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ebook-extractor

Included with Lifetime
$97 forever

Use 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.

Writing & Docsscripts

What this skill does


# Ebook Text Extractor

## 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 |
| PDF | `PyMuPDF` (fitz) | Fast, handles most PDFs well |

## Usage

**Unified extractor (auto-detects format):**
```bash
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:**
```bash
# 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:**
```bash
python3 scripts/extract_epub.py book.epub
python3 scripts/extract_mobi.py book.mobi
python3 scripts/extract_pdf.py book.pdf
```

## Setup

```bash
# 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) |

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