Ebook Text Extractor
SkillDocs & knowledgeUse when user wants to extract text from ebooks (EPUB, MOBI, PDF). Use for converting ebooks to plain text for analysis, processing, or reading. Handles all common ebook formats.
Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.
No other account needed.
Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.
Then ask your AI: use the Ebook Text Extractor skill
What this skill tells your AI
The instructions your AI receives, as published by ratacat/claude-skills in skills/ebook-extractor/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.
Overview
Extract plain text from EPUB, MOBI, and PDF files using Python scripts. No LLM calls - pure text extraction.
Supported Formats
| Format | Tool Used | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| EPUB | ebooklib + BeautifulSoup | Direct parsing, preserves structure |
| MOBI | Calibre ebook-convert | Converts to EPUB first, then extracts |
PyMuPDF (fitz) | Fast, handles most PDFs well |
Usage
Unified extractor (auto-detects format):
python3 ~/.claude/skills/ebook-extractor/scripts/extract.py /path/to/book.epub
python3 ~/.claude/skills/ebook-extractor/scripts/extract.py /path/to/book.mobi
python3 ~/.claude/skills/ebook-extractor/scripts/extract.py /path/to/book.pdf
Output options:
# To stdout (default)
python3 scripts/extract.py book.epub
# To file
python3 scripts/extract.py book.epub -o output.txt
python3 scripts/extract.py book.epub > output.txt
Format-specific scripts:
python3 scripts/extract_epub.py book.epub
python3 scripts/extract_mobi.py book.mobi
python3 scripts/extract_pdf.py book.pdf
Setup
# One-command setup (installs all dependencies)
~/.claude/skills/ebook-extractor/setup.sh
# Or manually:
pip install -r ~/.claude/skills/ebook-extractor/requirements.txt
brew install calibre # macOS, for MOBI support
Script Location
~/.claude/skills/ebook-extractor/scripts/
Common Issues
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Missing package | Run setup.sh or pip install -r requirements.txt |
| MOBI fails | Ensure Calibre is installed: brew install calibre |
| PDF garbled | Some PDFs are image-based; OCR needed (not supported) |
Signals
- GitHub stars
- 53
- Forks
- 9
- Last commit
- Feb 2026
Advanced
- Catalog kind
- skill
- Gateway key
ebook-extractor- Source
- github.com/ratacat/claude-skills