papyrust

Build publication-quality EPUB and print-ready PDF from a folder of Markdown.

A CLI tool for writers who want to own their toolchain. Opinionated trade-press typography, single static binary, no runtime dependencies.

Pre-1.0: expect minor adjustments to output formatting between minor versions. See CHANGELOG.md for what shipped in each release.

Install

cargo install papyrust-cli

The crate is papyrust-cli; the installed binary is papyrust.

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/irvj/papyrust
cd papyrust
cargo install --path .

Quick start

Scaffold a new book project:

papyrust init my-novel

That creates my-novel/ with a sample chapter, a front-matter dedication, an about-the-author stub, and a book.toml filled with default metadata. The project is buildable as-is — running the steps below produces output from the sample content.

To turn it into your book, edit the scaffolded files:

cd my-novel
# add your cover image as cover.jpg in the project root
# edit book.toml with your title, author, ISBN, and trim size
# replace chapters/01-chapter.md with your own prose
# add more chapters as 02-chapter.md, 03-chapter.md, ...

Then validate and build:

papyrust validate            # lint book.toml + chapter structure
papyrust build epub          # outputs build/<slug>.epub
papyrust build pdf           # outputs build/<slug>-<trim>.pdf
papyrust build all           # both

What you get

EPUB 3 — valid output verified against epubcheck in CI. Cover image embedded, auto-generated title page, copyright page, and navigation TOC, plus your custom front-matter and back-matter pages. CSS theme with serif body, small-caps headings, drop cap on chapter openings, centered scene-break ornament.

Print PDF — typeset via embedded Typst, EB Garamond bundled in the binary. Selectable trim sizes (5×8, 5.5×8.5, 6×9). Chapters start on the recto. Running heads on body pages: book title on verso, chapter title on recto. Arabic page numbers in the body (roman in user front-matter), suppressed on chapter-opening pages. Raised cap on the first paragraph of each chapter. Scene breaks rendered as a tracked three-asterisk ornament.

Project layout

my-novel/
├── book.toml
├── cover.jpg
├── front-matter/        # optional, custom user pages
│   └── 01-dedication.md
├── chapters/            # required
│   ├── 01-chapter.md
│   └── 02-chapter.md
└── back-matter/         # optional
    └── 01-about-author.md

Front-matter pages like the title page, copyright page, and table of contents are auto-generated from book.toml. Custom pages you drop into front-matter/ slot in after them.

Chapter titles come from the first # Heading in each chapter file.

A fully annotated book.toml reference lives at examples/book.toml. papyrust init writes a shorter scaffolded version into your new project.

License

MIT. See LICENSE. The bundled EB Garamond font is OFL; its license is at fonts/OFL.txt.