| name | kirklin-typst |
| description | Create polished, compile-tested Typst documents from curated kirklin templates and build them to PDF with per-page PNG previews. Use when the user wants to write, typeset, or compile a Typst document — especially an academic or research paper in NeurIPS/arXiv style (the neurips-paper template) — or says "make a Typst paper", "write a conference paper in Typst", "typeset this as a paper", "compile this .typ", or "turn this into a PDF paper". This is a template framework: pick a template under templates/, copy and customize it, then build with scripts/compile.sh (typst compile, per-page PNG previews). New document types are added as templates. |
kirklin-typst
Curated Typst templates plus a one-command build. Each template is a complete,
compile-tested document you copy and fill in; scripts/compile.sh turns it into a
PDF with page previews. Paths below are relative to this skill's directory.
When to use
- Writing a research / academic paper (NeurIPS / arXiv style) →
neurips-paper.
- Compiling any
.typ to PDF and showing previews.
- More document types will arrive as templates — always check
references/templates.md
before assuming a type isn't covered.
Why Typst
Typst compiles in a single fast pass — no multi-run latexmk dance. It resolves
cross-references, citations, and the outline incrementally, and ships one engine,
so the build is just typst compile. Templates are plain .typ with an ordinary
module system (#import, #include), so styling lives in readable functions instead
of macros.
Workflow
- Pick a template. Match the user's document type to a template using the
catalog in references/templates.md.
- Copy it out. Copy the whole template directory to the user's working area
(default
./outputs/). Templates are self-contained — the style function,
figures, and section files travel with them.
- Customize. Edit the main
.typ (title, authors, sections). Each template's
own README.md documents its file map and exactly what to replace.
- Compile.
bash scripts/compile.sh <path>/paper.typ --preview
Runs typst compile (single pass — references, citations, and outline resolved
automatically), writes the PDF, and renders one PNG per page.
- Deliver. Read the PNG previews to confirm the result, show them to the user,
and hand over the PDF.
Templates
| Template | Produces | Build file |
|---|
neurips-paper | Single-column NeurIPS/arXiv-style research paper (sample: Attention Is All You Need) | templates/neurips-paper/paper.typ |
Full details, variants, and "when to use each" → references/templates.md.
Compiling
bash scripts/compile.sh FILE.typ [--preview] [--preview-dir DIR] [--dpi N] \
[--root DIR] [--font-path DIR]
Typst has a single engine, so there's no engine flag and no multi-pass build.
--root sets the project root Typst may read files from (default: the file's
directory); --font-path adds a directory of custom fonts. Requires the typst
CLI, plus poppler-utils (pdftoppm) for previews. Run scripts/compile.sh --help
for the full list.
Adding a template
This skill is a framework — new document types are added as template directories,
not by editing a monolith. The contract (required layout, quality rules, how to
register) is in references/adding-templates.md.
Conventions
- Write generated documents into
./outputs/ for user visibility; never edit a
template in place — copy it first.
- Always render and view PNG previews after compiling, then show the user.
- Prefer self-contained templates: vendor the style as a local
.typ function
rather than depending on a @preview package that needs a network fetch.
- Escape Typst specials in user-supplied prose with a backslash:
# $ @ *
_ ` < > [ ] and \ itself (e.g. C\#, 20\% off… note % is
not special in Typst — only // starts a comment). Inside math ($…$),
_ ^ & # are structural — enter literals as \_, \^, \&, \#.
