Summarize a PDF

Fetch a PDF from a URL, extract its text, and return a concise AI-generated summary - factual, no information added beyond what's in the document. Send POST /api/pdf-summarize with the required field url and pay $0.03 per call over x402 or MPP (there is no free tier). It returns a JSON object with url, pages, wordCount, summary, summaryWordCount and 2 more.

Body: {"url":"https://…/file.pdf","maxWords":200?}. Uses the same OpenAI-compatible gateway as /v1/chat/completions internally; the model that actually served is disclosed in the response.

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Parameters

Example request

curl -i -X POST https://agent402.tools/api/pdf-summarize \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://agent402.tools/fixtures/sample-report.pdf","maxWords":150}'

Without payment this returns HTTP 402 Payment Required with the exact price for pdf-summarize; any x402 v2 or MPP client pays it and retries.

Example response

{
  "url": "https://agent402.tools/fixtures/sample-report.pdf",
  "pages": 3,
  "wordCount": 247,
  "summary": "The document outlines a system for agents to purchase single answers from a tool server. Agents can request information, receive a price, and then pay for the answer by signing a payment for that exact amount. Payment is processed only after the tool successfully completes its operation; if the tool fails, no x402 charge is applied…",
  "summaryWordCount": 112,
  "model": "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
  "truncatedInput": false
}

From an MCP client

catalog.call {
  "slug": "pdf-summarize",
  "params": {
    "url": "https://agent402.tools/fixtures/sample-report.pdf",
    "maxWords": 150
  }
}

The hosted connector at https://agent402.tools/mcp needs a payment for pdf-summarize; the stdio package pays it from a wallet or from an AGENT402_CREDITS_KEY issued earlier. Local install: npx -y agent402-mcp@0.13.31.

Errors and behavior

• url is required. An input the tool rejects returns an HTTP 4xx whose body carries error, tool, expected, required and example, so the caller can correct it.
• A paid call that ends in any status of 400 or above is not charged over x402, MPP or a prepaid credits key: settlement runs after the tool and only on a successful response. The exception is a Tempo push credential, a transfer the buyer sent before the call: it settles before the tool runs, so if the tool then fails the payment is recorded as a refund owed to the paying wallet.
• Wallet-only: this tool runs a model, so it has no proof-of-work tier. A prepaid card-credits key issued earlier (Authorization: Bearer a402_...) also pays it.
• Model-backed: the answer is generated by a model, so the same input can produce a different result.
• A GET or HEAD to /api/pdf-summarize returns the same 402 quote, so the price can be read without a body.
• An Idempotency-Key header makes a retried paid call replay the first 200 instead of charging again (an answer larger than 1 MB is not replayed).

Paid call (JavaScript agent)

import { wrapFetchWithPayment } from "@x402/fetch";
import { x402Client } from "@x402/core/client";
import { registerExactEvmScheme } from "@x402/evm/exact/client";
import { privateKeyToAccount } from "viem/accounts";

const client = new x402Client();
client.setSpendControls?.({ maxAmountPerPayment: "$0.03" }); // refuse any quote above this tool's price
registerExactEvmScheme(client, { signer: privateKeyToAccount(KEY) });
const payFetch = wrapFetchWithPayment(fetch, client);

const res = await payFetch("https://agent402.tools/api/pdf-summarize", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "url": "https://agent402.tools/fixtures/sample-report.pdf",
    "maxWords": 150
  }),
});

Part of these workflows

Summarize a PDF is one step in this skill pack, each sold as a single call:

• Document brief - Metadata, an AI-written summary, and a preview of the opening pages of a PDF - understand what a document says without reading the whole thing. The catalog's first AI-summarization pack, complementary to document-intel's deterministic format extraction (no AI, no summarization there).

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