pdfmeta

pdfmeta is a Go CLI for reading and editing PDF metadata with:

• native PDF /Info dictionary updates
• native catalog /Metadata (XMP) stream updates
• safe output mode (--out) and atomic in-place writes (--in-place)
• batch processing via manifest
• reusable templates
• self-update from GitHub releases

Install

Download a prebuilt binary from GitHub Releases (available for darwin, linux, freebsd, netbsd, openbsd, windows on amd64 and arm64), or build from source:

git clone git@github.com:naterator/pdfmeta.git
cd pdfmeta
go build ./cmd/pdfmeta

Commands

show

Show metadata from a PDF.

pdfmeta show --file in.pdf
pdfmeta show --file in.pdf --json
pdfmeta show --file in.pdf --only-set
pdfmeta show --file in.pdf --field title --field author

Flag	Short	Description
--file	-f	Input PDF file (required)
--json	-j	Output JSON
--only-set		Show only fields that currently have values
--field		Limit output to specific metadata fields

set

Set metadata fields. Requires --out or --in-place.

pdfmeta set --file in.pdf --out out.pdf --title "Doc" --author "Team"
pdfmeta set --file in.pdf --in-place --subject "Notes" --strict
pdfmeta set --file in.pdf --out out.pdf --from-json meta.json --title "Override Title"

Flag	Short	Description
--file	-f	Input PDF file (required)
--out	-o	Output PDF file
--in-place	-i	Modify file in place using safe atomic replace
--strict	-s	Reject invalid metadata instead of auto-correcting
--json	-j	Emit result JSON
--from-json		Read metadata fields from a JSON file or - for stdin
--title		Title
--author		Author
--subject		Subject
--keywords		Keywords
--creator		Creator
--producer		Producer
--creation-date		Creation date
--mod-date		Modification date

unset

Unset metadata fields. Requires --out or --in-place.

pdfmeta unset --file out.pdf --in-place --keywords
pdfmeta unset --file out.pdf --in-place --all

Flag	Short	Description
--file	-f	Input PDF file (required)
--out	-o	Output PDF file
--in-place	-i	Modify file in place using safe atomic replace
--strict	-s	Reject invalid metadata instead of auto-correcting
--json	-j	Emit result JSON
--all		Unset all supported metadata fields
--title		Unset Title
--author		Unset Author
--subject		Unset Subject
--keywords		Unset Keywords
--creator		Unset Creator
--producer		Unset Producer
--creation-date		Unset Creation date
--mod-date		Unset Modification date

batch

Apply metadata operations to many PDFs via a JSON manifest.

pdfmeta batch --manifest ops.json
pdfmeta batch --manifest ops.json --continue-on-error --json
cat ops.json | pdfmeta batch --manifest -

Flag	Short	Description
--manifest	-m	Path to batch manifest file or - for stdin (required)
--continue-on-error		Continue processing after individual file failures
--strict	-s	Reject invalid metadata instead of auto-correcting
--json	-j	Emit result JSON

Manifest files contain an items array. Each item includes an op and an input PDF path.

Key	Description
op	One of show, set, unset, or template-apply
input	Input PDF path
output	Output PDF path for write operations
inPlace	Modify input in place for write operations
set	Metadata object for set items using keys like title, author, creationDate, and modDate
unset	Metadata fields for unset items, such as title, keywords, creation-date, or mod-date
unsetAll	Remove all supported metadata fields for unset items
template	Template name for template-apply items

{
  "items": [
    {
      "op": "set",
      "input": "in.pdf",
      "output": "out.pdf",
      "set": {
        "title": "Release Notes",
        "author": "Docs Team"
      }
    },
    {
      "op": "unset",
      "input": "out.pdf",
      "inPlace": true,
      "unset": ["keywords"]
    },
    {
      "op": "template-apply",
      "input": "out.pdf",
      "output": "templated.pdf",
      "template": "rel"
    }
  ]
}

template

Manage saved metadata templates. By default templates are stored at ~/.pdfmeta/templates.json. Override with PDFMETA_TEMPLATE_STORE.

template save

pdfmeta template save --name rel --title "Release" --author "Team"
pdfmeta template save --name rel --title "v2" --force

Flag	Short	Description
--name	-n	Template name (required)
--note		Template description
--force		Overwrite existing template
--title, --author, --subject, --keywords, --creator, --producer, --creation-date, --mod-date		Metadata fields

template apply

pdfmeta template apply --name rel --file in.pdf --out out.pdf
pdfmeta template apply --name rel --file in.pdf --out out.pdf --title "Hotfix Notes"

Flag	Short	Description
--name	-n	Template name (required)
--file	-f	Input PDF file (required)
--out	-o	Output PDF file
--in-place	-i	Modify file in place using safe atomic replace
--strict	-s	Reject invalid metadata instead of auto-correcting
--json	-j	Emit result JSON
--title, --author, --subject, --keywords, --creator, --producer, --creation-date, --mod-date		Override specific metadata fields after loading the template

template list

pdfmeta template list
pdfmeta template list --json

template show

pdfmeta template show --name rel

Flag	Short	Description
--name	-n	Template name (required)
--json	-j	Output JSON

template delete

pdfmeta template delete --name rel

Flag	Short	Description
--name	-n	Template name (required)

template export

Export templates as JSON using the same shape accepted by template import.

pdfmeta template export
pdfmeta template export --out templates.json

Flag	Short	Description
--out	-o	Write export JSON to a file instead of stdout

template import

Import templates from JSON produced by template export. Supports either the wrapped {"templates":[...]} shape or a raw array of template records. Each imported template must include at least one metadata field.

pdfmeta template import --file templates.json
cat templates.json | pdfmeta template import --file - --force

Flag	Short	Description
--file	-f	Template import JSON file or - for stdin (required)
--force		Overwrite existing templates with matching names

version

pdfmeta version

selfupdate

Download and install the latest release from GitHub. Verifies SHA-256 checksums before replacing the binary. selfupdate is currently unavailable on Windows.

pdfmeta selfupdate

License

BSD 3-Clause