PaperForge

Desktop app that turns Markdown into publication-ready PDFs, PowerPoint decks and scientific charts.

PaperForge is a single executable with three tabs:

• PDF — Markdown → A4 PDF (default / minimal / academic styles, MathJax, ABNT references).
• PowerPoint — Markdown → .pptx (cover from YAML frontmatter, four themes, auto-fit).
• Chart — five scientific templates (line, bar, log-scale, scatter, dose-response) with an editable data table and live matplotlib preview. Each template ships with example data ready to render — open the tab and you already see a chart.

No LaTeX. No Pandoc. No wkhtmltopdf. Just one binary plus any Chromium-family browser (Edge / Chrome / Chromium / Brave) for the PDF backend.

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Install

Platform	How
Windows	Download paperforge.exe from Releases and double-click.
Linux	Download paperforge-linux-x64, chmod +x paperforge-linux-x64, run it.
Source	pip install -e . then paperforge.

The .exe is ~89 MB; the Linux binary ~116 MB. Both bundle Python and Qt 6.

Use

Just open the app and pick a tab.

PDF / PowerPoint

Drag a .md file into the source field, set output path, click Build. Logs stream live.

Including charts in slides

Generate a chart in the Chart tab → click Save figure… to export it as PNG → reference it in your slide source with ![alt text](path/to/chart.png). The image automatically lands on the right-hand column of that slide while bullets/text take the left column.

Chart

1. Pick a template — example data appears immediately.
2. Edit series in the data table, or click Import CSV….
3. (log-scale only) add vertical lines, shaded bands, theoretical envelopes (NumPy formulas evaluated in a sandbox, e.g. 10 * (1 - x / 90) ** 1).
4. Tweak DPI / size / palette in Style.
5. Click Save figure… to export PNG/SVG/PDF.

Every template comes pre-loaded with a real example. The log-scale template ships with a real fermentation study (biomass × ethanol on log-Y, 6 series + 3 Ghose-Tyagi envelopes + the industrial VHG band) — switch to it and you have a full publication-ready chart in one click.

CLI mode (advanced)

The same binary works as a CLI:

paperforge pdf paper.md
paperforge slides talk.md
paperforge chart            # interactive Rich wizard
paperforge --help

Pass any subcommand and the GUI is bypassed. Useful for scripting / CI.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/matheuslaidler/paperforge.git
cd paperforge
pip install -e .[dev]
python -m paperforge        # opens the GUI
pytest -q                   # 25 tests

Build the standalone binary

# Windows
.\scripts\build_windows.bat

# Linux
./scripts/build_linux.sh

Both call python scripts/build_icon.py (PNG → multi-size ICO) then pyinstaller paperforge.spec. Replace src/paperforge/paper.png (must be 512×512 RGBA, transparent background recommended) to brand the app — the build script picks it up automatically.

Configuration

# ~/.paperforge/config.yaml
lang: en                  # en | pt_br
default_pdf_style: default
default_slide_theme: default
browser: ""               # empty = auto-detect (Edge/Chrome/Chromium/Brave)
references_style: abnt    # abnt | none
mathjax_engine: cdn       # cdn | katex-local
mathjax_timeout: 8

Toggle the language at the bottom-right of the main window or via paperforge config --set lang=pt_br.

Project layout

paperforge/
├── src/paperforge/
│   ├── gui/             ← PySide6 desktop app (default mode)
│   ├── pdf/             ← Markdown → PDF builder
│   ├── slides/          ← Markdown → PPTX builder
│   ├── charts/          ← five chart templates + builder
│   ├── locales/         ← en.yaml, pt_br.yaml
│   ├── cli.py           ← Typer CLI (kept for scripting)
│   └── paper.png        ← app icon (512×512 RGBA)
├── examples/            ← sample inputs
├── tests/               ← pytest suite (25 tests)
├── scripts/             ← icon converter + build helpers
└── paperforge.spec      ← PyInstaller spec (used by both build scripts)

Author & License

Built by Matheus Laidler (@matheuslaidler). Released under the MIT License.