Home

Leafmark

Leafmark turns a folder of Markdown files into a polished PDF, DOCX, HTML document, or a combination of outputs. It is powered by Pandoc and adds project organization, metadata, themes, citations, fonts, reusable filters, HTML/CSS rendering, watch mode, and a VS Code interface.

pnpx @skxv/leafmark init ./my-report
cd my-report
pnpx @skxv/leafmark

The generated document is written to dist/my-report.pdf.

Start here

• Getting Started — install the required tools and build a first document.
• Project Structure — understand chapters, configuration, assets, and output.
• CLI Reference — every command and option.
• Configuration — .leafmark/config.json reference and precedence rules.
• Frontmatter Reference — titles, authors, layout, citations, and PDF metadata.
• HTML and CSS — use styled HTML in Markdown and render it into every format.
• Themes — apply, build, and publish document themes.
• Troubleshooting — diagnose the most common build failures.

What Leafmark builds

Output	Command	Notes
PDF	pnpx @skxv/leafmark	Default output; uses XeLaTeX when available.
DOCX	pnpx @skxv/leafmark --output-format docx	A Word-compatible document.
HTML	pnpx @skxv/leafmark --html-only	Standalone HTML with embedded resources.
PDF + HTML	pnpx @skxv/leafmark --html	Produces both in one build.

Core ideas

1. Each ordinary .md file in the project root is a chapter.
2. .leafmark/config.json stores project behavior, chapter order, themes, and extensions.
3. _frontmatter.md optionally stores human-friendly YAML metadata.
4. Leafmark merges the chapters and asks Pandoc to produce the selected outputs.
5. Themes and project settings control the appearance without changing chapter content.

Leafmark also recognizes nested Bundles and Chapter Ordering, supports Pandoc citations, accepts custom Lua filters, and exposes JSON Lines events for editor and automation integrations.

Tip

Run pnpx @skxv/leafmark doctor whenever a machine is newly configured or a PDF build reports a missing external tool.

Requirements at a glance

• Node.js 20 or newer
• Pandoc
• XeLaTeX or pdfLaTeX for PDF output
• pdfunite only when merging a cover PDF
• Git only when installing a theme from GitHub
• Chrome, Chromium, Edge, or Brave only when PDF or DOCX output contains HTML blocks

See Installation for platform-specific commands.

Project links

• Leafmark repository
• npm package
• VS Code Extension
• Contributing and Development