file_reader

File Reader Toolbox

Use this skill when the user asks to read or summarize local text-based files. PDFs, Office documents, images, audio, and video are out of scope for this skill and should be handled by their dedicated skills/tools.

Quick Type Check

Use a type probe before reading:

file -b --mime-type "/path/to/file"

If the file is large, avoid dumping the whole content; extract a small, relevant portion and summarize.

Text-Based Files (use read_file)

Preferred for: .txt, .md, .json, .yaml/.yml, .csv/.tsv, .log, .sql, ini, toml, py, js, html, xml source code.

Steps:

1. Use read_file to fetch content.
2. Summarize key sections or show the relevant slice requested by the user.
3. For JSON/YAML, list top-level keys and important fields.
4. For CSV/TSV, show header + first few rows, then summarize columns.

Large Logs

If the file is huge, use a tail window:

tail -n 200 "/path/to/file.log"

Summarize the last errors/warnings and notable patterns.

Out of Scope

Do not handle the following in this skill (they are covered by other skills):

• PDF
• Office (docx/xlsx/pptx)
• Images
• Audio/Video

Safety and Behavior

• Never execute untrusted files.
• Prefer reading the smallest portion necessary.
• If a tool is missing, explain the limitation and ask the user for an alternate format.