PDF to text API

From $0.005 per successful call · failed calls are never charged · no account needed · Markdown version: /guides/pdf-to-text-api.md

Give a public PDF's URL and get its text page by page as JSON, with title, author, page count and character counts; choose the page range.

When an agent wants this

PDF to text, page by page: extract the text of a PDF document from a URL, page by page $0.005

Extract the text of a PDF from its URL: downloads a public PDF (up to 10 MB) and returns the text page by page, with title, author, page count and character counts. Choose a first page and how many pages to read (up to 200); cap the output with maxChars. arXiv abstract links are read as the PDF. Scanned PDFs without a text layer, encrypted files and non-PDF URLs fail uncharged. Use to read papers, invoices, reports and manuals into an agent.

Inputs: url (required): Absolute public http(s) URL of the PDF; firstPage: First page to read (default 1); pages: How many pages to read (1-200, default 20); maxChars: Maximum characters of text returned across all pages (1000-200000, default 50000).

Free first (25 successful calls per caller, no key):

curl "https://tools.funwords.eu/pdf/text?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbitcoin.org%2Fbitcoin.pdf&trial=1"

With a card key from /credits, in a header or, when your client can only fetch a URL, in the URL:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer adt_…" "https://tools.funwords.eu/pdf/text?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbitcoin.org%2Fbitcoin.pdf"
curl "https://tools.funwords.eu/pdf/text?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbitcoin.org%2Fbitcoin.pdf&api_key=adt_…"

Without a key the same URL answers 402 Payment Required with x402 and MPP terms, so a wallet client pays USDC per call and retries. Over MCP (https://tools.funwords.eu/mcp) this tool is pdf_text.

Example result
{
  "url": "https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf",
  "title": null,
  "author": null,
  "totalPages": 9,
  "firstPage": 1,
  "pagesRead": 1,
  "chars": 46,
  "truncated": true,
  "pages": [
    {
      "page": 1,
      "chars": 46,
      "text": "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System"
    }
  ]
}

Tool page, inputs and limits

Questions

Does it OCR scanned PDFs?

No. It extracts the text layer; scanned images without a text layer return little or nothing.

How large a file?

Up to 10 MB; the default read is 20 pages, settable with pages.

How do I pay?

Each successful call costs the tool's price; failed calls are not charged. The first 25 calls are free. Then pay with card credits from $1 (the key goes in an Authorization header or as api_key= in the URL) or per call in USDC over x402 or MPP. No account is needed.