Compatibility record
Does Claude Code support PDF analysis?
Claude Code's Read tool reads PDF files, including page ranges such as pages 1-5 when a PDF is longer than 10 pages.
What this state means
Supported, with the qualification kept attached.
Short PDFs are read whole. PDFs longer than 10 pages are read in ranges of up to 20 pages at a time, and those page-range reads need pdftoppm installed. The cited pages do not name a plan gate.
Extracts or interprets information from uploaded PDF documents.
Text extraction, visual PDF understanding, form editing, and PDF creation are distinct capabilities.
Researcher note
Path A pairs the Claude Code tools reference with the official changelog. Both say the Read tool reads PDFs longer than 10 pages in ranges such as pages 1-5. The 20-page cap and the pdftoppm requirement are on the tools reference only. Claude chat file-upload limits were not used; that article describes Claude, not Claude Code.
Evidence
Primary records behind the answer.
- 01
“Claude reads short .pdf files whole. For PDFs longer than 10 pages, it reads in ranges with a pages parameter, such as "1-5", up to 20 pages at a time.”
- 02
“Added pages parameter to the Read tool for PDFs, allowing specific page ranges to be read (e.g., pages: "1-5"). Large PDFs (>10 pages) now return a lightweight reference.”