| name | add-cover-page |
| description | Generate a matching-size cover page with a title (and optional subtitle, author, date) and prepend it to a PDF. Triggers on phrases like "add a cover page", "prepend a title page", "make a cover for this PDF". |
Add Cover Page
Create a single-page cover that matches the input PDF's page size and prepend it.
Inputs
- Input PDF path (required).
- Title (required).
- Subtitle (optional).
- Author (optional).
- Date (optional, default today).
- Style (optional) —
minimal (centered title, thin rule), classic (title + horizontal rule + metadata block), bold (large title, colored band). Default classic.
- Output path (optional) — defaults to
<input>-with-cover.pdf.
Tooling
Two clean approaches — pick whichever is available:
Option A: Typst (preferred — fast, modern)
#set page(width: 595pt, height: 842pt, margin: 4cm)
#set text(font: "IBM Plex Sans")
#align(center + horizon)[
#text(28pt, weight: "bold")[#TITLE]
#v(1em)
#text(16pt)[#SUBTITLE]
#v(3em)
#line(length: 40%)
#v(1em)
#text(12pt)[#AUTHOR · #DATE]
]
Compile: typst compile cover.typ cover.pdf. Page size must match the input PDF exactly — probe with pdfinfo first.
Option B: ReportLab (Python)
If Typst isn't available, use reportlab to draw a single-page PDF at the same dimensions.
Workflow
- Probe input page size:
pdfinfo input.pdf | grep "Page size" → extract width/height in pt.
- Generate cover PDF at matching size.
- Verify cover layout by rendering to PNG:
gs -sDEVICE=png16m -r100 -o /tmp/cover.png cover.pdf. Check title isn't clipped, alignment is correct, font rendered properly. If the user is present, show them the preview before committing.
- Concatenate:
qpdf --empty --pages cover.pdf 1 input.pdf 1-z -- output.pdf.
- Verify output:
pdfinfo output.pdf | grep Pages should show input pages + 1.
Output
Cover-prepended PDF. Original preserved.
