# desgeeko/pdfsyntax

A Python library to inspect and modify the internal structure of a PDF file

Repository: https://github.com/desgeeko/pdfsyntax
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/pdfsyntax
Homepage: https://pdfsyntax.dev
Language: Python
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: python, pdf, parser, pdfsyntax, api, library, syntax, inspection, read, transformation, write, browse, cli
Last push: 2025-08-17T15:21:37+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 39/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 37, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1873, "days_push": 381, "days_rel": 458, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1009, forks 30 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:12.895287+00:00)

## What it is
PDFSyntax is a pure-Python, dependency-free library for inspecting and transforming the internal structure of PDF files down to the byte level, with non-destructive incremental updates. It also ships a CLI for quick insights (metadata, fonts, text, structure dumps) and an HTML browser for the PDF's internal objects.

## Use cases
- inspect the internal structure of a pdf file
- read pdf metadata like title and author in python
- modify pdf objects without rewriting the whole file
- extract text from a pdf with layout
- list fonts used in a pdf
- browse a pdf's internal objects as html
- dump pdf file structure from the command line

## When to choose
- you need low-level, byte-level access to PDF objects and syntax
- you want a lightweight, zero-dependency pure Python tool
- you prefer non-destructive incremental edits to PDFs
- you want quick CLI inspection of PDF metadata, fonts, or text

## When to avoid
- you need stable, production-grade PDF manipulation - the API may change anytime (beta)
- you need high-level document generation or heavy rendering features
- you need mature text extraction with full layout detection (still on the to-do list)

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: experimental
- function: parser, pdf, cli, developer-tools
- domain: pdf, files, developer-tools, parsers
- platform: python, cli, cross-platform
- tags: pdf-structure, no-dependencies, incremental-updates, pdf-inspection, beta

## Member repositories
- desgeeko/pdfsyntax (main) score 39

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:12.895287+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:12:02.183336+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/desgeeko/pdfsyntax (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:12.895287+00:00, sha 590b0084e38c)
  - homepage: https://pdfsyntax.dev (fetched 2026-08-29T13:12:14.722448+00:00, sha 93d91bdbb2f3)
  - registry_pypi: https://pypi.org/pypi/pdfsyntax/json (fetched 2026-08-29T13:12:14.731469+00:00, sha ffdbb7b01162)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.