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YAML Front Matter

Every Markdown document can carry a small block of metadata at the very top, fenced by --- markers. This is the front matter: a YAML island living rent-free above your prose. Static site generators like MkDocs read it to drive per-page configuration, and TeXSmith hooks into the same convention to steer how a document is parsed, typeset, and ultimately rendered to or PDF.

A guiding principle: keep content and form apart. Templates, font sizes, margins, paper format, and other typographic knobs belong in the front matter; the body should care only about ideas, sentences, and equations. Other tools take a different stance, see Quarkdown, which weaves configuration directly into the document body. Both are valid, but TeXSmith favors the separation, your future self will thank you when swapping templates without touching a single paragraph.

Press

The press block holds everything related to the printed (or PDF'd) artifact, title, authors, template choice, and any template-specific slots:

press:
  title: "My Document Title"
  subtitle: "An In-depth Exploration"
  template: article
  authors:
    - name: "Alice Smith"
      affiliation: "University of Examples"
  slots:
    abstract: Abstract

Note

The press section is optional. Keys like title and authors may also live at the root of the front matter, and TeXSmith will pick them up just fine. Nesting them under press keeps things tidy and avoids stepping on the toes of other static site generators that may want the root-level keys for themselves.

Each template exposes its own set of attributes (cover styles, sidebar toggles, custom slots, …). Head over to the Template Guide for the full menu.

Bibliography

References can be declared inline, right next to the document that cites them, no external .bib file required (though one still works if you prefer). Mix DOI shortcuts with fully-spelled-out entries as needed:

bibliography:
  AB2020: doi:10.1000/xyz123
  CD2019:
    type: book
    author: "John Doe"
    title: "Example Book"
    year: "2019"

The full syntax, supported entry types, and resolution rules are documented in the Bibliography Guide.

Glossary

When the glossary feature is enabled, entries are declared in the front matter and grouped into logical tables. Symbols, acronyms, and domain-specific jargon all coexist peacefully:

glossary:
  style: long # or short
  groups: # Grouping in different tables (optional)
    symbols: Mathematical symbols and notations
    corporate: Organizational terms
    technology: Technology-related terms
  entries:
    "$\\phi$":
      group: symbols
      description: Angle in radians
    ONU:
      group: corporate
      description: United Nations Organization
    AI:
      group: technology
      description: Artificial Intelligence

See the Glossary Guide for sorting behavior, cross-references, and styling options.