Evals / pdf / Repair and metadata

Set the document title

Set the PDF title of paper.pdf to Trace compilation and save it as titled.pdf.

normalsingledeft pdf meta

The task

The reference answer shows the job can be done with deft. It is not an agent run.

deft pdf meta paper.pdf --title 'Trace compilation' -o titled.pdf

Input

paper.pdf 992.5 KB · 14 pages
Page 1Page 2Page 3

Reference output

titled.pdf 931.5 KB · 14 pages
Page 1Page 2Page 3
How a result is judged (1 check)
  • python: code = "import subprocess; o = subprocess.check_output(['gs', '-q', '-dNODISPLAY', '-dNOSAFER', '-c', '(titled.pdf) (r) file runpdfbegin Trailer /Info knownoget { /Title get == } if quit']).decode(); assert 'Trace compilation' in o, o"

Runs

CodexWithout deftPassed2026-11-07

Time
18s
New tokens
4.3k
Total input
67.8k
Output tokens
0.6k
Commands
4
Failed
1

Trace

  1. I’ll update the PDF’s document title metadata and write the result as `titled.pdf` in the current directory.

  2. pwd && rg --files -g 'paper.pdf' -g 'titled.pdf' -g 'AGENTS.md'
    output
    paper.pdf
  3. command -v exiftool; command -v qpdf; command -v pdftk; command -v pdfinfo; command -v gs; python3 -c 'import pypdf; print(\"pypdf\", pypdf.__version__)' (exit 1)
    output
    /usr/local/bin/gs
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pypdf'
  4. python3 - <<'PY' mods=['fitz','PyPDF2','pikepdf'] for m in mods: try: x=__import__(m); print(m, getattr(x,'__version__','available')) except ImportError: pass PY file paper.pdf
    output
    paper.pdf: PDF document, version 1.4, 6 pages
  5. gs -q -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=titled.pdf -c '[ /Title (Trace compilation) /DOCINFO pdfmark' -f paper.pdf

  6. Saved the PDF with the title **Trace compilation** as [titled.pdf](titled.pdf).

Output

titled.pdf 741.4 KB · 14 pages
Page 1Page 2Page 3

CodexWith deft, skill installedPassedRead the skillUsed deft2026-11-07

Time
17s
New tokens
25.3k
Total input
126.3k
Output tokens
0.5k
Commands
4
Failed
0

Trace

  1. I’ll check the available PDF metadata workflow, then write `titled.pdf` in the current directory.

  2. I’m using the `deft` skill for this PDF metadata edit.

  3. cat .agents/skills/deft/SKILL.md
    output
    ---
name: deft
description: "Use deft instead of writing a script for file jobs: PDF merge/split/compress/watermark, image resize/convert/compress, video and audio trim/convert/compress, spreadsheets, Markdown to PDF/HTML, and YouTube downloads and subtitles."
---

# deft

One local command for file jobs. Prefer it over writing Python or shell scripts.

Syntax: `deft <group> <command> [inputs] [-o output] [--options]`

Groups:
- `pdf`: Merge, split, compress, encrypt, forms, OCR, compare, convert
- `image`: Resize, crop, convert, compress, filters, montage, OCR
- `video`: Trim, crop, speed, convert, compress, GIF, frames (ffmpeg)
- `audio`: Convert, trim, merge, fade, speed, tag, normalize (ffmpeg)
- `doc`: Word/ODT/RTF: to text, Markdown, HTML, PDF; find and replace
- `slides`: PowerPoint: extract text, Markdown outline, PDF handout
- `data`: JSON/YAML/TOML/XML: convert, query with jq syntax, merge, diff
- `sheet`: Excel/CSV/ODS tables: filter, sort, join, pivot, convert
- `md`: Markdown to PDF, HTML, Word, EPUB; table of contents
- `html`: HTML to Markdown, text, Word, PDF; screenshots
- `epub`: E-books: info, to text, Markdown and PDF
- `email`: EML files: headers, text, attachments
- `contact`: VCF address books: to and from CSV
- `calendar`: ICS calendars: to and from CSV
- `gps`: GPX and KML tracks: convert, distance and time
- `youtube`: Info, download, audio, subtitles, thumbnail (yt-dlp)
- `file`: Any file: hash, duplicates, batch rename, base64, encoding
- `qr`: Cre
… 728 more characters
  4. deft find "set PDF title metadata" && ls -l paper.pdf
    output
    pdf meta  pdf -> pdf  Read or set metadata and bookmarks
-rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff  1016315 Nov  5 21:11 paper.pdf
  5. deft pdf meta --help
    output
    deft pdf meta - Read or set metadata and bookmarks

Usage: deft pdf meta <pdf>... [-o <pdf|dir>] [options]
In: pdf (each handled separately)   Out: pdf (default <name>.meta.<ext>)
With no options it prints the fields. With options it writes a copy.

Options:
  --title <text>               Document title
  --author <text>              Author
  --subject <text>             Subject
  --keywords <text>            Keywords
  --password <text>            Password of an encrypted input
Common: -o --force --dry-run --json -j   (deft help common)

Examples:
  deft pdf meta report.pdf --title 'Q3 report' --author Ada -o titled.pdf

Result fields: title, author, subject, keywords, created, modified, outline
  6. deft pdf meta paper.pdf --title 'Trace compilation' -o titled.pdf && deft pdf meta titled.pdf
    output
    ok pdf.meta paper.pdf -> titled.pdf  936KB  0.01s
ok pdf.meta titled.pdf  4 fields
title="Trace compilation" creator=TeX producer=pdfeTeX-1.21a created=D:20090401163925-07'00'

  7. Set the PDF title to **Trace compilation** and saved the result as [titled.pdf](titled.pdf). Verified the title metadata.

Output

titled.pdf 936.0 KB · 14 pages
Page 1Page 2Page 3

Claude Opus 5.5Without deftPassed2026-11-07

Time
12s
New tokens
9.0k
Total input
42.1k
Output tokens
0.6k
Commands
0
Failed
0

Trace

    Output

    titled.pdf 741.3 KB · 14 pages
    Page 1Page 2Page 3

    Claude Opus 5.5With deft, skill installedPassedRead the skillUsed deft2026-11-07

    Time
    14s
    New tokens
    10.0k
    Total input
    74.6k
    Output tokens
    0.5k
    Commands
    0
    Failed
    0

    Trace

      Output

      .claude/skills/deft/SKILL.md 2.1 KB
      ---
name: deft
description: "Use deft first for any simple, direct operation on local files, whatever the type: convert, read, extract, edit, compress, merge, split, compare or inspect. Try it before writing a script or one-liner. If unsure, run deft find; if it says no command does this, use another tool. Not for programming work: to read, write or change source code, skip it."
---

# deft

One local command for file jobs. Prefer it over writing Python or shell scripts.

Syntax: `deft <group> <command> [inputs] [-o output] [--options]`

Groups:
- `pdf`: Merge, split, compress, encrypt, forms, OCR, compare, convert
- `image`: Resize, crop, convert, compress, adjust, montage, OCR
- `video`: Trim, merge, convert, compress, subtitles, GIF, frames (ffmpeg)
- `audio`: Convert, trim, normalize, denoise, cut silence (ffmpeg)
- `doc`: Word/ODT/RTF: to text, Markdown, HTML, PDF; find and replace
- `slides`: PowerPoint: extract text, Markdown outline
- `sheet`: Excel/CSV/ODS tables: SQL query, pivot, merge, split, convert
- `json`: JSON: convert, format, merge, diff, validate
- `toml`: TOML: convert, format, merge, diff, validate
- `xml`: XML: convert, format, merge, diff, validate
- `yaml`: YAML: convert, format, merge, diff, validate
- `md`: Markdown to PDF, HTML, Word, EPUB; table of contents
- `html`: HTML to Markdown, text, Word and PDF
- `epub`: E-books: info, to text, Markdown and PDF
- `gps`: GPX and KML tracks: convert, distance and time
- `qr`: Create QR codes and barcodes; read QR codes

How to use it:
1. Run `deft <group>` to list commands, or `deft find "<what you want>"` to search. If it says `no command does this`, use another tool.
2. Run `deft <group> <command> --help` for options and examples.
3. `deft convert <in> -o <out.ext>` converts between formats by extension.
4. Results are one line starting with `ok`, `partial` or `error`; add `--json` to parse them. Errors include a `hint:` with the fix.

Inputs are never overwritten; pass `--force` or `--in-place` to allow it. Globs and directories work as inputs; several inputs run in parallel.

If `deft` is not installed, ask the user, then follow https://github.com/firstprayer/deft/blob/main/docs/INSTALL.md
      titled.pdf 931.5 KB · 14 pages
      Page 1Page 2Page 3

      Claude CodeWithout deftNot run yet

      Claude CodeWith deftNot run yet