--- title: "How do I read email and PDFs after indexing a folder?" canonical: "https://xerj.org/answers/read-indexed-email-and-pdf-folder" updated: "2026-10-30" source: "content/answers/read-indexed-email-and-pdf-folder.md" --- # I indexed a folder of email and PDFs. How do I actually read what it found? **Short answer** (updated 2026-10-30): I indexed a folder of email and PDFs; how do I actually read what it found? Run xerj brain on the folder and open the console it prints. The Corpus page lists what was indexed, and the Reader opens an email with headers, body and attachments, or one PDF page. It shows extracted text only. **Key number:** In the recorded run, xerj brain turned 10 files into 81 records in one dataset and wrote 33 links into the brain. (as of 2026-10-19; source: [docs/usecases/console-reader/live-e2e.json](https://github.com/xerj-org/xerj/blob/main/docs/usecases/console-reader/live-e2e.json)) **TL;DR** Run `xerj brain ` and open the console it prints. Corpus lists what was indexed. The Reader opens one email with its attachments, or one PDF page, as extracted text. ## Agent prompt ```text Act as a coding agent. Read https://xerj.org/llms.txt, run `xerj brain ./casefile --no-open` on a folder of .eml and .pdf files, search the index it reports for a word from one email subject, then give the person the console link `/_xerj-console/#/reader?index=INDEX&id=ID` for the best hit instead of pasting the whole document into the chat. ``` ## Commands ### Command 1 Note: Index the folder, detect the links between files, and print the console URL and the one-time passkey setup link. ```sh xerj brain ./casefile --no-open ``` ### Command 2 Note: Find an email by a word in its subject. The _id of a hit goes into the Reader link, and its attachments share its ax_file. ```sh curl -s -XPOST http://localhost:9200/ax-docs/_search -H "Authorization: ApiKey $XERJ_API_KEY" -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{"query":{"bool":{"filter":[{"wildcard":{"email_subject":{"value":"*invoice*","case_insensitive":true}}}],"must_not":[{"exists":{"field":"attachment_name"}}]}},"_source":["email_subject","email_from","email_date","ax_file"],"size":5}' ``` *Figure: Counts from the recorded run in docs/usecases/console-reader ( live-e2e.json ). The Reader shows extracted text only. It renders no email HTML and no PDF pages.* ## Index the folder, then open the console `xerj brain ` starts a local node if none is running, indexes every readable file, detects the links between files and prints a console URL. A first run also prints a one-time passkey setup link. The node it starts has auth on, and its admin key is in `/admin.key`. ## Corpus lists what was indexed Corpus is the console's landing page. It reads `autoindex-catalog` and shows one card per dataset: record, file and byte counts, formats, date range, fields with types, and sample queries. A sample query opens the Reader with that search already run. The record count is the index total. File count, formats and field types come from the last run over that dataset, and the card labels them `last run`. An empty node shows one command, `xerj brain `, and no sample data. ## The Reader opens one record The route is `/_xerj-console/#/reader?index=&id=`. Every hit in Discover links there, so an agent can hand a person that link instead of pasting a document into a chat. *Figure: The four record shapes the Reader renders, from the console reader use case in the repository. Every record that came out of one .eml file carries the same ax_file , and the Reader joins on it.* The second command above finds an email by a word in its subject. It uses `wildcard`, not `match`. `xerj autoindex` usually types `email_subject` as `keyword`, and on a `keyword` field `match` finds only the whole subject. In a recorded check, `match` for `Lunch` returned 0 hits on the subject `Lunch on Friday?`, and the `wildcard` for `*lunch*` returned 1. The `must_not` drops attachment records, which each carry a copy of the subject. ## How one email is stored `xerj autoindex` writes one record for the file, one for the message and one for each page section of each attachment. All of them share `ax_file`. In the recorded run the shared index held 6 emails and 43 attachment records. To list one email's attachments, filter on its `ax_file`: ```sh curl -s -XPOST 'http://localhost:9200/ax-docs/_search' \ -H "Authorization: ApiKey $XERJ_API_KEY" -H 'content-type: application/json' \ -d '{"query":{"bool":{"filter":[{"term":{"ax_file":"AX_FILE_OF_THE_EMAIL"}},{"exists":{"field":"attachment_name"}}]}},"_source":["attachment_name","page","ax_locator"],"size":50}' ``` Attachment records also copy `email_message_id` without the angle brackets, but only when the message has a `Message-ID` header, and two files can carry the same id. If one email has more than 50 records, raise `size` or add `from`. ## Linked records come from the brain Under the record, the Reader shows its one-hop neighbours from `GET /_graph/{brain}/ego`, grouped by link type. The detectors link file records, so the Reader also reads the links of the record's file and marks them `FILE`. In the recorded run the hostile email had 2 linked records, both same-folder links of its file. The detectors are structural and read no meaning from the text. ## Text on purpose A subject, an attachment name and a body are text a stranger wrote. The Reader builds its page from text nodes, renders no email HTML and links no URL found in a document. The console's Content-Security-Policy allows scripts and connections from its own origin only. The recorded run includes a hostile message with a `