ModernDoc Skill

This skill helps users (beginners and advanced) produce high‑quality PDFs using:

• LuaLaTeX (Unicode + OpenType fonts)
• KOMA‑Script for layout and headings
• moderndoc style package

Workflow

0) If the user wants “a beautiful document fast”

Use the Template Picker below, then generate a complete, compilable template.

1) Template picker (choose the best starting point)

Ask only if missing:

• What are you writing? (paper/report/book/letter/etc.)
• Single vs two‑column?
• Any institutional constraints? (margin rules, spacing rules, required styles)
• Need code highlighting? (minted)
• Need bibliography? (biblatex)

Mapping:

Then generate from: references/templates.md.

2) Configure options safely

• Keep defaults unless the user asks.
• Use references/options.md to select: language, font, CJK strategy, citations, minted.

3) Add content features

• Bibliography: see references/bibliography.md
• Code: see references/code-minted.md
• Tables: see references/tables-tabularray.md
• Diagrams: see references/diagrams-tikz.md (+ Mermaid conversion in references/mermaid.md)

4) Typography improvement pass (when editing existing LaTeX)

Must check:

• Paragraph style: indent OR skip (not both)
• Widows/orphans penalties enabled
• Two-column layout: KOMA typearea aware (twocolumn=true before \recalctypearea)
• No fake small caps by default (fallback to letterspaced caps)

5) Build and verify

Preferred build:

• latexmk -lualatex --shell-escape main.tex

If minted disabled:

• latexmk -lualatex main.tex

Debugging protocol (LaTeX compilation issues)

When user provides logs, follow this exact order:

1. Identify the first real error in .log (ignore cascaded errors).
2. Classify:
   • Missing package (*.sty not found)
   • Wrong engine (pdfTeX vs LuaLaTeX)
   • Minted issue (shell escape / latexminted / pygmentize)
   • Biber/biblatex mismatch
   • Font not found (fontspec)
3. Provide:
   • Root cause (1–2 lines)
   • Exact fix command(s)
   • Exact rebuild command(s)

If logs are not provided:

• Ask for build/*.log or the terminal error output.
• Suggest: latexmk -lualatex -interaction=nonstopmode -file-line-error ...

Output style rules

• Provide complete, compilable snippets when generating documents.
• Prefer short patches (diff-style) when improving existing code.
• Explain why a change improves readability/robustness (1–2 sentences per change).

References index

• references/templates.md
• references/options.md
• references/project-structure.md
• references/luatex-koma.md
• references/bibliography.md
• references/code-minted.md
• references/tables-tabularray.md
• references/diagrams-tikz.md
• references/mermaid.md
• references/install-and-troubleshooting.md