Pdf form filling

Skill cxcscmu/SkillLearnBench/skills/b1-one-shot-gemini-3-flash-preview/court-form-filling/pdf-form-filling

[COLM'26] SkillLearnBench is the first benchmark for evaluating continual learning methods that automatically generate agent skills.

Install

npx -y skills add cxcscmu/SkillLearnBench --skill pdf-form-filling

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

What its author says it does

Copied from the file, not written here

Methods for programmatically filling PDF forms (AcroForms) and saving the results using pypdf.

SKILL.md

1.8 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

PDF Form Filling Skill

This skill covers how to fill out AcroForms in a PDF document using pypdf.

Prerequisites

Python 3.x
pypdf library (pip install pypdf)

Usage Patterns

Filling Text Fields and Checkboxes

from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter

def fill_pdf(input_pdf_path, output_pdf_path, data_dict):
    reader = PdfReader(input_pdf_path)
    writer = PdfWriter()

    for page in reader.pages:
        writer.add_page(page)

    # Fill form fields
    writer.update_page_form_field_values(writer.pages[0], data_dict)
    
    # Note: If fields span multiple pages, you might need to iterate 
    # through writer.pages and apply relevant parts of data_dict.
    # However, writer.update_page_form_field_values can often find the fields
    # globally if they are properly indexed.

    with open(output_pdf_path, "wb") as output_stream:
        writer.write(output_stream)

# Example data_dict
# For text fields: {"field_name": "Value"}
# For checkboxes: {"checkbox_name": "/Yes"} or similar
data = {
    "full_name": "John Doe",
    "is_citizen": "/Yes"
}

fill_pdf("blank.pdf", "filled.pdf", data)

Important Considerations

Field Naming: Use the full hierarchical name found during inspection (e.g., SC-100[0].Page1[0].Field[0]).
Appearance Streams: Some PDF readers might not show the filled value until you click on the field unless /NeedAppearances is set to true in the PDF's Interactive Form Dictionary. pypdf handles basic filling, but complex forms might need flattening or specific appearance settings.
Checkboxes: Checkbox values are typically /Yes (or other export value) and /Off.