diff --git a/packages/core/src/tests/read-handler.test.ts b/packages/core/src/tests/read-handler.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..68e5a6a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core/src/tests/read-handler.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+import { test } from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import * as fs from "fs";
+import * as os from "os";
+import * as path from "path";
+import type { ToolExecutionContext } from "../tools/executor";
+import { handleReadTool } from "../tools/read-handler";
+
+const tempDirs: string[] = [];
+
+test.afterEach(() => {
+  while (tempDirs.length > 0) {
+    const dir = tempDirs.pop();
+    if (dir) {
+      fs.rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  }
+});
+
+function createContext(projectRoot: string, model: string): ToolExecutionContext {
+  return {
+    sessionId: "read-test",
+    projectRoot,
+    toolCall: {
+      id: "tool-call-id",
+      type: "function",
+      function: {
+        name: "read",
+        arguments: "{}",
+      },
+    },
+    createOpenAIClient: () => ({
+      client: null,
+      model,
+      thinkingEnabled: false,
+    }),
+  };
+}
+
+test(
+  "read tool extracts PDF text when pdftotext is available (#236)",
+  { skip: process.platform === "win32" },
+  async () => {
+    const workspace = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "deepcode-read-"));
+    tempDirs.push(workspace);
+
+    const binDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "deepcode-bin-"));
+    tempDirs.push(binDir);
+    const fakeBin = path.join(binDir, "pdftotext");
+    fs.writeFileSync(fakeBin, '#!/bin/sh\nprintf "extracted pdf text from %s\\n" "$2"\n', { mode: 0o755 });
+
+    const filePath = path.join(workspace, "sample.pdf");
+    fs.writeFileSync(filePath, Buffer.from("%PDF-1.4 fake pdf bytes", "latin1"));
+
+    const originalPath = process.env.PATH;
+    process.env.PATH = `${binDir}${path.delimiter}${originalPath ?? ""}`;
+    try {
+      const result = await handleReadTool({ file_path: filePath }, createContext(workspace, "deepseek-v4-flash"));
+      assert.equal(result.ok, true);
+      assert.match(result.output ?? "", /extracted pdf text from/);
+      assert.equal((result.metadata as { encoding?: string }).encoding, "text");
+    } finally {
+      if (originalPath === undefined) {
+        delete process.env.PATH;
+      } else {
+        process.env.PATH = originalPath;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+);
+
+test("read tool falls back to binary warning when pdftotext is unavailable (#236)", async () => {
+  const workspace = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "deepcode-read-"));
+  tempDirs.push(workspace);
+
+  const emptyBin = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "deepcode-emptybin-"));
+  tempDirs.push(emptyBin);
+
+  const filePath = path.join(workspace, "sample.pdf");
+  fs.writeFileSync(filePath, Buffer.from("%PDF-1.4 fake pdf bytes", "latin1"));
+
+  const originalPath = process.env.PATH;
+  process.env.PATH = emptyBin;
+  try {
+    const result = await handleReadTool({ file_path: filePath }, createContext(workspace, "deepseek-v4-flash"));
+    assert.equal(result.ok, true);
+    assert.equal(result.output, "WARNING: File is binary.");
+    assert.equal((result.metadata as { encoding?: string }).encoding, "base64");
+  } finally {
+    if (originalPath === undefined) {
+      delete process.env.PATH;
+    } else {
+      process.env.PATH = originalPath;
+    }
+  }
+});
diff --git a/packages/core/src/tools/read-handler.ts b/packages/core/src/tools/read-handler.ts
index 94be54b4..48aa28f8 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/tools/read-handler.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/tools/read-handler.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import * as fs from "fs";
 import * as path from "path";
+import { spawnSync } from "child_process";
 import ignore from "ignore";
 import type { ToolExecutionContext, ToolExecutionFollowUpMessage, ToolExecutionResult } from "./executor";
 import { readTextFileWithMetadata } from "../common/file-utils";
@@ -14,6 +15,8 @@ import {
 const DEFAULT_LINE_LIMIT = 2000;
 const MAX_LINE_LENGTH = 2000;
 const LINE_NUMBER_WIDTH = 6;
+// Cap for text extracted from PDFs via pdftotext (#236).
+const MAX_PDF_TEXT_CHARS = 30000;
 const DEFAULT_GITIGNORE = [
   "node_modules/",
   ".git/",
@@ -158,6 +161,21 @@ export async function handleReadTool(
         timestamp: Math.floor(stat.mtimeMs),
         isPartialView: true,
       });
+      const extracted = extractPdfText(filePath);
+      if (extracted) {
+        return {
+          ok: true,
+          name: "read",
+          output: extracted,
+          metadata: {
+            mime: "application/pdf",
+            encoding: "text",
+            bytes: buffer.length,
+            pageCount,
+            truncated: extracted.length >= MAX_PDF_TEXT_CHARS,
+          },
+        };
+      }
       return {
         ok: true,
         name: "read",
@@ -483,6 +501,26 @@ function countPdfPages(buffer: Buffer): number | null {
   }
 }
 
+/** Extract PDF text via the external `pdftotext` binary; returns null when unavailable or empty. (#236) */
+function extractPdfText(filePath: string): string | null {
+  try {
+    const result = spawnSync("pdftotext", ["-layout", filePath, "-"], {
+      encoding: "utf8",
+      maxBuffer: 10 * 1024 * 1024,
+      timeout: 10000,
+    });
+    const text = result.stdout?.trim();
+    if (result.status !== 0 || !text) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    return text.length > MAX_PDF_TEXT_CHARS
+      ? `${text.slice(0, MAX_PDF_TEXT_CHARS)}\n\n[truncated: PDF text exceeds ${MAX_PDF_TEXT_CHARS} characters]`
+      : text;
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
 function readNotebook(filePath: string): string {
   const raw = fs.readFileSync(filePath, "utf8");
   if (!raw) {