ModernDoc¶
ModernDoc is a batteries-included LuaLaTeX toolchain + typographic style designed to help you produce beautiful, consistent, archival-friendly PDFs—fast.
It gives you:
- Modern typography out of the box (font pairing, spacing, microtypography)
- KOMA-Script layouts (robust headings, sensible page design)
- Optional features that matter in real documents:
- Bibliographies with biblatex + biber
- Code listings with minted
- Tables with tabularray
- Diagrams with TikZ
- Agent-friendly conventions (easy for AI tools to generate and edit reliably)
Quick start¶
1) Install prerequisites¶
You need:
- TeX Live 2024+ (LuaLaTeX)
- Python 3 (for minted/Pygments)
Follow: How-to → Install TeX Live
2) Create your first document¶
Follow: Tutorials → First document
3) Build¶
The recommended build tool is latexmk:
Or with the repo Makefile (if you use the examples structure):
Choose a starting template¶
| What you are writing | Recommended |
|---|---|
| Blog post, doc, short paper | Article template |
| Conference paper | Two-column paper template |
| Technical report | Report template |
| Thesis | Thesis template |
| Book | Book template |
| Formal letter | Letter template |
Go to: Reference → Package options and Tutorials → First document.
How ModernDoc is organized¶
ModernDoc is intentionally split into two layers:
-
KOMA-Script class (you choose this):
-
scrartcl,scrreprt,scrbook,scrlttr2 -
ModernDoc package (applies styling and utilities):
-
\usepackage{moderndoc}(recommended modern approach)
The docs show both patterns.
Next steps¶
- Want to write with AI? → Tutorials → Writing with AI
- Want citations done correctly? → How-to → Bibliography
- Want tables/diagrams? → How-to → Tables / Diagrams
- Want the reasoning behind typography? → Explanation → Typography rationale