By name: ebook-extractor description: 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.
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 |
PyMuPDF (fitz) |
Fast, handles most PDFs well |
Usage
Unified extractor (auto-detects format):
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:
# 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:
python3 scripts/extract_epub.py book.epub
python3 scripts/extract_mobi.py book.mobi
python3 scripts/extract_pdf.py book.pdf
Setup
# 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) |