md2pdf-xelatex

Convert Markdown files to PDF with full LaTeX math formula rendering and CJK (Chinese/Japanese/Korean) support. Use when the user asks to convert markdown to PDF, render a report as PDF, export notes to PDF, or generate a printable document from markdown. Handles $...$ inline and $$...$$ display math, code blocks, tables, and mixed CJK/Latin text. Requires pandoc + texlive-xetex.

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Install

openclaw skills install md2pdf-xelatex

md2pdf

Convert Markdown → PDF via Pandoc + XeLaTeX. Full LaTeX math + CJK support.

Prerequisites

System packages (apt):

pandoc texlive-xetex texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-fonts-extra texlive-latex-extra texlive-lang-chinese

Quick Convert

bash <skill_dir>/scripts/md2pdf.sh input.md output.pdf

The script auto-detects CJK content, picks suitable fonts, sanitizes emoji, adds TOC, and configures XeLaTeX.

Manual Pandoc Command

For fine-grained control, run pandoc directly:

pandoc input.md -o output.pdf \
  --pdf-engine=xelatex \
  -f markdown-smart \
  -H header.tex \
  -V mainfont="DejaVu Sans" \
  -V monofont="DejaVu Sans Mono" \
  -V geometry:margin=20mm \
  -V fontsize=10pt \
  -V colorlinks=true \
  --highlight-style=tango \
  --toc -V toc-title="Table of Contents"

Where header.tex contains:

\usepackage{xeCJK}
\setCJKmainfont{<CJK font name>}

Key Details

Math: Pandoc natively converts $...$ (inline) and $$...$$ (display) to LaTeX math. No MathJax/KaTeX needed.
CJK fonts: Script auto-detects from: Noto Sans CJK SC > WenQuanYi Micro Hei > Droid Sans Fallback > AR PL UMing CN.
Emoji: Replaced with text equivalents (✅ → [Y], ❌ → [N], ⭐ → *) since most LaTeX fonts lack emoji glyphs.
Smart quotes: Use -f markdown-smart to avoid curly quote rendering issues.
Long tables: Pandoc may struggle with complex tables; keep tables simple or use longtable LaTeX package.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Missing character warnings	Check `fc-list :lang=zh` for available CJK fonts; install `fonts-noto-cjk` if needed
`xelatex not found`	Install `texlive-xetex`
PDF has no math rendering	Ensure markdown uses $...$ / `$$...$$` (not HTML math tags)
Broken table layout	Simplify table or add `-V geometry:margin=15mm` for more width