gobbler-document

Gobbler Document

Convert documents to markdown using the Docling service.

Requires: Docling Docker container running (docker compose up -d docling or docker-compose up -d docling). Docling is configured for up to 8 GB RAM and 4 CPUs; size Colima or Docker Desktop accordingly before starting the service.

CLI Reference

gobbler document [OPTIONS] FILE_PATH

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
FILE_PATH	Yes	Path to the document file

Options

Option	Short	Default	Description
--output	-o	stdout	Output file path
--ocr/--no-ocr		--ocr	Enable/disable OCR for scanned documents
--format	-f	markdown	Output format: markdown, json, or table
--provider	-p	docling	Document conversion provider

Examples

# Basic conversion (OCR enabled by default)
gobbler document /path/to/document.pdf -o output.md

# Disable OCR for faster processing on digital PDFs
gobbler document /path/to/document.pdf --no-ocr -o output.md

# Output as JSON with metadata
gobbler document report.pdf --format json -o result.json

# Output as table format
gobbler document spreadsheet.xlsx --format table

Note: OCR is enabled by default for maximum compatibility with scanned documents. Use --no-ocr for faster processing when you know the PDF has embedded text.

When to Disable OCR

Document Type	Recommendation	Notes
Digital PDF	Use --no-ocr	Faster - text is already embedded
Scanned PDF	Default (OCR on)	Required - images need OCR
DOCX/PPTX/XLSX/XLS	Either works	Native text extraction regardless

Saving Output

When saving documents to a file, follow these steps:

Step 1: Check for default output directory

gobbler config get output.default_directory

Step 2: Save to the default directory

If a default directory is configured, use it with a descriptive filename:

gobbler document /path/to/report.pdf -o "<default_directory>/Report Summary.md"

Step 3: If no default directory is configured

If the config returns empty/null, save to the current directory or ask the user where to save:

gobbler document /path/to/report.pdf -o "Report Summary.md"

Supported Formats

• PDF - Portable Document Format (with optional OCR for scanned pages)
• DOCX - Microsoft Word documents
• PPTX - Microsoft PowerPoint presentations
• XLSX - Microsoft Excel spreadsheets
• XLS - Legacy Microsoft Excel spreadsheets (auto-converted to XLSX for processing)

Prerequisites

Start services before using:

cd /path/to/gobbler
docker compose up -d docling || docker-compose up -d docling

# Check health
curl http://localhost:5001/health