Reversal — Agent Input Reliability Layer

Normalizes any source (URL, PDF, Word, Excel, CSV, image, dashboard screenshot) into clean structured JSON in under 2 seconds.

Stop your agents from hallucinating on raw HTML, failing on complex PDFs, or overflowing their context window on long documents. One call. Universal schema. Every format. Every time.

When to use this skill

• Your agent needs to read a URL, article, or webpage without ads/noise
• Your agent needs to parse a PDF, Word doc, or Excel file
• Your agent needs to extract metrics from a dashboard screenshot
• You have multiple sources and want a single normalized schema
• You want deterministic, LLM-ready JSON instead of raw content

Tools

reverse_read(source)

Converts any source into structured JSON ready for LLM ingestion.

Input:  source  — URL (https://…) or file path (/path/to/file.pdf)
Output: { status, content_type, source, processed_in_ms, data: { title, summary_hint, word_count, content, … } }

Supported types: url · pdf · word · excel · csv · image · text

detect_content_type(source)

Lightweight probe — detects content type without full parse. Use before reverse_read to branch on type.

Input:  source  — URL or file path
Output: { source, detected_type }

batch_reverse(sources[])

Normalize up to 10 sources in a single call. Failed sources return an error field without aborting the batch.

Input:  sources  — array of 1–10 URLs or file paths
Output: [ { source, result } | { source, error } ]

upload_file(file_path)

Upload a local file; returns a file_id for use in reverse_read as file:\x3Cfile_id>. Validates extension before write. Supported: pdf, docx, xlsx, xls, csv, png, jpg, jpeg, webp, gif, txt, md.

Input:  file_path  — absolute path to local file
Output: { file_id, filename, size_bytes }

Install — stdio (local agents)

Works with Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, and any stdio MCP host.

git clone https://github.com/Etytabs/REVERSAL
cd REVERSAL
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install -e .

Add to your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reversal": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "reversal_engine.mcp_server"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/REVERSAL"
    }
  }
}

No API key required for URL, PDF, Word, Excel, CSV, and text parsing. Set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY only if you need image/dashboard screenshot parsing.

Install — HTTP (remote agents)

Works with OpenAI Codex, Claude Web, and any MCP-over-HTTP host.

# 1. Get a free API key
curl -X POST https://api.reversal.dev/v1/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email": "[email protected]"}'
# → { "api_key": "sk-rev-…" }

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reversal": {
      "transport": "http",
      "url": "https://api.reversal.dev/v1/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer sk-rev-YOUR_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

For OpenAI Codex (~/.codex/config.toml):

[[mcp_servers]]
name = "reversal"
url  = "https://api.reversal.dev/v1/mcp"
[mcp_servers.headers]
Authorization = "Bearer sk-rev-YOUR_KEY"

Output schema

Every source returns the same envelope:

{
  "reversal_engine": "1.0",
  "status": "ok",
  "content_type": "url | pdf | word | excel | csv | image | text",
  "source": "original source",
  "processed_in_ms": 142,
  "data": {
    "title": "…",
    "summary_hint": "first 300 chars…",
    "word_count": 1240,
    "content": []
  }
}

Python SDK

pip install reversal-sdk

from reversal_sdk import ReversalClient

client = ReversalClient(api_key="sk-rev-…")

result = client.reverse("https://example.com/report")
print(result["summary"])

# Batch
results = client.batch([
    "https://example.com/report",
    "/path/to/data.xlsx",
])

# LangChain tool
from langchain.tools import tool

@tool
def reversal_tool(source: str) -> str:
    """Normalize any URL or file into structured JSON for the agent."""
    return client.reverse(source)["summary"]

TypeScript SDK

npm install reversal-client

import { ReversalClient } from "reversal-client";

const client = new ReversalClient({ apiKey: "sk-rev-…" });

const result = await client.reverse("https://example.com/report");
console.log(result.summary);

// Vercel AI SDK tool
import { tool } from "ai";
import { z } from "zod";

const reversalTool = tool({
  description: "Normalize any URL or file into structured JSON.",
  parameters: z.object({ source: z.string() }),
  execute: async ({ source }) => client.reverse(source),
});

Security

• SSRF protection: all URLs validated against RFC-1918, loopback, link-local, and metadata endpoints
• HMAC-SHA256 signed API keys — default secrets rejected at startup
• JSON-only Redis cache — no pickle, no RCE surface
• File uploads validated by extension allowlist before write
• Optional OTP-gated registration (REVERSAL_REGISTER_REQUIRE_OTP=true)
• Per-IP rate limiting on registration (3/min)
• Non-root Docker runtime (uid 1001)
• No obfuscated install commands · No curl|sh · No undeclared secrets

Repository

https://github.com/Etytabs/REVERSAL