	Description
text	Extract text from PDF pages
markdown	Convert PDF to Markdown with headings, lists, and layout
html	Convert PDF to HTML
search	Search PDF content with regex patterns
images	Extract images to files (PNG, JPEG, etc.)
info	Show PDF metadata, page count, and version
metadata	Read and write PDF metadata fields
merge	Combine multiple PDFs into one
split	Split PDF into individual pages
compress	Reduce PDF file size
encrypt	Password-protect a PDF
decrypt	Remove password from a PDF
rotate	Rotate pages by 90, 180, or 270 degrees
crop	Set page crop box dimensions
delete	Remove specific pages
reorder	Rearrange page order
watermark	Add text watermark to pages
flatten	Flatten form fields and annotations
forms	Read and fill PDF form fields
bookmarks	Extract document bookmarks/outline
create	Create new PDF documents programmatically

Features

• 22 commands for complete PDF processing from the terminal
• Fast — powered by pdf_oxide, 5× faster than the industry leaders
• PDF to Markdown — headings, bullet lists, column-aware reading order
• Regex search — full regex pattern matching across pages
• Image extraction — extracts images from content streams, form XObjects, and inline images
• Form filling — read and write PDF form fields from the command line
• Page range support — use --pages 1-5,10 on any command
• JSON output — add --json for machine-readable results
• Interactive REPL — run pdf-oxide with no arguments for interactive mode
• Encrypted PDFs — supply --password to open protected files
• Cross-platform — Linux, macOS, and Windows

Usage Examples

Extract text from specific pages

pdf-oxide text paper.pdf --pages 1-5
pdf-oxide text paper.pdf --pages 1,3,7-10

Convert to Markdown for LLM/RAG pipelines

pdf-oxide markdown paper.pdf -o paper.md
pdf-oxide markdown paper.pdf --pages 1 --detect-headings

Search across a PDF

pdf-oxide search contract.pdf "termination|cancellation"
pdf-oxide search paper.pdf "equation \d+" --json

Merge and split

pdf-oxide merge chapter1.pdf chapter2.pdf chapter3.pdf -o book.pdf
pdf-oxide split book.pdf -o ./chapters/

Work with forms

pdf-oxide forms w2.pdf                              # List fields
pdf-oxide forms w2.pdf --fill "employee_name=Jane"   # Fill fields

Extract images

pdf-oxide images paper.pdf -o ./figures/ --pages 1-10

Performance

pdf_oxide processes PDFs at 0.8ms mean per document — 5× faster than PyMuPDF, 15× faster than pypdf. Text extraction, markdown conversion, and all operations share the same high-performance Rust core.

Documentation

• Full Documentation — Getting started, CLI guide, and API reference
• CLI Guide — Detailed command reference
• GitHub — Source code and issue tracker

Related Crates

• pdf_oxide — Rust PDF library (core)
• pdf_oxide_mcp — MCP server for AI assistants

License

MIT OR Apache-2.0