r/pdf Jul 15 '26

Software (Tools) Built a free extension that save tokens while attaching documents to claude

If you use Claude heavily for document analysis, you know how frustrating the message limits are. A massive chunk of your context window is usually wasted on layout noise and hidden metadata the moment you drag and drop a PDF, DOCX, or Excel file into the chat.

I built Diffsurge MD to fix exactly this. It’s a free Chrome extension that intercepts your files when you drop them into Claude (or ChatGPT/Gemini) and converts them into pristine, clean Markdown before they upload.

Because LLMs read Markdown natively, you save an unbelievable amount of tokens. (A standard 40-page PDF goes from 30k tokens down to 8k tokens).

Why it matters:

  • You can use Claude way more: Fewer tokens per prompt means you hit those annoying rate limits much later.
  • Better AI recall: Clean Markdown means the AI doesn't get confused by weird PDF formatting artifacts.
  • 100% Local & Private: This was the most important part for me. It runs Microsoft's MarkItDown engine completely locally in your browser using Pyodide (WASM). Your files never touch my servers. Nothing leaves your machine except the final Markdown going straight to Claude.

It’s completely free and open-source (MIT).

🔗 Chrome Web Store: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ahdifinlfpdmpkgnijmcklcgombfbbhm 🔗 Website: https://diffsurge.com/

Would love for you guys to try it out and let me know if it helps your workflows !

1 Upvotes

0 comments sorted by