CLI reference
This page documents Docling's command line tools. It is generated by
scripts/render_cli_reference.py from the live Typer apps — do not
edit by hand.
docling
Usage
docling [OPTIONS] source
Arguments
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
source |
text |
yes | PDF files to convert. Can be local file / directory paths or URL. |
Options
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
--from |
docx, pptx, html, image, pdf, asciidoc, md, csv, xlsx, xml_uspto, xml_jats, xml_xbrl, mets_gbs, json_docling, audio, vtt, latex (repeatable) |
Input formats to accept. Defaults to all supported formats. | |
--to |
md, json, yaml, html, html_split_page, text, doctags, vtt (repeatable) |
Specify output formats. Defaults to Markdown. | |
--show-layout / --no-show-layout |
flag | false |
If enabled, the page images will show the bounding-boxes of the items. |
--headers |
text |
Specify http request headers used when fetching url input sources in the form of a JSON string | |
--image-export-mode |
placeholder, embedded, referenced |
embedded |
Image export mode for image-capable document outputs (JSON, YAML, HTML, HTML split-page, and Markdown). Text, DocTags, and WebVTT outputs do not export images. With placeholder, only the position of the image is marked in the output. In embedded mode, the image is embedded as base64 encoded string. In referenced mode, the image is exported in PNG format and referenced from the main exported document. |
--pipeline |
legacy, standard, vlm, asr |
standard |
Choose the pipeline to process PDF or image files. |
--vlm-model |
text |
granite_docling |
Choose the VLM preset to use with PDF or image files. Available presets: smoldocling, granite_docling, deepseek_ocr, granite_vision, pixtral, got_ocr, phi4, qwen, nanonets_ocr2, gemma_12b, gemma_27b, dolphin, glm_ocr, lightonocr, falcon_ocr |
--asr-model |
whisper_tiny, whisper_small, whisper_medium, whisper_base, whisper_large, whisper_turbo, whisper_tiny_mlx, whisper_small_mlx, whisper_medium_mlx, whisper_base_mlx, whisper_large_mlx, whisper_turbo_mlx, whisper_tiny_native, whisper_small_native, whisper_medium_native, whisper_base_native, whisper_large_native, whisper_turbo_native |
whisper_tiny |
Choose the ASR model to use with audio/video files. |
--ocr / --no-ocr |
flag | true |
If enabled, the bitmap content will be processed using OCR. |
--force-ocr / --no-force-ocr |
flag | false |
Replace any existing text with OCR generated text over the full content. |
--tables / --no-tables |
flag | true |
If enabled, the table structure model will be used to extract table information. |
--ocr-engine |
text |
auto |
The OCR engine to use. When --allow-external-plugins is not set, the available values are: auto, easyocr, kserve_v2_ocr, ocrmac, rapidocr, tesserocr, tesseract. Use the option --show-external-plugins to see the options allowed with external plugins. |
--ocr-lang |
text |
Provide a comma-separated list of languages used by the OCR engine. Note that each OCR engine has different values for the language names. | |
--psm |
integer |
Page Segmentation Mode for the OCR engine (0-13). | |
--pdf-backend |
pypdfium2, docling_parse, threaded_docling_parse, dlparse_v1, dlparse_v2, dlparse_v4 |
docling_parse |
The PDF backend to use. |
--pdf-password |
text |
Password for protected PDF documents | |
--table-mode |
fast, accurate |
accurate |
The mode to use in the table structure model. |
--enrich-code / --no-enrich-code |
flag | false |
Enable the code enrichment model in the pipeline. |
--enrich-formula / --no-enrich-formula |
flag | false |
Enable the formula enrichment model in the pipeline. |
--enrich-picture-classes / --no-enrich-picture-classes |
flag | false |
Enable the picture classification enrichment model in the pipeline. |
--enrich-picture-description / --no-enrich-picture-description |
flag | false |
Enable the picture description model in the pipeline. |
--enrich-chart-extraction / --no-enrich-chart-extraction |
flag | false |
Enable chart data extraction from bar, pie, and line charts. |
--artifacts-path |
path |
If provided, the location of the model artifacts. | |
--enable-remote-services / --no-enable-remote-services |
flag | false |
Must be enabled when using models connecting to remote services. |
--allow-external-plugins / --no-allow-external-plugins |
flag | false |
Must be enabled for loading modules from third-party plugins. |
--show-external-plugins / --no-show-external-plugins |
flag | false |
List the third-party plugins which are available when the option --allow-external-plugins is set. |
--abort-on-error / --no-abort-on-error |
flag | false |
If enabled, the processing will be aborted when the first error is encountered. |
--output |
path |
. |
Output directory where results are saved. |
--verbose / -v |
integer |
0 |
Set the verbosity level. -v for info logging, -vv for debug logging. |
--debug-visualize-cells / --no-debug-visualize-cells |
flag | false |
Enable debug output which visualizes the PDF cells |
--debug-visualize-ocr / --no-debug-visualize-ocr |
flag | false |
Enable debug output which visualizes the OCR cells |
--debug-visualize-layout / --no-debug-visualize-layout |
flag | false |
Enable debug output which visualizes the layout clusters |
--debug-visualize-tables / --no-debug-visualize-tables |
flag | false |
Enable debug output which visualizes the table cells |
--version |
flag | Show version information. | |
--document-timeout |
float |
The timeout for processing each document, in seconds. | |
--num-threads |
integer |
4 |
Number of threads |
--release-native-memory-every-n-pages |
integer |
128 |
Release native parser memory after every N decoded pages when using the threaded docling-parse backend. |
--device |
auto, cpu, cuda, mps, xpu |
auto |
Accelerator device |
--logo |
flag | Docling logo | |
--page-batch-size |
integer |
4 |
Number of pages processed in one batch. Default: 4 |
--profiling / --no-profiling |
flag | false |
If enabled, it summarizes profiling details for all conversion stages. |
--save-profiling / --no-save-profiling |
flag | false |
If enabled, it saves the profiling summaries to json. |
docling-tools
Usage
docling-tools [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
Subcommands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
docling-tools models |
docling-tools models
Usage
docling-tools models [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
Subcommands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
docling-tools models download |
|
docling-tools models download-hf-repo |
docling-tools models download
Usage
docling-tools models download [OPTIONS] [MODELS]:[layout|tableformer|tableformerv2|code_formula|picture_classifier|smolvlm|granitedocling|granitedocling_mlx|smoldocling|smoldocling_mlx|granite_vision|granite_chart_extraction|granite_chart_extraction_v4|rapidocr|easyocr]...
Arguments
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
MODELS |
layout, tableformer, tableformerv2, code_formula, picture_classifier, smolvlm, granitedocling, granitedocling_mlx, smoldocling, smoldocling_mlx, granite_vision, granite_chart_extraction, granite_chart_extraction_v4, rapidocr, easyocr |
no | Models to download (default behavior: a predefined set of models will be downloaded). |
Options
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
-o / --output-dir |
path |
/home/runner/.cache/docling/models |
The directory where to download the models. |
--force / --no-force |
flag | false |
If true, the download will be forced. |
--all |
flag | false |
If true, all available models will be downloaded (mutually exclusive with passing specific models). |
-q / --quiet |
flag | false |
No extra output is generated, the CLI prints only the directory with the cached models. |
docling-tools models download-hf-repo
Usage
docling-tools models download-hf-repo [OPTIONS] MODELS...
Arguments
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
MODELS |
text |
yes | Specific models to download from HuggingFace identified by their repo id. For example: docling-project/docling-models . |
Options
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
-o / --output-dir |
path |
/home/runner/.cache/docling/models |
The directory where to download the models. |
--force / --no-force |
flag | false |
If true, the download will be forced. |
-q / --quiet |
flag | false |
No extra output is generated, the CLI prints only the directory with the cached models. |