Docling

Use this skill when a task involves Docling, the Python SDK and CLI for converting PDFs, Office documents, HTML, Markdown, images, audio/video, XML, CSV, and other sources into DoclingDocument for downstream AI workflows.

Start Here

1. Read references/install-and-environment.md when choosing docling vs docling-slim, optional extras, Python versions, model artifacts, or safe environment checks.
2. Read references/repo-provenance.md before deciding whether this skill matches a current checkout or should be refreshed.
3. Read references/troubleshooting.md for cross-cutting install/import, optional dependency, model download, CLI/API, remote-service, and repository-edit failures.
4. Use the sub-skill route map below; each sub-skill owns its nearby references and scripts.

Route Map

User task	Use sub-skill	Why
Convert a local file, URL, binary stream, or in-memory Markdown/HTML/DocLang string with Python	sub-skills/conversion/SKILL.md	Owns DocumentConverter, convert, convert_all, convert_string, DocumentStream, limits, headers, and conversion failures.
Build or explain docling local CLI commands and supported formats	sub-skills/cli-and-formats/SKILL.md	Owns docling convert, --from, --to, output directories, image export/fetch modes, and command construction.
Tune the standard PDF pipeline, OCR, table structure, accelerators, artifacts, and option models	sub-skills/pipeline-configuration/SKILL.md	Owns PdfPipelineOptions, OCR/table options, artifacts_path, AcceleratorOptions, and option validation.
Export, serialize, chunk, or post-process an existing DoclingDocument	sub-skills/document-outputs/SKILL.md	Owns Markdown/JSON/YAML/HTML/Text/DocTags/WebVTT exports, image modes, table extraction, and RAG chunking.
Use VLM, ASR/audio-video, enrichments, advanced model backends, GPU/MLX, or offline model prefetch	sub-skills/advanced-pipelines/SKILL.md	Owns VlmPipeline, AsrPipeline, enrichment flags, model catalog decisions, optional extras, and no-download preflights.
Call a running docling-serve endpoint or use docling convert-remote/service client SDK	sub-skills/remote-service-client/SKILL.md	Owns service URL/API key handling, remote CLI, sync/async client, batches, jobs, chunk endpoints, and network-safe checks.
Extract structured fields from documents	sub-skills/extraction/SKILL.md	Owns DocumentExtractor, extraction templates/options/results, and VLM extraction caveats.
Modify the Docling repository itself	sub-skills/repo-maintenance/SKILL.md	Owns package layout, extras, CLI/docs generation, tests, validation, and repository-specific agent rules.

Public Package Facts

• Install the full user package with pip install docling for typical users; install docling-slim with extras only when intentionally composing a smaller environment.
• Python support in this snapshot is >=3.10,<4.0.
• The docling CLI exposes local convert behavior and remote convert-remote behavior; bare docling SOURCE routes to local conversion.
• docling-tools models download prefetches model artifacts for offline/local use, but it can download large files; do not run it unless the user wants model downloads.
• Core Python APIs include DocumentConverter, DocumentExtractor, InputFormat, OutputFormat, pipeline option classes, HybridChunker, and DoclingServiceClient.

Safety Defaults

• Do not run model downloads, VLM/ASR inference, remote service calls, network document fetches, or GPU-heavy examples unless the user asks or the workflow explicitly requires them.
• Prefer no-network helpers first: command builders, config preflights, import checks, --help, and tiny local fixtures.
• Treat original repository docs, examples, tests, and scripts as evidence only; this skill's runtime instructions and helpers are bundled under this directory.
• For remote model APIs inside a local pipeline, require enable_remote_services=True; for docling-serve conversion, route to remote-service-client.
• For repository code changes, obey AGENTS.md, run focused tests for touched behavior, and run make validate before considering the change complete when feasible.

Bundled Shared Helpers

• scripts/check_docling_environment.py checks package importability, CLI availability, optional modules, and common external binaries without converting documents or downloading models.

Common First Moves

• Python conversion: route to conversion, then use document-outputs if the user needs Markdown/JSON/HTML/chunking/table files.
• CLI conversion: route to cli-and-formats, then use pipeline-configuration for OCR/table/model flags or advanced-pipelines for VLM/ASR/enrichment choices.
• Remote service: route directly to remote-service-client; do not upload documents during preflight unless the user authorizes a live service call.
• Current-checkout edits: route to repo-maintenance; do not use public runtime examples as a substitute for repository tests.