# Elixir
Extract text, tables, images, and metadata from 90+ file formats and 300+ programming languages including PDF, Office documents, and images. Elixir bindings with native BEAM concurrency, OTP integration, and idiomatic Elixir API.
## What This Package Provides
- **Document intelligence core** — extract text, tables, images, metadata, entities, keywords, and code intelligence from one API.
- **Format coverage** — PDF, Office, images, HTML/XML, email, archives, notebooks, citations, scientific formats, and plain text.
- **OCR choices** — Tesseract, PaddleOCR, EasyOCR where supported, VLM OCR through liter-llm, and plugin hooks for custom backends.
- **Same engine as every binding** — Rust, Python, Node.js, Go, Java, PHP, Ruby, .NET, Elixir, R, WASM, Kotlin Android, Swift, Dart, Zig, and C FFI share the same Rust implementation.
- **BEAM package** — Rustler NIF binding for OTP pipelines.
## Installation
### Package Installation
Add to your `mix.exs` dependencies:
```elixir
def deps do
[
{:kreuzberg, "~> 5.0.0-rc.3"}
]
end
```
Then run:
```bash
mix deps.get
```
### System Requirements
- **Elixir 1.14+** and **Erlang/OTP 26+** required
- Pre-compiled NIFs bundled via `rustler_precompiled` for macOS (arm64, x64), Linux (x64, arm64), and Windows (x64)
- Optional: [ONNX Runtime](https://github.com/microsoft/onnxruntime/releases) version 1.22.x for embeddings support
- Optional: [Tesseract OCR](https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tesseract) for OCR functionality
## Quick Start
### Basic Extraction
Extract text, metadata, and structure from any supported document format:
```exs
```elixir title="Elixir"
# Basic document extraction workflow
# Load file -> extract -> access results
{:ok, result} = Kreuzberg.extract_file("document.pdf")
IO.puts("Extracted Content:")
IO.puts(result.content)
IO.puts("\nMetadata:")
IO.puts("Format: #{inspect(result.metadata.format)}")
IO.puts("Tables found: #{length(result.tables)}")
```
```
### Common Use Cases
#### Extract with Custom Configuration
Most use cases benefit from configuration to control extraction behavior:
**With OCR (for scanned documents):**
```exs
```elixir title="Elixir"
alias Kreuzberg.ExtractionConfig
config = %ExtractionConfig{
ocr: %{"enabled" => true, "backend" => "tesseract"}
}
{:ok, result} = Kreuzberg.extract_file("scanned_document.pdf", nil, config)
content = result.content
IO.puts("OCR Extracted content:")
IO.puts(content)
IO.puts("Metadata: #{inspect(result.metadata)}")
```
```
#### Table Extraction
See [Configuration Guide](https://docs.kreuzberg.dev/guides/configuration/) for table extraction options.
#### Processing Multiple Files
```exs
```elixir title="Elixir"
file_paths = ["document1.pdf", "document2.pdf", "document3.pdf"]
{:ok, results} = Kreuzberg.batch_extract_files(file_paths)
Enum.each(results, fn result ->
IO.puts("File: #{result.mime_type}")
IO.puts("Content length: #{byte_size(result.content)} characters")
IO.puts("Tables: #{length(result.tables)}")
IO.puts("---")
end)
IO.puts("Total files processed: #{length(results)}")
```
```
#### Async Processing
For non-blocking document processing:
```exs
```elixir title="Elixir"
# Extract from different file types (PDF, DOCX, etc.)
case Kreuzberg.extract_file("document.pdf") do
{:ok, result} ->
IO.puts("Content: #{result.content}")
IO.puts("Format: #{inspect(result.metadata.format)}")
IO.puts("Tables: #{length(result.tables)}")
{:error, reason} ->
IO.puts("Extraction failed: #{inspect(reason)}")
end
```
```
### Next Steps
- **[Installation Guide](https://docs.kreuzberg.dev/getting-started/installation/)** - Platform-specific setup
- **[API Documentation](https://docs.kreuzberg.dev/reference/api-python/)** - Complete API reference
- **[Examples & Guides](https://docs.kreuzberg.dev/)** - Full code examples and usage guides
- **[Configuration Guide](https://docs.kreuzberg.dev/guides/configuration/)** - Advanced configuration options
## Features
### Supported File Formats (90+)
90+ file formats across 8 major categories with intelligent format detection and comprehensive metadata extraction.
#### Office Documents
| Category | Formats | Capabilities |
|----------|---------|--------------|
| **Word Processing** | `.docx`, `.docm`, `.dotx`, `.dotm`, `.dot`, `.odt` | Full text, tables, images, metadata, styles |
| **Spreadsheets** | `.xlsx`, `.xlsm`, `.xlsb`, `.xls`, `.xla`, `.xlam`, `.xltm`, `.xltx`, `.xlt`, `.ods` | Sheet data, formulas, cell metadata, charts |
| **Presentations** | `.pptx`, `.pptm`, `.ppsx`, `.potx`, `.potm`, `.pot`, `.ppt` | Slides, speaker notes, images, metadata |
| **PDF** | `.pdf` | Text, tables, images, metadata, OCR support |
| **eBooks** | `.epub`, `.fb2` | Chapters, metadata, embedded resources |
| **Database** | `.dbf` | Table data extraction, field type support |
| **Hangul** | `.hwp`, `.hwpx` | Korean document format, text extraction |
#### Images (OCR-Enabled)
| Category | Formats | Features |
|----------|---------|----------|
| **Raster** | `.png`, `.jpg`, `.jpeg`, `.gif`, `.webp`, `.bmp`, `.tiff`, `.tif` | OCR, table detection, EXIF metadata, dimensions, color space |
| **Advanced** | `.jp2`, `.jpx`, `.jpm`, `.mj2`, `.jbig2`, `.jb2`, `.pnm`, `.pbm`, `.pgm`, `.ppm` | OCR via hayro-jpeg2000 (pure Rust decoder), JBIG2 support, table detection, format-specific metadata |
| **Vector** | `.svg` | DOM parsing, embedded text, graphics metadata |
#### Web & Data
| Category | Formats | Features |
|----------|---------|----------|
| **Markup** | `.html`, `.htm`, `.xhtml`, `.xml`, `.svg` | DOM parsing, metadata (Open Graph, Twitter Card), link extraction |
| **Structured Data** | `.json`, `.yaml`, `.yml`, `.toml`, `.csv`, `.tsv` | Schema detection, nested structures, validation |
| **Text & Markdown** | `.txt`, `.md`, `.markdown`, `.djot`, `.rst`, `.org`, `.rtf` | CommonMark, GFM, Djot, reStructuredText, Org Mode |
#### Email & Archives
| Category | Formats | Features |
|----------|---------|----------|
| **Email** | `.eml`, `.msg` | Headers, body (HTML/plain), attachments, threading |
| **Archives** | `.zip`, `.tar`, `.tgz`, `.gz`, `.7z` | File listing, nested archives, metadata |
#### Academic & Scientific
| Category | Formats | Features |
|----------|---------|----------|
| **Citations** | `.bib`, `.biblatex`, `.ris`, `.nbib`, `.enw`, `.csl` | Structured parsing: RIS (structured), PubMed/MEDLINE, EndNote XML (structured), BibTeX, CSL JSON |
| **Scientific** | `.tex`, `.latex`, `.typst`, `.jats`, `.ipynb`, `.docbook` | LaTeX, Jupyter notebooks, PubMed JATS |
| **Documentation** | `.opml`, `.pod`, `.mdoc`, `.troff` | Technical documentation formats |
#### Code Intelligence (300+ Languages)
| Feature | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| **Structure Extraction** | Functions, classes, methods, structs, interfaces, enums |
| **Import/Export Analysis** | Module dependencies, re-exports, wildcard imports |
| **Symbol Extraction** | Variables, constants, type aliases, properties |
| **Docstring Parsing** | Google, NumPy, Sphinx, JSDoc, RustDoc, and 10+ formats |
| **Diagnostics** | Parse errors with line/column positions |
| **Syntax-Aware Chunking** | Split code by semantic boundaries, not arbitrary byte offsets |
Powered by [tree-sitter-language-pack](https://github.com/kreuzberg-dev/tree-sitter-language-pack) — [documentation](https://docs.tree-sitter-language-pack.kreuzberg.dev).
**[Complete Format Reference](https://docs.kreuzberg.dev/reference/formats/)**
### Key Capabilities
- **Text Extraction** - Extract all text content with position and formatting information
- **Metadata Extraction** - Retrieve document properties, creation date, author, etc.
- **Table Extraction** - Parse tables with structure and cell content preservation
- **Image Extraction** - Extract embedded images and render page previews
- **OCR Support** - Integrate multiple OCR backends for scanned documents
- **Async/Await** - Non-blocking document processing with concurrent operations
- **Plugin System** - Extensible post-processing for custom text transformation
- **Embeddings** - Generate vector embeddings using ONNX Runtime models
- **Batch Processing** - Efficiently process multiple documents in parallel
- **Memory Efficient** - Stream large files without loading entirely into memory
- **Language Detection** - Detect and support multiple languages in documents
- **Code Intelligence** - Extract structure, imports, exports, symbols, and docstrings from [300+ programming languages](https://docs.tree-sitter-language-pack.kreuzberg.dev) via tree-sitter
- **Configuration** - Fine-grained control over extraction behavior
### Performance Characteristics
| Format | Speed | Memory | Notes |
|--------|-------|--------|-------|
| **PDF (text)** | 10-100 MB/s | ~50MB per doc | Fastest extraction |
| **Office docs** | 20-200 MB/s | ~100MB per doc | DOCX, XLSX, PPTX |
| **Images (OCR)** | 1-5 MB/s | Variable | Depends on OCR backend |
| **Archives** | 5-50 MB/s | ~200MB per doc | ZIP, TAR, etc. |
| **Web formats** | 50-200 MB/s | Streaming | HTML, XML, JSON |
## OCR Support
Kreuzberg supports multiple OCR backends for extracting text from scanned documents and images:
- **Tesseract**
- **Paddleocr**
### OCR Configuration Example
```exs
```elixir title="Elixir"
alias Kreuzberg.ExtractionConfig
config = %ExtractionConfig{
ocr: %{"enabled" => true, "backend" => "tesseract"}
}
{:ok, result} = Kreuzberg.extract_file("scanned_document.pdf", nil, config)
content = result.content
IO.puts("OCR Extracted content:")
IO.puts(content)
IO.puts("Metadata: #{inspect(result.metadata)}")
```
```
## Async Support
This binding provides full async/await support for non-blocking document processing:
```exs
```elixir title="Elixir"
# Extract from different file types (PDF, DOCX, etc.)
case Kreuzberg.extract_file("document.pdf") do
{:ok, result} ->
IO.puts("Content: #{result.content}")
IO.puts("Format: #{inspect(result.metadata.format)}")
IO.puts("Tables: #{length(result.tables)}")
{:error, reason} ->
IO.puts("Extraction failed: #{inspect(reason)}")
end
```
```
## Plugin System
Kreuzberg supports extensible post-processing plugins for custom text transformation and filtering.
For detailed plugin documentation, visit [Plugin System Guide](https://docs.kreuzberg.dev/guides/plugins/).
### Plugin Example
```exs
```elixir title="Elixir"
alias Kreuzberg.Plugin
# Word Count Post-Processor Plugin
# This post-processor automatically counts words in extracted content
# and adds the word count to the metadata.
defmodule MyApp.Plugins.WordCountProcessor do
@behaviour Kreuzberg.Plugin.PostProcessor
require Logger
@impl true
def name do
"WordCountProcessor"
end
@impl true
def processing_stage do
:post
end
@impl true
def version do
"1.0.0"
end
@impl true
def initialize do
:ok
end
@impl true
def shutdown do
:ok
end
@impl true
def process(result, _options) do
content = result["content"] || ""
word_count = content
|> String.split(~r/\s+/, trim: true)
|> length()
# Update metadata with word count
metadata = Map.get(result, "metadata", %{})
updated_metadata = Map.put(metadata, "word_count", word_count)
{:ok, Map.put(result, "metadata", updated_metadata)}
end
end
# Register the word count post-processor
Plugin.register_post_processor(:word_count_processor, MyApp.Plugins.WordCountProcessor)
# Example usage
result = %{
"content" => "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. This is a sample document with multiple words.",
"metadata" => %{
"source" => "document.pdf",
"pages" => 1
}
}
case MyApp.Plugins.WordCountProcessor.process(result, %{}) do
{:ok, processed_result} ->
word_count = processed_result["metadata"]["word_count"]
IO.puts("Word count added: #{word_count} words")
IO.inspect(processed_result, label: "Processed Result")
{:error, reason} ->
IO.puts("Processing failed: #{reason}")
end
# List all registered post-processors
{:ok, processors} = Plugin.list_post_processors()
IO.inspect(processors, label: "Registered Post-Processors")
```
```
## Embeddings Support
Generate vector embeddings for extracted text using the built-in ONNX Runtime support. Requires ONNX Runtime installation.
**[Embeddings Guide](https://docs.kreuzberg.dev/features/#embeddings)**
## Batch Processing
Process multiple documents efficiently:
```exs
```elixir title="Elixir"
file_paths = ["document1.pdf", "document2.pdf", "document3.pdf"]
{:ok, results} = Kreuzberg.batch_extract_files(file_paths)
Enum.each(results, fn result ->
IO.puts("File: #{result.mime_type}")
IO.puts("Content length: #{byte_size(result.content)} characters")
IO.puts("Tables: #{length(result.tables)}")
IO.puts("---")
end)
IO.puts("Total files processed: #{length(results)}")
```
```
## Configuration
For advanced configuration options including language detection, table extraction, OCR settings, and more:
**[Configuration Guide](https://docs.kreuzberg.dev/guides/configuration/)**
## Documentation
- **[Official Documentation](https://docs.kreuzberg.dev/)**
- **[API Reference](https://docs.kreuzberg.dev/reference/api-python/)**
- **[Examples & Guides](https://docs.kreuzberg.dev/)**
## Contributing
Contributions are welcome! See [Contributing Guide](https://github.com/kreuzberg-dev/kreuzberg/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md).
## Part of Kreuzberg.dev
- [Kreuzberg Cloud](https://github.com/kreuzberg-dev/kreuzberg-cloud) — managed extraction API with SDKs, dashboards, and observability.
- [kreuzcrawl](https://github.com/kreuzberg-dev/kreuzcrawl) — web crawling and scraping with HTML→Markdown and headless-Chrome fallback.
- [html-to-markdown](https://github.com/kreuzberg-dev/html-to-markdown) — fast, lossless HTML→Markdown engine.
- [liter-llm](https://github.com/kreuzberg-dev/liter-llm) — universal LLM API client with native bindings for 14 languages and 143 providers.
- [tree-sitter-language-pack](https://github.com/kreuzberg-dev/tree-sitter-language-pack) — tree-sitter grammars and code-intelligence primitives.
- [alef](https://github.com/kreuzberg-dev/alef) — the polyglot binding generator that produces this README and all per-language bindings.
- [Discord](https://discord.gg/xt9WY3GnKR) — community, roadmap, announcements.
## License
Elastic-2.0 License — see [LICENSE](../../LICENSE) for details.
## Support
- **Discord Community**: [Join our Discord](https://discord.gg/xt9WY3GnKR)
- **GitHub Issues**: [Report bugs](https://github.com/kreuzberg-dev/kreuzberg/issues)
- **Discussions**: [Ask questions](https://github.com/kreuzberg-dev/kreuzberg/discussions)
