pdf-parse

You can target specific pages using the -p, --pages flag with the following syntax:

• 1: Page 1
• 1,3,5: Pages 1, 3, and 5
• 1-5: Pages 1 through 5
• 1,3-5,7: Pages 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7

While pdf-parse handles worker configuration automatically in most environments, manual configuration via PDFParse.setWorker() is required in the following scenarios:

Node.js/Backend:

• Custom builds where the worker cannot be resolved automatically.
• Monorepo/workspace setups (e.g., pnpm, yarn PnP) where node_modules layout is non-standard.
• Electron/NW.js packaging with non-standard import paths.
• Self-hosting worker files for offline or security requirements.

Browser:

• Using a custom build of pdf-parse.
• Self-hosting worker files for security or offline requirements.
• Using a different CDN provider.

In v1, pdf-parse was used as a function. In v2 and v3, you must instantiate the PDFParse class.

v1 pattern (Legacy):

const pdf = require('pdf-parse');
pdf(buffer).then(result => console.log(result.text));

v2/v3 pattern (Current):

const { PDFParse } = require('pdf-parse');
// or import { PDFParse } from 'pdf-parse';

async function run() {
  const parser = new PDFParse({ url: 'https://example.com/file.pdf' });
  const result = await parser.getText();
  console.log(result.text);
}
run();

const { PDFParse } = require('pdf-parse');

async function run() {
	const parser = new PDFparse({ url: 'https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf' });

	const result = await parser.getText();
	// or use getRaw() for v1 compatibility
	console.log(result.text);
}

run();

To use pdf-parse in your project, install it using your preferred package manager:

npm install pdf-parse
# or
pnpm add pdf-parse
# or
yarn add pdf-parse
# or
bun add pdf-parse

The project automatically deploys reports to GitHub Pages on every push to the main branch. You can access the live reports at the following URLs:

• Landing Page: https://mehmet-kozan.github.io/pdf-parse/
• Test Report: https://mehmet-kozan.github.io/pdf-parse/test/
• Coverage Report: https://mehmet-kozan.github.io/pdf-parse/coverage/

To remove all auto-generated files, including the contents of the reports/ directory, use the clean script:

npm run clean

For command-line usage, install the package globally. You can use npm install -g to install, npm update -g to update, and npm uninstall -g to remove it. Use pdf-parse -h to view the help menu.

# installation
npm install -g pdf-parse

# updating
npm update -g pdf-parse

# uninstallation
npm uninstall -g pdf-parse

# help
pdf-parse -h

For PDF files larger than 5MB, use the --large flag to enable performance optimizations. This flag enables:

• Disabling auto-fetching of additional pages
• Chunk-based loading instead of streaming
• Optimized range request chunk size

pdf-parse text https://example.com/large-document.pdf --large --pages 1-10

You can generate project reports (test results, code coverage, and benchmarks) locally using the provided npm scripts. These reports are stored in the reports/ directory.

To build the reports, run:

npm run report:build

To generate the reports directly, run:

npm run report

The pdf-parse CLI tool is included with the pdf-parse package. You can install it globally using npm to make the pdf-parse command available in your terminal.

npm install -g pdf-parse

When deploying to Next.js (Vercel), Edge Functions, AWS Lambda, Netlify, or Cloudflare Workers, you may encounter module resolution errors.

General Fix

Import the worker module before importing pdf-parse:

// ESM
import 'pdf-parse/worker';
import {PDFParse} from 'pdf-parse';

// CJS
require ('pdf-parse/worker');
const {PDFParse} = require('pdf-parse');

Next.js / Vercel Specific Configuration

To ensure Next.js includes the necessary modules for serverless execution, add pdf-parse and @napi-rs/canvas to serverExternalPackages in your next.config.ts:

import type { NextConfig } from "next";

const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
  serverExternalPackages: ["pdf-parse", "@napi-rs/canvas"],
};

export default nextConfig;