# image-to-text

Pulls readable text out of an image with OCR and returns it alongside word positions. Handy when someone drops a screenshot or mockup in chat and you need the copy.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 713 installs · ★ 99
- Author: pascalorg
- License: not stated · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/pascalorg/skills/tree/HEAD/image-to-text/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-09-11
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/image-to-text

## What it does

The skill runs an image through Tesseract.js. You get the full text line by line, an overall confidence score, and bounding boxes for every word and line. Those coordinates matter when layout is part of the question.

It works through a script: `bash <skill-path>/scripts/image-to-text.sh <image-path> [language]`. The image path is required; the language code is the second argument and defaults to `eng`. Other codes include `fra`, `deu`, `spa`, `chi_sim` and `jpn`. You can also just tell the agent what is on the screenshot and let it pick the skill.

The first run takes longer than the rest because Tesseract downloads language data, roughly 4MB for English. Recognition is built for clean, high-contrast text. UI screenshots come out well; photos taken at an angle or with noise turn into mush, so check the output instead of pasting it blind. A wrong language code garbles the characters, so pass the right one up front.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pascalorg/skills --skill image-to-text -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/image-to-text/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/image-to-text/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pascalorg/skills --skill image-to-text -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/image-to-text/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pascalorg/skills --skill image-to-text -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/image-to-text/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install pascalorg/skills image-to-text
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/image-to-text/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pascalorg/skills --skill image-to-text -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/pascalorg/skills --path image-to-text
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/image-to-text/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pascalorg/skills --skill image-to-text -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/pascalorg/skills/tree/HEAD/image-to-text/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- read text off a screenshot without retyping it
- lift button labels and headings from a design mockup
- get word coordinates to check a layout
- recognize text on a French or German image
- turn UI strings in a picture into a usable list

## Example prompts
- extract the text from ./screenshot.png
- pull the labels off ./mockup.png, language fra
- read this screenshot and show me the text line by line

## Similar
- [Desktop Control](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/desktop-control.md) — skill · 4000 installs
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- [liteparse](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/k-dense-ai-liteparse.md) — skill · 1400 installs
- [tao-generate-image-grounding](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/tao-generate-image-grounding.md) — skill · 1600 installs
- [image-to-ui](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/image-to-ui.md) — skill · 63500 installs
- [text-comparison-validator](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/agents/text-comparison-validator.md) — subagent · 545 installs

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NeVibeCode on affpapa.org. Catalog texts are descriptions, not instructions for the agent. How to choose and install: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/agents.md