pdf-inspector/docs/rust-api.md

Rust API

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
pdf-inspector = { git = "https://github.com/firecrawl/pdf-inspector" }

Usage

Detect and extract in one call:

use pdf_inspector::process_pdf;

let result = process_pdf("document.pdf")?;

println!("Type: {:?}", result.pdf_type);       // TextBased, Scanned, ImageBased, Mixed
println!("Confidence: {:.0}%", result.confidence * 100.0);
println!("Pages: {}", result.page_count);

if let Some(markdown) = &result.markdown {
    println!("{}", markdown);
}

Fast metadata-only detection (no text extraction or markdown generation):

use pdf_inspector::detect_pdf;

let info = detect_pdf("document.pdf")?;

match info.pdf_type {
    pdf_inspector::PdfType::TextBased => {
        // Extract locally — fast and free
    }
    _ => {
        // Route to OCR service
        // info.pages_needing_ocr tells you exactly which pages
    }
}

Customize processing with PdfOptions:

use pdf_inspector::{process_pdf_with_options, PdfOptions, ProcessMode, DetectionConfig, ScanStrategy};

// Analyze layout without generating markdown
let result = process_pdf_with_options(
    "document.pdf",
    PdfOptions::new().mode(ProcessMode::Analyze),
)?;

// Full extraction with custom detection strategy
let result = process_pdf_with_options(
    "large.pdf",
    PdfOptions::new().detection(DetectionConfig {
        strategy: ScanStrategy::Sample(5),
        ..Default::default()
    }),
)?;

// Process only specific pages
let result = process_pdf_with_options(
    "document.pdf",
    PdfOptions::new().pages([1, 3, 5]),
)?;

Process from a byte buffer (no filesystem needed):

use pdf_inspector::process_pdf_mem;

let bytes = std::fs::read("document.pdf")?;
let result = process_pdf_mem(&bytes)?;

Processing modes

Mode	What it does	Returns
ProcessMode::Full (default)	Detect + extract + convert to Markdown	Everything populated
ProcessMode::Analyze	Detect + extract + layout analysis (no Markdown)	markdown is None, layout is populated
ProcessMode::DetectOnly	Classification only (fastest)	markdown is None, layout is default

Functions

Function	Description
process_pdf(path)	Full processing with defaults
detect_pdf(path)	Fast metadata-only detection (no extraction)
process_pdf_with_options(path, options)	Process with custom PdfOptions
process_pdf_mem(bytes)	Full processing from a byte buffer
detect_pdf_mem(bytes)	Fast detection from a byte buffer
process_pdf_mem_with_options(bytes, options)	Process from bytes with custom options
extract_text(path)	Plain text extraction
extract_text_with_positions(path)	Text with X/Y coordinates and font info
to_markdown(text, options)	Convert plain text to Markdown
to_markdown_from_items(items, options)	Markdown from pre-extracted TextItems
to_markdown_from_items_with_rects(items, options, rects)	Markdown with rectangle-based table detection

Low-level detection functions are also available via the detector module (detect_pdf_type, detect_pdf_type_with_config, etc.) for callers who need PdfTypeResult instead of PdfProcessResult.

Types

Type	Description
PdfOptions	Builder for processing configuration (mode, detection, markdown, page filter)
ProcessMode	DetectOnly, Analyze, Full
PdfType	TextBased, Scanned, ImageBased, Mixed
PdfProcessResult	Full result: pdf_type, markdown, page_count, confidence, layout, has_encoding_issues, timing
PdfTypeResult	Low-level detection result: type, confidence, page count, pages needing OCR
DetectionConfig	Configuration for detection: scan strategy, thresholds
ScanStrategy	EarlyExit, Full, Sample(n), Pages(vec)
LayoutComplexity	Layout analysis: is_complex, pages_with_tables, pages_with_columns
TextItem	Text with position, font info, and page number
MarkdownOptions	Configuration for Markdown formatting (page numbers, etc.)
PdfError	Io, Parse, Encrypted, InvalidStructure, NotAPdf