Quillmark

A template-first Markdown rendering system that converts Markdown with YAML frontmatter into PDF, SVG, and other output formats.

Maintained by tonguetoquill.com.

UNDER DEVELOPMENT

Features

• Template-first design: Quill templates control structure and styling, Markdown provides content
• Version management: Two-segment versioning (MAJOR.MINOR) for reproducible rendering with flexible version selectors
• YAML metadata: Extended YAML support for inline metadata blocks
• Multiple backends:
  • PDF and SVG output via Typst backend
  • PDF form filling via AcroForm backend
• Structured error handling: Clear diagnostics with source locations
• Dynamic asset loading: Fonts, images, and packages resolved at runtime

Documentation

• User Guide - Tutorials, concepts, and language bindings
• Rust API Reference - for the Quillmark crate

Installation

Add Quillmark to your Cargo.toml:

cargo add quillmark

Quick Start

use quillmark::{Quillmark, OutputFormat, ParsedDocument};
use quillmark_core::Quill;

// Create engine with Typst backend
let mut engine = Quillmark::new();

// Load a quill template
let quill = Quill::from_path("path/to/quill")?;
engine.register_quill(quill);

// Parse markdown with version specification
let markdown = "---\nQUILL: resume_template@2.1\ntitle: Example\n---\n\n# Hello World";
let parsed = ParsedDocument::from_markdown(markdown)?;

// Load workflow (resolves version from document)
let workflow = engine.workflow(&parsed)?;
// Or specify version directly: engine.workflow("resume_template@2")?;
let result = workflow.render(&parsed, Some(OutputFormat::Pdf))?;

// Access the generated PDF
let pdf_bytes = &result.artifacts[0].bytes;

Version Management

Quillmark supports two-segment versioning for templates, enabling reproducible rendering:

---
QUILL: "template@2.1"      # Pin to exact version
QUILL: "template@2"        # Latest 2.x version
QUILL: "template@latest"   # Latest overall
QUILL: "template"          # Latest overall (default)
---

Templates specify versions in Quill.yaml:

Quill:
  name: resume_template
  version: "2.1"
  backend: typst

Multiple versions of the same template can coexist in the engine. See VERSIONING.md for details.

Examples

Run the included examples:

cargo run --example appreciated_letter
cargo run --example usaf_memo
cargo run --example taro
cargo run --example usaf_form_8
cargo run --example auto_plate
cargo run --example test_defaults

Documentation

• API Documentation
• Architecture Design
• Version Management
• Contributing Guide

Project Structure

This workspace contains:

• crates/core - Core parsing, templating, and backend traits
• crates/quillmark - High-level orchestration API
• crates/backends/typst - Typst backend for PDF/SVG output
• crates/backends/acroform - AcroForm backend for PDF form filling
• crates/bindings/python - Python bindings (PyO3)
• crates/bindings/wasm - WebAssembly bindings
• crates/bindings/cli - Command-line interface
• crates/fixtures - Test fixtures and utilities
• crates/fuzz - Fuzz testing suite

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See LICENSE for details.