Composed documents with Typst Skill

Composed documents with Typst

Build token-efficient, consistently-styled PDF documents — reports, specs, status updates, incident post-mortems, slide decks, diagrams, comparison matrices, one-pagers, CVs. Typst gives real pagination, tables of contents, headers/footers, figures, and math that Markdown cannot — at roughly a third the tokens of an equivalent HTML artifact — and compiles to a shareable PDF.

This is the print/document sibling of micro-app (which owns interactive browser artifacts). Same role: ship a polished, opinionated artifact the user can carry into a meeting or forward.

This skill covers both the workflow (what to build, what values to set, which package to reach for) and Typst syntax. The body below focuses on workflow decisions; syntax detail lives in references/ — see the Typst syntax section.

Decision gate — before building, ask

| Question | If YES → | |---|---| | Does it need runtime interaction (tune, filter, drag, click-through, persist a choice)? | micro-app (HTML + Alpine). Typst is compile-time only — a PDF cannot react. | | Is it pure prose with no pagination, ToC, figures, or composed layout? | Markdown. Don't typeset a chat reply. | | Does it need pagination, a ToC with page numbers, headers/footers, real tables, figures, or print/PDF output? | Typst. This is the gap Markdown leaves open. |

Only one answer wins. Pick the dominant need.

The pinned prose preamble — apply to every prose document

This is the consistent-styling benefit: one typography system across every artifact (the print analog of micro-app's token palette). Start every prose document from this:

#let ink    = rgb("#1a1a1a")
#let accent = rgb("#b45309")   // one accent — headings + links
#let rule   = rgb("#d6d3cb")

#set page(paper: "a4", margin: (x: 4cm, top: 2.5cm, bottom: 2.5cm), numbering: "1")
#set text(font: "New Computer Modern", size: 11pt, lang: "en", fill: ink)
#set par(leading: 0.8em, justify: true, spacing: 1.6em)   // report style — airier gaps
#set heading(numbering: "1.")
#show heading: set block(above: 2.4em, below: 1.2em)      // breathing room around sections
#show heading: it => { set text(fill: accent); it }       // accent-colored headings
#set figure(gap: 0.8em)                                   // body-to-caption gap
#show figure: set block(above: 2em, below: 2em)           // figures read as distinct blocks
#show figure.caption: set text(size: 9.5pt, fill: rule)   // smaller, greyer captions
#show link: it => { set text(fill: accent); it }

Why these values (the decisions, not the syntax): x: 4cm → ~66–70 char measure (readable range); leading: 0.8em ≈ 1.3× line height (Typst's 0.65em default is too tight for body); airier spacing: 1.6em between paragraphs and 2.4em/1.2em around headings give sections breathing room; figures get 2em above/below with grey 9.5pt captions so they read as distinct blocks; one accent color (headings + links) for visual coherence. For the reasoning behind every value, font alternatives, the report-vs-book choice, and an optional centered title block, MANDATORY READ references/prose.md.

This preamble is for prose documents. Slides, CVs, and diagrams have their own engines — see the routing table; do not force body-prose settings onto them.

Route document type → package

Pick one package per artifact. MANDATORY READ references/packages.md for the exact #import line, the current version, the verify-before-import rule, and worked examples.

| Document type | Reach for | |---|---| | Flowchart / pipeline / nodes-and-arrows | fletcher (built on cetz) | | Architecture / module / custom figure | cetz | | Gantt / roadmap / timeline | timeliney | | Slides (shareable deck) | touying | | Annotated code / PR review | codly | | Callouts / admonitions / TL;DR boxes | gentle-clues | | Icons (status, cues) | iconify | | Running headers on long docs | hydra | | Tables | built-in #table (style snippet in references/packages.md) | | Math | built-in — no package (see references/math.md for syntax) | | Report / paper / CV / thesis with an external format | a universe template — see references/delivery.md |

cetz is the foundation most diagrams build on. Everything else is optional and per-artifact.

Output contract

Write a real .typ file to disk — never inline-render source in chat. Filename: <topic>-<kind>.typ.

Compile to PDF before handing off — the artifact is the PDF:

typst compile report-status.typ          # → report-status.pdf
typst watch  report-status.typ           # recompile on save while iterating

Pre-populate with real content. No Lorem Ipsum, no empty sections — an artifact that reads "TODO" is unfinished.
Hand over the PDF (and the .typ if the user may revise). The PDF is the shareable artifact; the source is for revision.

MANDATORY READ references/delivery.md for compile/watch/query commands, output formats (PNG/SVG), the network-and-package-cache behavior, common compile errors, and when to start from a universe template instead of the preamble.

Typst syntax

Three modes: markup (default), math ( $ … $ ), code (#). For anything beyond a one-liner, read the relevant reference rather than writing from memory:

references/syntax.md — markup, headings, lists, emphasis, raw blocks (includes a LaTeX→Typst mapping)
references/styling.md — #set and #show rules
references/scripting.md — variables, functions, control flow, query()
references/math.md — notation and symbols
references/layout.md — page(), table(), grids, alignment

Inline only the minimal snippet the user needs; keep tutorials out of the workflow sections above.

NEVER

NEVER invent @preview package names, versions, or import items from memory. Why: hallucinated imports fail only at typst compile — after the whole document is written. Even the obvious-looking form is usually wrong: #import "@preview/fletcher:0.5.8": * does not bind a fletcher namespace; fletcher exports diagram/node/edge directly, and cetz exports canvas/draw. The pkg.func() style silently breaks per-package. Instead: verify the package name, current version, and exact exported symbols on typst.app/universe before importing. references/packages.md carries two fully verified worked examples (cetz, fletcher).
NEVER reach for Typst when the artifact needs runtime interaction. Why: Typst evaluates at compile time; the PDF is static. You will hand over a dead artifact. Instead: use micro-app (HTML + Alpine) for tune/filter/drag/click/persist; Typst only for composed/print documents.
NEVER ship a .typ without compiling it to PDF. Why: the entire point is a shareable artifact, and import/font/syntax errors surface only at build time. Instead: run typst compile <file>.typ, fix every error, then hand off the PDF.
NEVER use plain Markdown for a document that needs pagination, a ToC with page numbers, headers/footers, multi-column layout, or composed figures. Why: Markdown has no typesetting engine; it collapses to unstructured prose and loses exactly the features that made Typst worth reaching for. Instead: use Typst with the pinned preamble.
NEVER bloat the document body or the workflow sections with Typst syntax tutorials. Why: drowns the routing and styling decisions the user actually came for; syntax is a reference concern. Instead: inline only the minimal snippet needed; point to references/syntax.md (and math.md / layout.md) for anything more.
NEVER force the prose preamble onto slides, CVs, or diagrams. Why: those have their own layout engines (touying, CV templates, cetz) that override body-prose settings; the preamble will fight them. Instead: apply the preamble to prose documents; for slides/CVs/diagrams, follow that package's own setup.

Agent Skills: Composed documents with Typst

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