RAG Examples for OpenDataLoader PDF

Working examples demonstrating how to use OpenDataLoader PDF in RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) pipelines.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• Java 11+ (on PATH)

Sample PDF

Examples use samples/pdf/1901.03003.pdf - a multi-page academic paper (arXiv:1901.03003) with:

• Two-column layout
• Multiple sections and headings
• Tables and figures
• Complex reading order

Examples

1. Basic Chunking (No External Dependencies)

basic_chunking.py demonstrates PDF-to-chunks conversion using only opendataloader-pdf and Python standard library. No external embedding or vector store dependencies.

Features:

• PDF to JSON conversion with reading order
• Three chunking strategies:
  1. By element (paragraph, heading, list)
  2. By section (grouped under headings)
  3. Merged chunks (minimum size threshold)
• Bounding box metadata for citations

Run:

pip install opendataloader-pdf
python basic_chunking.py

2. LangChain Integration

langchain_example.py shows integration with the official LangChain loader.

Features:

• OpenDataLoaderPDFLoader usage
• Returns LangChain Document objects
• Ready for any LangChain pipeline

Run:

pip install -r requirements.txt
python langchain_example.py

Sample Output

Processing: 1901.03003.pdf
==================================================
Document: 1901.03003.pdf
Pages: 9
Elements: 187

--- Strategy 1: Chunk by Element ---
Created 156 chunks
  [1] RoBERTa: A Robustly Optimized BERT Pretraining Approach
      Source: 1901.03003.pdf, Page 1, Position (108, 655)
  [2] Yinhan Liu† Myle Ott† Naman Goyal† Jingfei Du† ...
      Source: 1901.03003.pdf, Page 1, Position (142, 603)

--- Strategy 2: Chunk by Section ---
Created 12 chunks
  Section: RoBERTa: A Robustly Optimized BERT Pretraining Approach
  Section: 1 Introduction
  Section: 2 Background
  ...

Next Steps

After chunking, integrate with your preferred:

• Embedding model: OpenAI, Cohere, HuggingFace, etc.
• Vector store: Chroma, FAISS, Pinecone, Weaviate, etc.

Each chunk includes text and metadata ready for embedding:

{
  "text": "Language model pretraining has led to significant...",
  "metadata": {
    "type": "paragraph",
    "page": 1,
    "bbox": [108.0, 526.2, 286.5, 592.8],
    "source": "1901.03003.pdf"
  }
}