file_reader

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Read and summarize text-based file types only. Prefer read_file for text formats; use execute_shell_command for type detection when needed. PDF/Office/images/archives are handled by other skills.

3installs

Sourceagentscope-ai/copaw

Added on2026-03-09

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add agentscope-ai/copaw file_reader

SKILL.md Content

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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:

bash

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:

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

Large Logs

If the file is huge, use a tail window:

bash

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.