Whitepaper

Professional PDF Generator

This skill converts Markdown files into professionally typeset PDF whitepapers using pandoc and typst.

Assets

The skill includes (located in the plugin's root directory):

• Typst template: templates/whitepaper.typ
• Source Sans 3 fonts: fonts/ — variable fonts supporting all weights (open source from Google Fonts)
• Source Code Pro fonts: fonts/ (Regular, Bold, Italic, Bold Italic) — used for code blocks and inline code

Plugin Root: The plugin root is determined dynamically (see Step 2.5 below)

Typography Hierarchy

CRITICAL: FULLY AUTOMATIC EXECUTION

THIS SKILL RUNS COMPLETELY UNATTENDED. DO NOT:

• Ask "Should I proceed?" before generating PDF
• Ask "Should I delete these files?" before cleanup
• Ask "Is this okay?" at any step
• Wait for user confirmation between steps
• Pause to show intermediate results
• Request permission for file operations

REQUIRED BEHAVIOR:

• Execute all steps sequentially without stopping
• Generate PDF immediately when invoked
• Delete ALL source files immediately after PDF is created
• Only communicate with user AFTER everything is complete
• Report final result: "PDF created: [path]"

If you find yourself about to ask the user a question during PDF generation or cleanup, STOP and just execute the operation instead.

Usage

When the user asks to create a PDF, follow these steps:

1. Determine Input and Output

• Parse $ARGUMENTS for the input markdown file and optional output PDF path
• If no output path is given, use the same name as the input with a .pdf extension
• If no input is given, ask the user which markdown file to convert
• Check the file's YAML frontmatter (see "Frontmatter Reference" below). If title is missing, ask the user for a title before proceeding. If date is missing, default to today's date.

2. Install Dependencies (if missing)

Run for each missing tool — the script auto-detects the platform:

OS=$(uname -s)
# pandoc
command -v pandoc >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
  [ "$OS" = "Darwin" ] && brew install pandoc || sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y pandoc
}
# typst
command -v typst >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
  [ "$OS" = "Darwin" ] && brew install typst || {
    curl -fsSL https://github.com/typst/typst/releases/latest/download/typst-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.xz \
      | tar xJ --strip-components=1 -C /usr/local/bin/ typst-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/typst
    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/typst
  }
}

2.5 Locate Plugin Root Directory

CRITICAL: Determine the plugin root before copying assets.

The plugin root contains templates/ and fonts/ directories. Use this single command:

PLUGIN_ROOT=$([ -d ".claude/plugins/project-management" ] && echo ".claude/plugins/project-management" || echo "$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT")
echo "Using plugin root: $PLUGIN_ROOT"
ls "$PLUGIN_ROOT/templates/whitepaper.typ" || echo "ERROR: Template not found!"

Expected location: .claude/plugins/project-management

3. Copy Template to Output Directory

Copy the typst template to the same directory as the output PDF:

PLUGIN_ROOT=$([ -d ".claude/plugins/project-management" ] && echo ".claude/plugins/project-management" || echo "$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT")
cp "$PLUGIN_ROOT/templates/whitepaper.typ" <output-directory>/whitepaper.typ

Replace <output-directory> with the directory where the PDF will be generated (e.g., project-guides/).

4. Run Pandoc

Execute the conversion with these exact flags. Run from the output directory so the template is found:

cd <output-directory> && \
PLUGIN_ROOT=$(if [ -d "../.claude/plugins/project-management" ]; then echo "../.claude/plugins/project-management"; elif [ -d ".claude/plugins/project-management" ]; then echo ".claude/plugins/project-management"; else echo "$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT"; fi) && \
TYPST_FONT_PATHS="$PLUGIN_ROOT/fonts" pandoc <input.md> \
  -o <output.pdf> \
  --pdf-engine=typst \
  -V template="whitepaper.typ" \
  -V mainfont="Source Sans 3" \
  -V fontsize=10pt \
  -V papersize=a4

Example for project-guides/ADMIN-GUIDE.md:

cd content && \
PLUGIN_ROOT=$([ -d "../.claude/plugins/project-management" ] && echo "../.claude/plugins/project-management" || echo "$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT") && \
TYPST_FONT_PATHS="$PLUGIN_ROOT/fonts" pandoc ADMIN-GUIDE.md -o ADMIN-GUIDE.pdf --pdf-engine=typst -V template="whitepaper.typ" -V mainfont="Source Sans 3" -V fontsize=10pt -V papersize=a4

Note: Do not pass --toc — the template generates its own table of contents page with proper styling.

5. Clean Up (MANDATORY - DO NOT SKIP)

CRITICAL: You MUST execute cleanup immediately after PDF generation. Only PDF should remain.

# Remove ALL intermediate files in one command
rm -f <output-directory>/whitepaper.typ <input.md> <input-without-extension>.plain.html <input-without-extension>.html

Example cleanup for project-guides/AUTHOR-GUIDE.md:

rm -f project-guides/whitepaper.typ project-guides/AUTHOR-GUIDE.md project-guides/AUTHOR-GUIDE.plain.html project-guides/AUTHOR-GUIDE.html

After cleanup, only project-guides/AUTHOR-GUIDE.pdf should exist. No .md, .html, or .plain.html files.

6. Report Result

"PDF created: [output.pdf]"

Frontmatter Reference

The template reads pandoc YAML frontmatter from the markdown file to populate the title page and footer. The frontmatter block must be the very first thing in the file, delimited by --- lines.

Required Fields

Recommended Fields