| name | md2pdf |
| description | Convert Markdown files to PDF with full LaTeX math formula rendering and CJK (Chinese/Japanese/Korean) support. Use when the user asks to convert markdown to PDF, render a report as PDF, export notes to PDF, or generate a printable document from markdown. Handles $...$ inline and $$...$$ display math, code blocks, tables, and mixed CJK/Latin text. Requires pandoc + texlive-xetex. |
md2pdf
Convert Markdown → PDF via Pandoc + XeLaTeX. Full LaTeX math + CJK support.
Prerequisites
System packages (apt):
pandoc texlive-xetex texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-fonts-extra texlive-latex-extra texlive-lang-chinese
Quick Convert
bash <skill_dir>/scripts/md2pdf.sh input.md output.pdf
The script auto-detects CJK content, picks suitable fonts, sanitizes emoji, adds TOC, and configures XeLaTeX.
Manual Pandoc Command
For fine-grained control, run pandoc directly:
pandoc input.md -o output.pdf \
--pdf-engine=xelatex \
-f markdown-smart \
-H header.tex \
-V mainfont="DejaVu Sans" \
-V monofont="DejaVu Sans Mono" \
-V geometry:margin=20mm \
-V fontsize=10pt \
-V colorlinks=true \
--highlight-style=tango \
--toc -V toc-title="Table of Contents"
Where header.tex contains:
\usepackage{xeCJK}
\setCJKmainfont{<CJK font name>}
Key Details
- Math: Pandoc natively converts
$...$ (inline) and $$...$$ (display) to LaTeX math. No MathJax/KaTeX needed.
- CJK fonts: Script auto-detects from: Noto Sans CJK SC > WenQuanYi Micro Hei > Droid Sans Fallback > AR PL UMing CN.
- Emoji: Replaced with text equivalents (
✅ → [Y], ❌ → [N], ⭐ → *) since most LaTeX fonts lack emoji glyphs.
- Smart quotes: Use
-f markdown-smart to avoid curly quote rendering issues.
- Long tables: Pandoc may struggle with complex tables; keep tables simple or use
longtable LaTeX package.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|
| Missing character warnings | Check fc-list :lang=zh for available CJK fonts; install fonts-noto-cjk if needed |
xelatex not found | Install texlive-xetex |
| PDF has no math rendering | Ensure markdown uses $...$ / $$...$$ (not HTML math tags) |
| Broken table layout | Simplify table or add -V geometry:margin=15mm for more width |
