Display and manipulate PDF documents using PDFKit. Use when embedding PDFView to show PDF files, creating or modifying PDFDocument instances, adding annotations (highlights, notes, signature widgets), extracting text with PDFSelection, navigating pages, generating thumbnails, filling PDF forms, or wrapping PDFView in SwiftUI.
npx skills add https://github.com/dpearson2699/swift-ios-skills --skill pdfkit
Display, navigate, search, annotate, and manipulate PDF documents with PDFView, PDFDocument, PDFPage, PDFAnnotation, and PDFSelection.
PDFKit requires no entitlements or Info.plist entries.
import PDFKit
| API | Availability |
|---|---|
| PDFKit framework | iOS/iPadOS/tvOS 11+, Mac Catalyst 13.1+, macOS 10.4+, visionOS 1.0+ |
| Find interaction and page overlays | iOS/iPadOS 16+ |
PDFView renders PDF content and handles zoom, scrolling, text selection, and page navigation.
import PDFKit
import UIKit
class PDFViewController: UIViewController {
let pdfView = PDFView()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
pdfView.frame = view.bounds
pdfView.autoresizingMask = [.flexibleWidth, .flexibleHeight]
view.addSubview(pdfView)
pdfView.autoScales = true
pdfView.displayMode = .singlePageContinuous
pdfView.displayDirection = .vertical
if let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "sample", withExtension: "pdf") {
pdfView.document = PDFDocument(url: url)
}
}
}
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| .singlePage | One page at a time |
| .singlePageContinuous | Pages stacked vertically, scrollable |
| .twoUp | Two pages side by side |
| .twoUpContinuous | Two-up with continuous scrolling |
pdfView.autoScales = true
pdfView.minScaleFactor = pdfView.scaleFactorForSizeToFit
pdfView.maxScaleFactor = 4.0
pdfView.displaysPageBreaks = true
pdfView.pageShadowsEnabled = true
pdfView.interpolationQuality = .high
PDFDocument loads from a URL, Data, or can be created empty.
let fileDoc = PDFDocument(url: fileURL)
let dataDoc = PDFDocument(data: pdfData)
let emptyDoc = PDFDocument()
guard let document = PDFDocument(url: url) else { return }
if document.isLocked {
if !document.unlock(withPassword: userPassword) {
// Show password prompt
}
}
document.write(to: outputURL)
document.write(to: outputURL, withOptions: [
.ownerPasswordOption: "ownerPass", .userPasswordOption: "userPass"
])
let data = document.dataRepresentation()
// Pages are zero-based. Validate indices; out-of-range calls raise exceptions.
let count = document.pageCount
document.insert(PDFPage(), at: count)
if document.pageCount > 2 {
document.removePage(at: 2)
}
if document.pageCount > 3 {
document.exchangePage(at: 0, withPageAt: 3)
}
PDFView provides built-in navigation with history tracking.
// Go to a specific page
let pageIndex = 5
if let document = pdfView.document,
pageIndex >= 0,
pageIndex < document.pageCount,
let page = document.page(at: pageIndex) {
pdfView.go(to: page)
}
// Sequential navigation
pdfView.goToNextPage(nil)
pdfView.goToPreviousPage(nil)
pdfView.goToFirstPage(nil)
pdfView.goToLastPage(nil)
// Check navigation state
if pdfView.canGoToNextPage { /* ... */ }
// History navigation
if pdfView.canGoBack { pdfView.goBack(nil) }
// Go to a specific point on the current page
if let page = pdfView.currentPage {
let destination = PDFDestination(page: page, at: CGPoint(x: 0, y: 500))
pdfView.go(to: destination)
}
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(
self, selector: #selector(pageChanged),
name: .PDFViewPageChanged, object: pdfView
)
@objc func pageChanged(_ notification: Notification) {
guard let page = pdfView.currentPage,
let doc = pdfView.document else { return }
let index = doc.index(for: page)
pageLabel.text = "Page \(index + 1) of \(doc.pageCount)"
}
let results: [PDFSelection] = document.findString(
"search term", withOptions: [.caseInsensitive]
)
Use PDFDocumentDelegate for background searches on large documents.
Implement didMatchString(_:) to receive each match and
documentDidEndDocumentFind(_:) for completion.
// Find next match from current selection
let next = document.findString("term", fromSelection: current, withOptions: [.caseInsensitive])
// System find bar; apply the Setup availability gate
pdfView.isFindInteractionEnabled = true
let fullText = document.string // Entire document
let firstPage = document.pageCount > 0 ? document.page(at: 0) : nil
let pageText = firstPage?.string // Single page
let attributed = firstPage?.attributedString // With formatting
// Region-based extraction
if let page = firstPage {
let selection = page.selection(for: CGRect(x: 50, y: 50, width: 400, height: 200))
let text = selection?.string
}
let results = document.findString("important", withOptions: [.caseInsensitive])
for selection in results { selection.color = .yellow }
pdfView.highlightedSelections = results
if let first = results.first {
pdfView.setCurrentSelection(first, animate: true)
pdfView.go(to: first)
}
Annotations are created with PDFAnnotation(bounds:forType:withProperties:)
and added to a PDFPage.
func addHighlight(to page: PDFPage, selection: PDFSelection) {
let highlight = PDFAnnotation(
bounds: selection.bounds(for: page),
forType: .highlight, withProperties: nil
)
highlight.color = UIColor.yellow.withAlphaComponent(0.5)
page.addAnnotation(highlight)
}
let note = PDFAnnotation(
bounds: CGRect(x: 100, y: 700, width: 30, height: 30),
forType: .text, withProperties: nil
)
note.contents = "This is a sticky note."
note.color = .systemYellow
note.iconType = .comment
page.addAnnotation(note)
let freeText = PDFAnnotation(
bounds: CGRect(x: 50, y: 600, width: 300, height: 40),
forType: .freeText, withProperties: nil
)
freeText.contents = "Added commentary"
freeText.font = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 14)
freeText.fontColor = .darkGray
page.addAnnotation(freeText)
let link = PDFAnnotation(
bounds: CGRect(x: 50, y: 500, width: 200, height: 20),
forType: .link, withProperties: nil
)
link.url = URL(string: "https://example.com")
page.addAnnotation(link)
// Internal page link
link.destination = PDFDestination(page: targetPage, at: .zero)
for annotation in page.annotations {
page.removeAnnotation(annotation)
}
Common subtypes include .highlight, .underline, .strikeOut, .text,
.freeText, .ink, .link, .line, .square, .circle, .stamp, and
.widget.
PDFThumbnailView shows a strip of page thumbnails linked to a PDFView.
let thumbnailView = PDFThumbnailView()
thumbnailView.pdfView = pdfView
thumbnailView.thumbnailSize = CGSize(width: 60, height: 80)
thumbnailView.layoutMode = .vertical
thumbnailView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
view.addSubview(thumbnailView)
let thumbnail = page.thumbnail(of: CGSize(width: 120, height: 160), for: .mediaBox)
// All pages
let thumbnails = (0..<document.pageCount).compactMap {
document.page(at: $0)?.thumbnail(of: CGSize(width: 120, height: 160), for: .mediaBox)
}
Wrap PDFView in a UIViewRepresentable for SwiftUI. PDF-specific wrappers
that configure PDFView, pages, annotations, search, thumbnails, or overlays
belong in this skill; route only generic representable lifecycle, layout, or SwiftUI state architecture questions to SwiftUI/UIKit interop guidance.
import SwiftUI
import PDFKit
struct PDFKitView: UIViewRepresentable {
let document: PDFDocument
func makeUIView(context: Context) -> PDFView {
let pdfView = PDFView()
pdfView.autoScales = true
pdfView.displayMode = .singlePageContinuous
pdfView.document = document
return pdfView
}
func updateUIView(_ pdfView: PDFView, context: Context) {
if pdfView.document !== document {
pdfView.document = document
}
}
}
struct DocumentScreen: View {
let url: URL
var body: some View {
if let document = PDFDocument(url: url) {
PDFKitView(document: document)
.ignoresSafeArea()
} else {
ContentUnavailableView("Unable to load PDF", systemImage: "doc.questionmark")
}
}
}
For interactive wrappers with page tracking, annotation hit detection, and
coordinator patterns, see references/pdfkit-patterns.md.
PDFPageOverlayViewProvider places UIKit views on top of individual pages
for interactive controls or custom rendering beyond standard annotations.
class OverlayProvider: NSObject, PDFPageOverlayViewProvider {
func pdfView(_ view: PDFView, overlayViewFor page: PDFPage) -> UIView? {
let overlay = UIView()
// Add custom subviews
return overlay
}
}
class PDFOverlayController: UIViewController {
let pdfView = PDFView()
private let overlayProvider = OverlayProvider()
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
pdfView.pageOverlayViewProvider = overlayProvider
}
}
pageOverlayViewProvider is weak, so keep the provider strongly owned. For overlay lifecycle and save handling, read references/pdfkit-patterns.md.
PDFDocument(url:) and PDFDocument(data:) are failable initializers.
// WRONG
let document = PDFDocument(url: url)!
// CORRECT
guard let document = PDFDocument(url: url) else { return }
Without autoScales, the PDF renders at its native resolution.
// WRONG
pdfView.document = document
// CORRECT
pdfView.autoScales = true
pdfView.document = document
PDF page coordinates have origin at the bottom-left with Y increasing
upward -- opposite of UIKit.
// WRONG: UIKit coordinates
let bounds = CGRect(x: 50, y: 50, width: 200, height: 30)
// CORRECT: PDF coordinates (origin bottom-left)
let pageBounds = page.bounds(for: .mediaBox)
let pdfY = pageBounds.height - 50 - 30
let bounds = CGRect(x: 50, y: pdfY, width: 200, height: 30)
PDFKit classes are not thread-safe.
// WRONG
DispatchQueue.global().async { page.addAnnotation(annotation) }
// CORRECT
DispatchQueue.main.async { page.addAnnotation(annotation) }
PDFDocument is a reference type. Use identity (!==).
// WRONG: Always replaces document
func updateUIView(_ pdfView: PDFView, context: Context) {
pdfView.document = document
}
// CORRECT
func updateUIView(_ pdfView: PDFView, context: Context) {
if pdfView.document !== document {
pdfView.document = document
}
}
PDFDocument init uses optional binding, not force-unwrappdfView.autoScales = true set for proper initial displaypageCount before accessdisplayMode and displayDirection configured to match designisLocked / unlock(withPassword:)!== identity check in updateUIViewPDFViewPageChanged notification observed for page trackingPDFThumbnailView.pdfView linked to the main PDFViewbeginFindString with delegatewrite(to:withOptions:) when encryption neededComprehensive document creation, editing, and analysis with support for tracked changes, comments, formatting preservation, and text extraction. When Claude needs to work with professional documents (.docx files) for: (1) Creating new documents, (2) Modifying or editing content, (3) Working with tracked changes, (4) Adding comments, or any other document tasks
Comprehensive PDF manipulation toolkit for extracting text and tables, creating new PDFs, merging/splitting documents, and handling forms. When Claude needs to fill in a PDF form or programmatically process, generate, or analyze PDF documents at scale.
Presentation creation, editing, and analysis. When Claude needs to work with presentations (.pptx files) for: (1) Creating new presentations, (2) Modifying or editing content, (3) Working with layouts, (4) Adding comments or speaker notes, or any other presentation tasks
Create beautiful visual art in .png and .pdf documents using design philosophy. You should use this skill when the user asks to create a poster, piece of art, design, or other static piece. Create original visual designs, never copying existing artists' work to avoid copyright violations.
Use this skill whenever the user wants to do anything with PDF files. This includes reading or extracting text/tables from PDFs, combining or merging multiple PDFs into one, splitting PDFs apart, rotating pages, adding watermarks, creating new PDFs, filling PDF forms, encrypting/decrypting PDFs, extracting images, and OCR on scanned PDFs to make them searchable. If the user mentions a .pdf file or asks to produce one, use this skill.
Use this skill whenever the user wants to create, read, edit, or manipulate Word documents (.docx files). Triggers include: any mention of 'Word doc', 'word document', '.docx', or requests to produce professional documents with formatting like tables of contents, headings, page numbers, or letterheads. Also use when extracting or reorganizing content from .docx files, inserting or replacing images in documents, performing find-and-replace in Word files, working with tracked changes or comments, or converting content into a polished Word document. If the user asks for a 'report', 'memo', 'letter', 'template', or similar deliverable as a Word or .docx file, use this skill. Do NOT use for PDFs, spreadsheets, Google Docs, or general coding tasks unrelated to document generation.
Use this skill any time a .pptx file is involved in any way — as input, output, or both. This includes: creating slide decks, pitch decks, or presentations; reading, parsing, or extracting text from any .pptx file (even if the extracted content will be used elsewhere, like in an email or summary); editing, modifying, or updating existing presentations; combining or splitting slide files; working with templates, layouts, speaker notes, or comments. Trigger whenever the user mentions \"deck,\" \"slides,\" \"presentation,\" or references a .pptx filename, regardless of what they plan to do with the content afterward. If a .pptx file needs to be opened, created, or touched, use this skill.
Create and edit Obsidian Flavored Markdown with wikilinks, embeds, callouts, properties, and other Obsidian-specific syntax. Use when working with .md files in Obsidian, or when the user mentions wikilinks, callouts, frontmatter, tags, embeds, or Obsidian notes.
Take dpearson2699/pdfkit from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.