---

name: flash-indexing description: "Guides PageIndex Flash PDF extraction, embedded bookmark handling, and no-LLM or merge-only optimization." disable-model-invocation: true metadata: disco-role: operating license: MIT

Flash PDF Indexing

Use this sub-skill when the user mentions --flash, page_index_flash, fast PDF structure extraction, no-LLM outlines, embedded bookmarks, merge-only optimization, or tree-cost planning.

Do not use it for:

• classic TOC-recovery PDF extraction -> use ../pdf-indexing/
• Markdown files -> use ../markdown-indexing/
• workspace retrieval or agent tools -> use ../retrieval-client/

Required context

Read these shared references as needed:

• ../../references/workflows.md#flash-pdf-extraction for end-to-end recipes.
• ../../references/api-reference.md#pageindex-flash for the verified signature.
• ../../references/cli-reference.md#bundled-pageindex-cli-wrapper and ../../references/cli-reference.md#standalone-tree-optimization-module for flags.
• ../../references/data-formats.md#pdf--flash-tree-nodes for output fields.
• ../../references/troubleshooting.md#flash-pdf-extraction for PDF/TOC/optimization failures.

Operating flow

1. For no-LLM structure extraction, run:

   python ../../scripts/pageindex_cli.py --pdf_path document.pdf --flash --no-summary --no-embedded-toc
   

2. Leave embedded bookmark handling on when PDF bookmarks are likely useful:

   python ../../scripts/pageindex_cli.py --pdf_path document.pdf --flash --no-summary
   

3. Add deterministic merge-only optimization without model calls:

   python ../../scripts/pageindex_cli.py --pdf_path document.pdf --flash --optimize merge --no-summary
   

4. Use full optimization only when an LLM key and budget are available:

   python ../../scripts/pageindex_cli.py --pdf_path document.pdf --flash --optimize full --model gpt-4o-2024-11-20
   

5. For a local PDF smoke check, run python scripts/flash_smoke.py document.pdf from this sub-skill directory.

API notes

page_index_flash is imported from pageindex.flash, not from the top-level package:

from pageindex.flash import page_index_flash

tree = page_index_flash("document.pdf", summary=False, use_embedded_toc=False)

Useful settings:

• summary=False avoids summary model calls.
• use_embedded_toc=False disables bookmark consumption.
• optimize=True, optimize_expand=False runs merge-only optimization.
• optimize=True, optimize_expand=True may call an LLM to propose subsection expansions.

Important behavior

• Flash validates that input paths are real PDF files and rejects encrypted/password-protected PDFs.
• Embedded bookmarks are classified as ignored, skeleton, or full. Skeleton/full modes can repair or re-hang detected structure.
• Merge-only optimization can reduce redundant same-page frontier nodes and preserves dropped titles in key_items.
• Full optimization's expansion pass requires page text and model access.