| name | compile-book |
| description | Compiles all chapter PDFs into a single metricsAI book PDF. Detects modified chapters, regenerates their PDFs, then merges all chapters with cover page, copyright page, Brief Contents, Detailed Contents, Key Concepts TOC, clickable TOC hyperlinks, page numbers, and section-level PDF bookmarks. Use after editing any chapter notebook. |
Book Compilation Skill
Automates the end-to-end pipeline for compiling the metricsAI textbook: detects modified chapters, regenerates their PDFs, and merges all 18 chapters into a single book PDF with professional formatting.
Overview
This skill manages the complete book compilation workflow. It detects which chapter notebooks have been modified since their last PDF generation, regenerates only those PDFs, then compiles everything into a single book with cover page, copyright page, three tables of contents (Brief Contents, Detailed Contents, Key Concepts), page numbers, and hierarchical PDF bookmarks.
Use this skill when:
- After editing any chapter notebook
- When you want to produce the complete book PDF
- To check which chapters have outdated PDFs
- Before distributing the textbook
Key Features:
- Automatic detection of modified chapters (notebook mtime vs PDF mtime)
- 3-step PDF regeneration pipeline (nbconvert, CSS injection, Playwright)
- Book compilation with cover, copyright page, Brief Contents, Detailed Contents, Key Concepts TOC
- 189 numbered Key Concepts with short titles across 17 chapters
- Page numbers on all content pages
- Section-level PDF bookmarks (Preface > Parts > Chapters > Sections)
- Clickable TOC hyperlinks (753 links jump to chapters/sections/key concepts from all TOC pages)
- 900 pages, 62.3 MB output
Quick Start
Compile After Edits (Default)
/compile-book
Detects modified chapters, regenerates their PDFs, compiles the full book.
Regenerate Specific Chapters
/compile-book ch05 ch08
Force-regenerates PDFs for chapters 5 and 8, then compiles.
Regenerate All Chapter PDFs
/compile-book --all
Regenerates all 18 chapter PDFs from scratch, then compiles.
Compile Only (Skip Regeneration)
/compile-book --compile-only
Assumes all chapter PDFs are current. Just runs the book compiler.
Check PDF Freshness
/compile-book --check
Reports which chapters have outdated PDFs (read-only, no changes).
Compilation Workflow
When you invoke this skill, follow these steps:
1. Parse Arguments
Extract chapter numbers and flags from the invocation:
ch05 or 5 -> normalized to ch05--compile-only -> skip PDF regeneration--check -> report-only mode (no compilation)--all -> regenerate all chapter PDFs- Multiple chapters:
ch05 ch08 ch12
2. Check PDF Freshness
For each chapter (ch00-ch17), compare modification times:
- Notebook:
notebooks_quarto/chXX_*.qmd
- PDF:
notebooks_colab/chXX_*.pdf
Classify each chapter as:
- Current: PDF exists and is newer than notebook
- Outdated: Notebook modified after PDF generation
- Missing: No PDF file found
3. Report Status
Display a status table:
## PDF Freshness Report
| Chapter | Status | Notebook Modified | PDF Modified |
|---------|--------|-------------------|--------------|
| ch00 | Current | 2026-02-07 22:30 | 2026-02-07 23:00 |
| ch05 | Outdated | 2026-02-08 10:15 | 2026-02-07 23:00 |
| ch08 | Outdated | 2026-02-08 09:30 | 2026-02-07 23:00 |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |
**2 chapters need PDF regeneration.**
If --check flag: stop here (read-only mode).
4. Regenerate Chapter PDFs
For each chapter that needs regeneration, run the 3-step pipeline:
quarto render notebooks_quarto/chXX_*.qmd --to html --output-dir notebooks_colab
python3 scripts/inject_print_css.py notebooks_colab/chXX_*.html notebooks_colab/chXX_*_printable.html
python3 scripts/generate_pdf_playwright.py chXX
Report each chapter's PDF size after generation.
Important: Run chapters sequentially (each uses Playwright which launches a browser).
5. Compile Book
Run the book compilation script:
python3 scripts/compile_book.py
This produces notebooks_colab/metricsAI_complete_book.pdf with:
- Cover page (navy blue background,
images/book1cover.jpg)
- Copyright page (centered: title, copyright, affiliation, companion website)
- Brief Contents (1 page, chapters grouped by Parts, clickable hyperlinks)
- Detailed Contents (4 pages, all sections with page numbers, clickable hyperlinks)
- Key Concepts (5 pages, 189 concepts with page numbers, clickable hyperlinks)
- All 18 chapters merged with page numbers
- PDF bookmarks: Preface > Part I-IV > Chapters 1-17 > Sections
- Clickable TOC hyperlinks: 753 links across all three TOC sections
6. Report Results
Display compilation summary:
## Compilation Complete
| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| Total pages | 900 |
| File size | 62.3 MB |
| Chapters | 18 (CH00-CH17) |
| Key concepts | 189 |
| Sections in bookmarks | 110 |
| Clickable TOC links | 753 |
| Chapters regenerated | 2 |
| Output | notebooks_colab/metricsAI_complete_book.pdf |
7. Open PDF
open notebooks_colab/metricsAI_complete_book.pdf
Book Structure
Front Matter (unnumbered)
- Cover page: Full-bleed image with navy blue background
- Copyright page: Centered title, copyright (Carlos Mendez, 2026), affiliation (Nagoya University), companion website
- Brief Contents: Chapter-level TOC grouped by Parts (no Preface), with clickable hyperlinks
- Detailed Contents: Preface sections + all chapter sections with page numbers, with clickable hyperlinks
- Key Concepts: 189 numbered Key Concepts (X.N format) with short titles, grouped by Parts and Chapters, with clickable hyperlinks
Content (numbered from page 1)
- CH00: Preface (15 pages)
- Part I: Foundations (CH01-CH04, 198 pages)
- Part II: Bivariate Regression (CH05-CH09, 253 pages)
- Part III: Multiple Regression (CH10-CH13, 205 pages)
- Part IV: Advanced Topics (CH14-CH17, 217 pages)
PDF Bookmarks
Hierarchical navigation sidebar in PDF readers:
- Preface > 4 sections
- Part I > Ch1 (9 sections), Ch2 (6), Ch3 (7), Ch4 (7)
- Part II > Ch5 (11), Ch6 (4), Ch7 (7), Ch8 (3), Ch9 (4)
- Part III > Ch10 (8), Ch11 (7), Ch12 (6), Ch13 (9)
- Part IV > Ch14 (3), Ch15 (4), Ch16 (5), Ch17 (6)
Clickable TOC Hyperlinks
All three TOC sections include clickable hyperlinks (753 total) that jump directly to the target page:
- Brief Contents: Each chapter title and page number is a clickable link (~51 links)
- Detailed Contents: Each Preface section, chapter title, section title, and page number is a clickable link (~273 links)
- Key Concepts: Each Key Concept number, title, and page number is a clickable link (~429 links)
- Links are styled invisibly (no blue underlines) to preserve the professional TOC appearance
- Links are automatically generated during compilation using a 3-phase approach:
- Placeholder URLs are embedded in TOC HTML (
https://internal.metricsai/page/{N})
- Playwright preserves these as PDF link annotations with exact coordinate rectangles
- After merging,
extract_toc_links() reads the rects and pypdf.annotations.Link creates internal GoTo links pointing to the correct final page
PDF Generation Pipeline
Each chapter PDF is generated through a 3-step pipeline:
- quarto render --to html: Converts
.qmd to HTML with all content
- scripts/inject_print_css.py: Injects
scripts/notebook_pdf_styles.css for professional formatting (justified text, brand colors, optimized font sizes)
- scripts/generate_pdf_playwright.py: Renders HTML to PDF via Chromium with precise margin and layout control
Key Formatting
- Page: Letter (8.5" x 11"), 0.75" margins
- Typography: Inter (body), JetBrains Mono (code)
- Body text: 11pt justified
- Code input: 9pt monospace
- Code output/tables: 7.5pt (prevents regression table overflow)
- No headers/footers: Clean pages
Prerequisites
Required software:
- Python 3.x
- Playwright (
pip install playwright && playwright install chromium)
- pypdf (
pip install pypdf)
- Jupyter (
pip install jupyter for nbconvert)
Verify installation:
python3 -c "from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright; print('Playwright OK')"
python3 -c "from pypdf import PdfReader; print('pypdf OK')"
quarto --version
Troubleshooting
Chapter PDF Not Regenerating
Symptom: /compile-book says chapter is current but content is outdated.
Cause: Notebook file wasn't saved after editing.
Fix: Save the notebook, then re-run. Or force with /compile-book chXX.
Playwright Error
Symptom: Error: Browser not found or Playwright not installed.
Fix: pip install playwright && playwright install chromium
Missing Chapter PDF
Symptom: FileNotFoundError: No PDF found for chXX.
Fix: Run /compile-book chXX to generate the missing PDF.
Large File Size
Symptom: Book PDF exceeds 65 MB.
Cause: High-resolution images or many plot outputs.
Note: ~62 MB is expected for 900 pages with charts and plots.
Section Not Found in Bookmarks
Symptom: Some chapter sections missing from PDF bookmarks.
Cause: Section title in notebook doesn't match PDF extracted text.
Note: ~96% of sections are matched. Minor mismatches are expected.
TOC Links Not Working
Symptom: Clicking a chapter or section title in the TOC does not jump to the page.
Cause: The placeholder URL annotations may not have been preserved during PDF generation.
Fix: Ensure Playwright is rendering the TOC HTML correctly. Recompile with /compile-book --compile-only. Check that extract_toc_links() finds annotations in the generated TOC PDFs.
Integration with Other Skills
Recommended Workflow
1. /chapter-standard chXX # Verify structure (target: 90+)
2. /proofread chXX --fix # Fix text quality issues
3. /compile-book chXX # Regenerate PDF and recompile book
After Batch Edits
1. /chapter-standard --all # Check all chapters
2. /proofread --all # Check all chapters
3. /compile-book # Auto-detect and regenerate modified chapters
Key Files
| File | Purpose |
|---|
scripts/compile_book.py | Book compilation script (merges PDFs, generates TOCs, adds bookmarks, copyright page) |
scripts/generate_pdf_playwright.py | Chapter PDF generator (Playwright-based) |
scripts/inject_print_css.py | CSS injection for printable HTML |
scripts/notebook_pdf_styles.css | Master stylesheet for PDF formatting |
images/book1cover.jpg | Cover image (1407x1916px) |
notebooks_colab/metricsAI_complete_book.pdf | Output: compiled book |
notebooks_colab/chXX_*.pdf | Individual chapter PDFs |
Version: 2.0 | Updated: 2026-02-08 | Author: metricsAI project
