Frontmatter Reference

Frontmatter Reference

Frontmatter is YAML stored in _frontmatter.md by default:

---
title: Example Report
author:
  - Alex Morgan
date: 2026-08-01
toc: true
---

The document must begin with --- and contain a closing ---. These keys may instead be placed under metadata in .leafmark/config.json. Frontmatter wins when both define a key.

Document identity

Key	Type	Default	Description
title	string	empty	Document title.
subtitle	string	empty	Secondary title.
author	string/list	empty	One or more authors; structured entries are supported.
authors	string/list	empty	Alias for author; author wins.
date	string	empty	Title date and default left footer.
date-format	string	none	LDML-style display pattern.
lang	string	en for date formatting	Pandoc language and date locale.
keywords	string/list	empty	Pandoc document keywords.
abstract	string	empty	Abstract; YAML block strings are supported.
styles	string[]	empty	CSS files for HTML output and rendered HTML blocks.

Authors and ORCID

A string or flat list creates one author per value:

author:
  - Alex Morgan
  - Sam Lee

A nested list creates multiple Markdown-capable lines for each author:

author:
  - - "**Alex Morgan**"
    - Department of Examples
    - alex@example.com
    - orcid: 0000-0002-1825-0097
  - - Sam Lee
    - "orcid: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1352-0651"

ORCID may be a labeled string, URL, or supported orcid object. PDF and HTML author rendering adds the appropriate ORCID presentation.

Layout and navigation

Key	Type	Default	Description
title-page	boolean	true	Show PDF title block and HTML title header.
toc	boolean	false	Generate a table of contents.
toc-depth	integer	3	Deepest heading in the TOC.
toc-own-page	boolean	false	Put the PDF TOC on its own page.
toc-title	string	Table of Contents	TOC heading.
number-sections	boolean	false	Number headings.
hyphens	boolean	true	Allow inside-word hyphenation in PDF and HTML.

PDF headers and footers

Key	Type	Default
header-left	string	empty
header-center	string	empty
header-right	string	empty
footer-left	string/null	document date or current LaTeX date
footer-center	string	empty
footer-right	string/null	page number

Set a footer to "" or null to hide it. Values are treated as plain text and escaped for LaTeX.

References, cover, and templates

Key	Type	Default	Description
bibliography	string/list/false	sources.bib when present	One or more bibliography paths; false or [] disables citations.
references-title	string	References	Generated bibliography heading.
coverpage	string/false	disabled	Existing PDF prepended with pdfunite.
latex-template	string/false	configured/default template	Frontmatter override for the PDF template.

Relative paths resolve from the active project. Use --no-merge-cover to skip cover merging for one build.

Pandoc template variables

Leafmark forwards unknown metadata to Pandoc and custom themes. Bundled templates recognize:

Key	Example
documentclass	article
classoption	[oneside, openany]
papersize	a4 or letter
fontsize	10pt, 11pt, 12pt
geometry	margin=2.5cm or a list
linestretch	1.15
toccolor	blue
thanks	acknowledgement text
include-before	string/list inserted before body
include-after	string/list inserted after body

Date formatting

date: 2026-02-16
date-format: d. MMMM yyyy
lang: da

Common tokens include dd for day, MM/mm for month number, MMM/MMMM for localized month name, yy for short year, and yyyy/YYYY for full year. Moment-style DD is accepted.

Full example

---
title: Example Report
subtitle: A complete metadata example
author:
  - - "**Alex Morgan**"
    - Department of Examples
    - orcid: 0000-0002-1825-0097
date: 2026-08-01
date-format: d. MMMM yyyy
lang: en
keywords: [documentation, markdown]
abstract: |
  A short summary of the document.
title-page: true
toc: true
toc-depth: 3
toc-own-page: true
toc-title: Contents
number-sections: true
hyphens: true
header-left: Example Report
footer-center: Confidential
bibliography: sources.bib
references-title: Sources
styles:
  - styles/components.css
---

Warning

header-includes is reserved because Leafmark generates its own PDF preamble. Use a theme include, fonts.latexInclude, or a Pandoc plugin instead.