00Overview

Navigating PagePerfect

PagePerfect converts Markdown manuscripts into professionally typeset PDFs using Typst. This section orients you to the platform's key areas before you dive into the technical reference below.

Where Things Are

Editor — /app

Full-screen workspace for writing, formatting, and exporting. No navigation bar — purpose-built for focused work. Three stages: Portal (ingest your manuscript), Design (pick template, page size, margins, preview live), Launch (pre-flight checks, export).

Docs — /docs

You are here. Complete reference for all 15 templates, page sizes, margin presets, KDP publishing workflow, troubleshooting, and API endpoints.

Journal — /journal

Long-form articles on typography, grid systems, and book production. Background reading — not required to use the editor.

Pricing — /pricing

Three tiers: Drafter (free, watermarked), Publisher ($19.99/manuscript, no watermark), Studio ($199 lifetime). Full comparison and FAQ.

The Core Workflow

Paste or upload your manuscript in the Portal stage. Accepts .md, .txt, .docx, or pasted text. Word artifacts are cleaned automatically.
Pick a template and page size. Genre auto-detection suggests a starting template. Adjust margins, heading style, and compile mode in the Design stage — changes recompile instantly.
Check quality and export. The typography grade (A–D) appears in the dock and preview. Open the Launch overlay to run pre-flight validation against KDP, IngramSpark, or Lulu, then download your PDF.

Data & Persistence

Manuscripts are session-scoped — they exist for crash recovery, not long-term storage.

Browser Backup

All users get automatic saves to IndexedDB every 3 seconds. Survives accidental refreshes and browser crashes.

Signed-In Users

Additionally saved to the server during your session. All server-side manuscripts are deleted on sign-out. Unsaved sessions expire after 24 hours.

Keep a Local Copy

PagePerfect is a typesetting tool, not a document store. Always keep your manuscript source file (.md or .docx) on your own machine.

01Getting Started

Operating the Engine

The system is designed for immediate compilation. Do not format your text. Paste your raw manuscript into the Editor, select a typographic system, and let the engine handle the typesetting.

Example citation:[@Finch2023]

Go to Editor

Author Guide

Copy or download a ready-to-share Markdown guide for authors.

01.1Diagnostics

Requirements Check

System Check

Tests the API proxy and compile pipeline. If checks fail, the backend may be starting up — wait 30 seconds and retry.

Backend API reachable
PDF compile working

02Editor

Controlling the Editor

The editor is a three-stage pipeline: Portal (ingest), Design (typeset), and Launch (export). All settings auto-save to local storage.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Available in the Design stage. Press ? in the editor to toggle the shortcut legend.

Key	Action
← / →	Cycle through templates
Space	Force recompile
E	Toggle manuscript editor
S	Toggle publishing systems panel
P	Open export / publish overlay
?	Toggle shortcuts legend
Esc	Close active panel

Compile Modes

Preview (Fast)

Skips microtype and csquotes packages. Faster compilation for iterative editing. Use this while drafting.

Full Quality

Enables microtype (optical margin alignment, character protrusion) and csquotes (context-sensitive quotation marks). Use for final output.

Standard Mode

When enabled, all Pandoc citation syntax ([@Key]) is stripped and replaced with placeholder text. Compilation proceeds without needing a valid references.bib.

When to Use

Enable Standard mode while writing or when your bibliography has missing keys. Disable it for final output to render proper citations and bibliography.

Manuscript Input

Three input methods in the Portal stage: drag-and-drop a file, browse files, or paste text directly.

Format	Handling
.md / .txt	Read directly as Markdown. From-Word cleaning applied automatically.
.docx	Sent to backend for Pandoc conversion to Markdown, then cleaned.
Paste	Click "Paste text" to open the text area. From-Word cleaning applied.

From-Word Cleaning

Pasted or dropped text is automatically normalized: smart quotes → straight quotes, em/en dashes → spaced em dashes, non-breaking spaces → regular spaces, bullet characters → Markdown list items, excess newlines collapsed, trailing whitespace stripped.

Genre Auto-Detection

The Portal stage scans the first 150 lines of your manuscript for structural signals and recommends a template. You can always override the suggestion in the Style menu.

Signal	Template	Confidence
INT. / EXT. / FADE IN / CUT TO	Cinema	High
Ingredients, measurements (tsp, cups, oz)	Heirloom	High
4+ code blocks or WARNING/CAUTION/NOTE headers	Operator	Medium
Abstract, bibliography, [@citations]	Chicago	Medium
Executive summary, KPIs, quarterly, fiscal	Matrix	Medium
2+ chapter headings or 5+ dialogue lines	Paperback	Low

Typography Quality Gate

Every compile generates a typography score (0–100) and letter grade. The grade appears in the dock, PDF preview, and export overlay — ensuring you never ship a low-quality PDF without knowing.

Grade	Score	Behavior
A	80–100	Excellent. Export proceeds normally.
B	60–79	Good. Export proceeds normally.
C	40–59	Review recommended. Amber warning in preview and export overlay.
D	0–39	Significant issues. Red warning + acknowledgment checkbox required before download.

How to Improve Your Grade

Try wider margins, a larger page size, or a different template. Overfull lines (text exceeding the margin) are the most common cause of low grades. The dock shows your current grade and overfull count after each compile.

URL Parameters

Pre-select a template by appending ?template=name to the editor URL.

Example

/app?template=cinema

03Layout

Configure Your Layout

Every layout decision in PagePerfect is governed by a baseline grid — the invisible scaffold that aligns typography, spacing, and margins into visual harmony. Understanding how the grid works helps you make better design choices.

Why Grid Systems

PagePerfect implements Josef Müller-Brockmann's grid system principles from Grid Systems in Graphic Design (1981). Every page element — margins, headings, paragraph spacing, footnotes — snaps to a baseline grid measured in points. This creates the vertical rhythm that distinguishes professional typesetting from word processing.

Baseline Grid

Academic templates use a 12pt baseline. Trade, editorial, and creative templates use an 11pt baseline. All spacing — above headings, between paragraphs, around block quotes — is a multiple of this unit.

Typographic Scale

Heading sizes follow a proportional scale: H1 at 2.25×, H2 at 1.75×, H3 at 1.375× the baseline — producing a ~1.28× step progression that the eye perceives as natural hierarchy.

Grid-Based Margins

Margin presets are expressed as grid unit multipliers — not arbitrary inch values. When you select “Normal” (5 units), the engine calculates: 5 × baseline ÷ 72 to derive the margin in inches. This means margins scale proportionally with the template's baseline, maintaining the grid's visual consistency.

Template Category	Baseline	“Normal” Margin
Academic (Chicago, Symphony, Thesis)	12pt	0.83″
Trade (Paperback, Memoir, Exhibit)	11pt	0.76″
Basic (Minimal)	12pt	0.83″

Safety Cap

Margins are capped at 20% of page width per side (40% total) to prevent unusable text areas on small pages like Mass Market (4.25″ wide). The engine enforces this automatically — you can safely choose “Generous” on any page size without overflow.

All Page Sizes

19 page sizes across three tiers. The editor shows 6 common sizes by default, with specialist and KDP sizes behind expandable menus.

Size	Dimensions	Use Case
Default Sizes
5.5 × 8.5″	140 × 216 mm	US digest
6 × 9″	152 × 229 mm	US trade / academic
A5	148 × 210 mm	ISO book standard
Royal	156 × 234 mm	UK hardcover / literary
Letter	216 × 279 mm	US document
A4	210 × 297 mm	ISO document
More Book Sizes
Mass Market	108 × 175 mm	US pocket paperback
A-format	111 × 178 mm	UK mass-market
B-format	129 × 198 mm	UK trade paperback
5.25 × 8″	133 × 203 mm	US fiction
Demy	138 × 216 mm	UK trade standard
7 × 10″	178 × 254 mm	US textbook
B5	176 × 250 mm	European academic
Crown Quarto	189 × 246 mm	Illustrated non-fiction
Amazon KDP
5 × 8″	127 × 203 mm	KDP small
6 × 9″	152 × 229 mm	KDP trade
7 × 10″	178 × 254 mm	KDP textbook
8 × 10″	203 × 254 mm	KDP large
8.5 × 11″	216 × 279 mm	KDP letter

Margin Presets

Seven presets control the white space around your text. Pick one that matches the feel you want — Normal is a safe default for most books.

Preset	Margin Size	Good For
Minimal	~0.3″	Maximum text per page
Compact	~0.5″	Reference books, dense layouts
Narrow	~0.6″	Space-efficient but comfortable
Normal	~0.75″	Most books — the safe default
Wide	~0.9″	Literary fiction, open feel
Academic	~1.1″	Scholarly work, room for notes
Generous	~1.2″	Art books, poetry, maximum breathing room

How It Works

Wider margins mean more white space and fewer words per page — your book will have more pages but feel more spacious and premium. Narrower margins pack more text in, keeping page counts (and printing costs) down. The exact size adjusts slightly between templates to match publishing conventions — academic templates use a touch more space than fiction templates.

04Reference

Fifteen Typographic Systems

Every template is a complete typographic system — not a theme. Each implements specific design principles: baseline grids, proportional scales, calculated margins, and intentional font stacks.

Symphony

Academic

The Academic Monograph

Built on the Van de Graaf Canon — the medieval page construction that Tschichold proved generates optically perfect margins. Symphony is the template for work that must be taken seriously.

Font Stack

EB Garamond

+ Libertinus Sans

DejaVu Sans Mono

Geometry

Base: 12pt

Leading: 1.15

Indent: 1.5em

Par skip: 0pt

Best For

Dissertations, monographs, academic books, scholarly journals

Key Features

Van de Graaf Canon margins

Ornamental chapter headings with centered rule

Oxblood (#800020) accent palette

Hanging footnotes via footmisc

Verso/recto running heads with small-caps title

OldStyle numerals throughout

Chicago

Academic

The University Press Monograph

Strict adherence to the Chicago Manual of Style. ETbb (the digital Bembo) carries the gravitas of 500 years of printing tradition. Every margin, indent, and footnote follows the canon.

Font Stack

ETbb

Geometry

Base: 11pt

Leading: 1.15

Indent: 2em

Par skip: 0pt

Best For

University press submissions, humanities theses, CMOS-compliant publications

Key Features

ETbb (Bembo) with OldStyle numerals

True footnotes with 2-inch separator rule

CMOS running heads: title (verso), chapter (recto)

Centered small-caps chapter headings

2em paragraph indent (CMOS standard)

Block quotes at \small with 2em left margin

Paperback

Fiction

The Cinematic Page-Turner

Designed for the books you can't put down. Alegreya Sans provides the invisible reading experience of commercial fiction, while cinematic chapter openings set the stage for each scene.

Font Stack

Alegreya Sans

+ TeX Gyre Heros

Geometry

Base: 11pt

Leading: 1.3

Indent: 1.5em

Par skip: 0pt

Best For

Novels, short story collections, creative nonfiction, memoir

Key Features

Cinematic chapter headings: 60pt grey number + bold title

Scene break ornament (centered asterism)

1.5em fiction-standard paragraph indent

Small-caps running headers

Clean, transparent reading typography

Part/chapter hierarchy support

Chronicle

Editorial

The Journalism Template

Swiss International Style applied to editorial content. TeX Gyre Heros (Helvetica) with heavy rules, block paragraphs, and pull-quote blockquotes. The template of record.

Font Stack

TeX Gyre Heros

Fira Mono

Geometry

Base: 11pt

Leading: 1.3

Indent: 0pt

Par skip: 0.15in

Best For

Journalism, editorial collections, newsletters, reports, white papers

Key Features

Flush left, ragged right (\hyphenpenalty=200)

3pt heavy rules above sections

Uppercase tracked subsections (LetterSpace=5)

Pull-quote blockquotes with 3pt left vrule

2pt rule in page headers

Block paragraph style (no indent, 0.15in skip)

Exhibit

Trade

The White Cube

Inspired by gallery exhibition catalogs where the white space is the design. Extreme breathing room, ghost-number chapter openings, and typography that disappears to let the content speak.

Font Stack

Fira Sans

+ TeX Gyre Adventor

Fira Mono

Geometry

Base: 10pt

Leading: 1.5

Indent: 0pt

Par skip: 0.2in

Best For

Art catalogs, design portfolios, photography books, exhibition guides

Key Features

80pt ghost grey chapter numbers (opacity 0.08)

Uppercase tracked section headers (no bold)

Extreme whitespace: 1.5 line height + 0.2in parskip

Ragged right with no hyphenation

Minimal footer page numbers only

Clean hierarchy without decorative elements

Matrix

Business

The Annual Report

Swiss corporate typography: Fira Sans with lining (tabular) figures for financial data, MidnightBlue accent palette, and booktabs for professional tables.

Font Stack

Fira Sans

Fira Mono

Geometry

Base: 10pt

Leading: 1.35

Indent: 0pt

Par skip: 6pt

Best For

Annual reports, business proposals, corporate documentation, financial reports

Key Features

Lining tabular figures for financial data

MidnightBlue (#191970) corporate palette

Executive summary blockquotes with blue left border

booktabs-formatted tables

Tight uppercase tracked section headings

Running heads with small caps

Avant-Garde

Creative

The Manifesto

For content that breaks rules on purpose. 120pt ghost chapter numbers, brutalist blockquotes sandwiched between heavy rules, and the restless energy of an unresolved grid.

Font Stack

Source Sans 3

+ DejaVu Sans

TeX Gyre Cursor

Geometry

Base: 11pt

Leading: 1.35

Indent: 0pt

Par skip: 10pt

Best For

Manifestos, experimental fiction, zines, art books, creative essays

Key Features

120pt ghost grey chapter numbers

Brutalist blockquotes: 2pt rules above and below

Ragged right with zero hyphenation

Large 20pt uppercase chapter titles

10pt paragraph skip creates open texture

Deliberately unresolved visual tension

Minimal

Basic

The Source Code

Radical compatibility. Zero external dependencies — no custom fonts required. Latin Modern: the Knuthian Ideal perfected.

Font Stack

Latin Modern

Geometry

Base: 12pt

Leading: 1.5

Indent: 0pt

Par skip: 6pt

Best For

Drafts, submissions, BasicTeX users, maximum compatibility scenarios

Key Features

Zero dependencies — maximum portability

Latin Modern (Computer Modern perfected)

Standard title page

Plain page style with centered page numbers

1.5 line spacing for drafts

Maximum portability across systems

International

Design

The Swiss Standard

Muller-Brockmann's modular grid system — one font, no italics, visible structure. Hierarchy achieved purely through size and weight. "Italics are emotional corruption."

Font Stack

TeX Gyre Heros

TeX Gyre Cursor

Geometry

Base: 9pt

Leading: 1.25

Indent: 0pt

Par skip: 8pt

Best For

Design portfolios, architecture proposals, brand guidelines, manifestos

Key Features

Single font family only (TeX Gyre Heros)

No italics used anywhere

Flush left, ragged right (strict rule)

0.5pt rules above sections

7pt letter-spaced uppercase headers

Dense Swiss grid: 9pt/11pt base

Cinema

Screenplay

The Hollywood Standard

Production-ready screenplay format. Courier 12pt is non-negotiable — the industry's "1 page = 1 minute" rule depends on it. Every margin follows the Hollywood Standard.

Font Stack

TeX Gyre Cursor

Geometry

Base: 12pt

Leading: 1.0

Indent: 0pt

Par skip: 12pt

Best For

Screenplays, teleplays, stage plays, indie film scripts

Key Features

TeX Gyre Cursor (Courier clone) — industry standard

Hardcoded margins: 1.5in left (3-hole punch), 1.0in right

Single-spaced (1 page = 1 minute rule)

UPPERCASE sluglines (scene headings)

Narrow dialogue blocks (1.0in left indent)

Title page with "by" attribution line

Heirloom

Cookbook

The Modern Gastronomy Book

Cookbook format with mise-en-place grid separation. Recipes are cards, ingredients are highlighted blocks, and steps are boldly numbered. Warm earth tones evoke the kitchen.

Font Stack

Fira Sans

+ DejaVu Serif

Fira Mono

Geometry

Base: 11pt

Leading: 1.4

Indent: 0pt

Par skip: 8pt

Best For

Cookbooks, recipe collections, food blogs, family recipe books

Key Features

DejaVu Serif slab-serif headers (warm, robust)

Ingredient blocks in light grey colorboxes

Bold numbered steps for recipe procedures

Warm SaddleBrown (#8B4513) palette

Section-separating horizontal rules

Uppercase tracked subsections for categories

Operator

Technical

The Engineering Manual

Built for developer documentation, O'Reilly-style. Semantic admonition boxes (Warning, Info, Code) with colored left borders, structured hierarchy, and Fira Sans/Mono typography.

Font Stack

Fira Sans

Fira Mono

Geometry

Base: 10pt

Leading: 1.4

Indent: 0pt

Par skip: 8pt

Best For

Developer docs, technical manuals, API references, engineering guides

Key Features

Warning admonition box (red left border)

Info admonition box (blue left border)

Code admonition box (grey background)

Navy blue (#003366) heading palette

Numbered section hierarchy

Blockquotes automatically render as Info boxes

Verse

Poetry

The Poetry Collection

EB Garamond at generous leading with centered italic chapter titles and thin ornamental rules. The verse environment preserves line breaks exactly as written — essential for poetry.

Font Stack

EB Garamond

+ TeX Gyre Heros

DejaVu Sans Mono

Geometry

Base: 11pt

Leading: 1.4

Indent: 0pt

Par skip: 0pt

Best For

Poetry collections, verse drama, song lyrics, chapbooks

Key Features

Verse layout for preserved line breaks

Centered italic chapter titles with ornamental rule

Deep violet (#4B0082) accent palette

Generous leading (1.4) for breathing room

Decorative scene breaks (fleuron)

No paragraph indent — stanza spacing instead

Thesis

Academic

The Dissertation

Double-spaced, numbered sections, Latin Modern Roman — the institutional standard that every university committee expects. Built to satisfy formatting requirements, not fight them.

Font Stack

Latin Modern Roman

+ Latin Modern Sans

Latin Modern Mono

Geometry

Base: 12pt

Leading: 2.0

Indent: 1.5em

Par skip: 0pt

Best For

PhD dissertations, Masters theses, capstone projects, university submissions

Key Features

Double-spaced (university requirement)

Numbered section hierarchy (1, 1.1, 1.1.1)

Latin Modern Roman — the institutional default

Indented single-spaced block quotes

Footnote separator rule (2-inch)

Page number only in header (right-aligned)

Memoir

Fiction

This is My Story

Warm, intimate personal narrative typography. Libre Baskerville carries the deeply readable warmth of literary memoir, with amber accents and decorative tilde scene breaks.

Font Stack

Libre Baskerville

+ TeX Gyre Heros

DejaVu Sans Mono

Geometry

Base: 11pt

Leading: 1.35

Indent: 1.5em

Par skip: 0pt

Best For

Memoir, autobiography, personal essays, travel writing, literary nonfiction

Key Features

Libre Baskerville — warm curves, generous x-height

Amber (#8B6914) accent palette

Centered italic chapter titles with ornamental rule

Decorative tilde scene breaks (~~~)

Italic blockquotes at reduced leading

Verso/recto running heads (title/chapter)

05Publishing

Publish to Amazon KDP

PagePerfect supports all five Amazon KDP trim sizes with dynamic gutter calculation and spine width estimation. Select any KDP page size in the editor to generate compliant interior PDFs.

KDP Publishing Workflow

Choose a KDP trim size in the editor's page size selector (5×8″ through 8.5×11″).
Select a template — Paperback and Chicago are optimized for KDP fiction and nonfiction respectively.
Set margins to “Normal” or wider. KDP requires minimum inside margins (gutter) based on page count. The engine adds gutter automatically.
Compile in Full Quality mode to enable microtype and csquotes for production output.
Check your typography grade. Aim for A or B before export. Grade C/D usually indicates overfull lines — try wider margins or rewording long paragraphs.
Open the Press overlay (P key) and select “Amazon KDP” as the target platform.
Run pre-flight. The validator checks margins, page count (24–828), trim size, and font embedding against KDP requirements.
Download the interior PDF — KDP accepts standard PDFs (no PDF/X conversion needed).
Note your spine width from the Press overlay to create your cover template. White paper = pages × 0.002252″, cream = pages × 0.0025″.
Upload to KDP. Interior PDF + cover PDF. KDP's previewer will run its own validation.

KDP Requirements

Amazon requires 24–828 pages, PDF fonts fully embedded, no transparency, no crop marks, and minimum gutter margins. PagePerfect handles font embedding and gutter automatically. The pre-flight validator catches everything else before you upload.

KDP Trim Sizes

Trim	Code	Best For
5 × 8″	amazonFiveByEight	Novellas, poetry, compact fiction
5.5 × 8.5″	fiveFiveByEightFive	Standard fiction, memoir
6 × 9″	amazonSixByNine	Nonfiction, trade standard
7 × 10″	amazonSevenByTen	Textbooks, technical books
8.5 × 11″	amazonEightFiveByEleven	Workbooks, cookbooks, manuals

Dynamic Gutter (Inside Margin)

KDP requires minimum inside margins based on page count to accommodate binding.

Page Count	Min. Gutter
24–150	0.375″
151–300	0.500″
301–500	0.625″
501–828	0.750″

Spine Width Calculation

Spine width determines your cover template dimensions. Calculated automatically in the Press stage based on word count.

White Paper (55#)

Page count × 0.002252"

300 pages = 0.676" spine

Cream Paper (60#)

Page count × 0.0025"

300 pages = 0.750" spine

API Endpoints

GET

/api/kdp/spine?pages=300

Returns spine width for both paper stocks and recommended gutter

GET

/api/kdp/gutter?pages=300

Returns minimum inside margin for the given page count

06Automation

Automate Your Pipeline

PagePerfect automates the entire path from Markdown to printed book. Pre-flight validation catches rejection-causing errors before submission, while platform-specific exports ensure compliance.

Pre-flight Validator

Live

The Press stage runs real-time pre-flight checks against your target platform's requirements. Select Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, or Lulu to validate margins, page count, gutter, trim size, and font embedding.

API

POST

/api/preflight

Body: { pageSize, marginPreset, template, wordCount, platform: "kdp" | "ingram" | "lulu" }

Cover Dimensions Calculator

Live

Calculates exact cover template dimensions including spine width, bleed zones, and safety margins. Displayed automatically in the Press stage based on page count and paper stock.

API

GET

/api/cover-dimensions?width=6&height=9&pages=300&paper=white

Returns full cover width/height, spine, bleed, safety margins, and breakdown

PDF/X-1a Export

IngramSpark

IngramSpark requires PDF/X-1a:2001 compliance — CMYK color space, all fonts embedded, no transparency, PDF 1.3. PagePerfect converts Typst output to PDF/X-1a via Ghostscript post-processing with US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 output intent.

Note

Select "IngramSpark" as your platform in the Press stage, then click "Export PDF/X-1a" to generate a compliant file. The standard interior PDF download remains available for KDP (which accepts regular PDFs).

Lulu xPress API

Requires API Keys

Lulu is the only major print-on-demand platform with a full REST API. PagePerfect integrates with Lulu xPress for cost estimation, print job creation, and order status tracking via webhooks.

Configuration Required

LULU_CLIENT_KEY — API key from developers.lulu.com

LULU_CLIENT_SECRET — API secret

LULU_SANDBOX=true — Use sandbox for testing (no real charges)

POST

/api/lulu/cost-estimate

Calculate print + shipping cost without ordering

POST

/api/lulu/print-job

Create a print job (actual order)

GET

/api/lulu/print-job/:id

Check print job status

GET

/api/lulu/status

Check if Lulu API is configured

Platform Comparison

Feature	KDP	IngramSpark	Lulu
PDF format	Standard	PDF/X-1a	Standard
API upload	No	FTP only	REST API
Cost API	No	No	Yes
Distribution	Amazon	40,000+ retailers	Direct + retail
Page range	24–828	18–1,200	2–800
Sandbox	No	No	Yes

07Support

Diagnosing Issues

Limits

Limit	Value
Max Markdown size	2 MB
Max .docx upload	10 MB
Compile timeout	45 seconds
Rate limit (compile)	20/min per IP
Rate limit (general)	120/min per IP

Error Reference

The editor translates raw engine errors into plain English and suggests fixes. Below is the complete reference grouped by category.

Special Characters & Math

Error	Cause	Fix
Missing $ inserted	Unescaped _ or ^ in text	Remove _ or ^ characters, or wrap math in $...$
Double superscript/subscript	Consecutive ^ or _ characters	Use {braces} to group them
Extra alignment tab	Table row has too many columns	Match column count in each row

Structure & Command Errors

Error	Cause	Fix
Undefined control sequence	Stray backslash or unknown command	Remove backslashes from prose text
Runaway argument	Unmatched bracket or brace	Check for missing } or ]
Emergency stop	Critical engine failure	Simplify your manuscript and retry
Too many unprocessed floats	Too many images without text between them	Add more text between figures

Page Layout Warnings

Warning	What It Means	Fix
Overfull \hbox	Text overflows the margin — may be cut off in print	Try wider margins or a larger page size
Underfull \hbox	Excessive word spacing on a line	Reword the sentence for a more natural fit
Overfull \vbox	Page has more content than it can hold	Engine pushes overflow to next page (cosmetic)
Underfull \vbox	Page has extra white space at bottom	Cosmetic only — safe to ignore

Font Errors

Error	Cause	Fix
Font not found / not available	Required font not on the server	Try a different template
Unknown font family	Font not available on server	Try a different template
Missing character U+XXXX	Character not in current font	May appear as blank — try a Unicode-rich template

Citations & Bibliography

Error	Cause	Fix
Undefined citation "@Key"	Key not in bibliography	Check the key or toggle on Standard mode
Couldn't open .bib	Bibliography file not found	Toggle on Standard mode to skip citations
Empty bibliography	No references in .bib	Add references or use Standard mode

Server, Capacity & Network

Error	Cause	Fix
Compilation timed out	Engine exceeded 45s limit	Use Fast compile mode or split into smaller sections
Layout did not converge	Too many images or complex tables	Reduce image count or simplify tables
queue_full	Server at capacity	Wait a moment and try again
tier_required	Feature requires paid plan	Upgrade to Publisher or Studio
Preview expired	Cached PDF cleared (server restart or TTL)	Hit Recompile to refresh
Network disconnected	Lost server connection	Check your internet and retry
Invalid UTF-8	Non-standard characters in manuscript	Paste through a plain text editor to clean encoding
PDF/X conversion failed	Unsupported transparency or color profiles	Export as standard PDF instead

Automatic Suggestions

When the editor detects a known error pattern, a blue “Try:” hint appears below the error message with a specific fix. These suggestions cover the 12 most common failure modes.

No PDF / 400–501 errors

Checklist

Make sure the compiler backend is running on http://localhost:4000.
If using Docker: npm run docker:build && npm run docker:run in backend/.
Network errors: check that your browser can reach /api/health.

Pre-flight Failures by Platform

When you select a platform in the Press overlay, pre-flight runs automatically. These are the checks that can block your export, grouped by platform.

Amazon KDP

Check	Requirement	Fix
Page count	24–828 pages	Adjust manuscript length or word count
Inside margin (gutter)	≥0.375″ for ≤150pp, ≥0.5″ for 151–300pp, ≥0.625″ for 301–500pp, ≥0.75″ for 501+	Increase margin preset (Normal or wider)
Trim size	5×8″ through 8.5×11″ only	Select a KDP-specific page size in the editor
Font embedding	All fonts fully embedded	Handled automatically by Typst
PDF format	Standard PDF accepted	No PDF/X conversion needed for KDP

IngramSpark

Check	Requirement	Fix
Page count	18–1,200 pages	Adjust manuscript length
Inside margin	≥0.625″ for all page counts	Use Wide, Academic, or Generous margins
Outside margin	≥0.5″ on all sides	Increase margin preset
PDF format	PDF/X-1a:2001 required (CMYK, no transparency)	Select “IngramSpark” in Press overlay — requires Publisher+ tier
ISBN	Required by IngramSpark	Obtain from Bowker or your national ISBN agency
Bleed	0.125″ for full-bleed pages	Text-only interiors are compliant without bleed

IngramSpark Rejects Standard PDFs

IngramSpark requires PDF/X-1a compliance — CMYK color space, all fonts embedded, no transparency, PDF 1.3. If you upload a standard PDF, IngramSpark will reject it. Use the “Export PDF/X-1a” option in the Press overlay (Publisher or Studio tier).

Lulu xPress

Check	Requirement	Fix
Page count	2–800 pages	Adjust manuscript length
Inside margin	≥0.375″ minimum	Use Normal or wider margins
PDF format	Standard PDF accepted	No PDF/X conversion needed for Lulu
API keys	LULU_CLIENT_KEY + LULU_CLIENT_SECRET required	Configure in backend environment variables

Lulu API Errors

If cost estimation or print job creation fails, check: (1) the shipping address is valid, (2) the page count is within Lulu's range for your selected trim size, and (3) your API keys are correct. Sandbox mode (LULU_SANDBOX=true) lets you test without charges.