latex-authoring

LaTeX Authoring

Intro

Prefer LuaLaTeX for new documents — native Unicode, system fonts via fontspec, and better TikZ performance. Use modern packages (tabularray, siunitx, biblatex, cleveref) and structure documents for reviewable diffs: one sentence per line, sections in their own files.

Overview

Document classes

Class	Use for
article	Papers, short documents (no chapters)
book	Books, theses (chapters, front/back matter)
report	Technical reports (chapters, no front/back matter)
extarticle	Articles needing 8pt–20pt font sizes
memoir	Flexible class combining book and article features
beamer	Presentations and slides
standalone	Single figures or TikZ diagrams for inclusion

LuaLaTeX vs pdfLaTeX

Prefer LuaLaTeX for new projects — native Unicode, OpenType/TrueType fonts via fontspec, Lua scripting, better TikZ performance on complex diagrams, and packages like fontspec and emoji require it. Stick with pdfLaTeX only when a legacy project or publisher requires it, or when compile speed matters on trivial documents.

Build with latexmk -lualatex main.tex (or -pdf for pdfLaTeX). latexmk runs biber and reruns the engine as needed.

Essential packages

Layout and typography: geometry (margins), fancyhdr (headers/footers), fontspec (system fonts, LuaLaTeX only), babel (multilingual), enumitem (custom lists).

Math and science: amsmath (environments and commands), siunitx (units and number formatting).

Tables and figures: tabularray (modern tables, replaces tabular/booktabs), graphicx (images), svg (SVG inclusion, requires Inkscape).

Graphics and color: tikz (programmatic vector graphics), pgfkeys (key-value interface), xcolor (extended color), tcolorbox (colored boxes, theorems, code listings).

Bibliography: biblatex with the Biber backend — modern replacement for bibtex and natbib.

Specialty: bytefield (protocol diagrams), xskak (chess), emoji (LuaLaTeX only).

See references/packages.md for detailed usage and configuration of each package.

Document structure

Write one sentence per line — it produces cleaner git diffs and makes review much easier. Split large documents with \input{sections/introduction} per section. Keep the preamble in a separate preamble.tex so you can reuse it. Put \label{} on every float, section, and equation, and reference with \cref{} (from cleveref) rather than bare \ref{}.

Bibliography with BibLaTeX

\usepackage[backend=biber, style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{references.bib}

% In text:
\textcite{Knuth1984} writes that...     % Knuth (1984) writes that...
As shown before \autocite{Knuth1984}    % As shown before (Knuth, 1984)

% At end:
\printbibliography

Build with latexmk -lualatex main.tex — it handles biber runs automatically.

Math

Inline math uses $...$ or \(...\); display math uses \[...\] (never $$...$$). Use align, gather, and cases from amsmath for multi-line equations. Define reusable commands in the preamble (\newcommand{\vect}[1]{\mathbf{#1}}). Use siunitx for all units: \qty{9.8}{m/s^2}, \num{1.23e4}. See references/math-reference.md for a symbol and environment reference.

TikZ

Load with \usepackage{tikz} plus \usetikzlibrary{...}. Common libraries: arrows.meta, positioning, calc, shapes, fit. Use the standalone class for diagrams you want to include from multiple documents. Define styles once in the preamble to keep picture bodies readable. See references/tikz-reference.md for drawing patterns.

Gotchas

Agent-specific failure modes — provider-neutral pause-and-self-check items:

• Using $$...$$ for display math instead of \[...\]. $$ is a plain TeX primitive that does not integrate with LaTeX's vertical spacing or equation numbering systems. Use \[...\] or equation/align environments; $$ produces subtle spacing bugs and incompatibilities with amsmath.
• Defaulting to pdfLaTeX for new projects. pdfLaTeX does not support Unicode source natively or OpenType fonts without workarounds. New projects should use LuaLaTeX with fontspec; reserve pdfLaTeX for legacy compatibility or publisher requirements that specifically mandate it.
• Loading packages without checking known conflict order rules. Package load order matters: hyperref must almost always be loaded last, and combinations like babel with fontspec have documented interaction requirements. When packages conflict, changing load order is the first fix to try before reaching for hacks.
• Using {\large ...} or {\small ...} to adjust font sizes inline. Hardcoded size switches do not adapt to document class changes and break if the base font size changes. Define named semantic commands in the preamble and apply them consistently throughout.
• Writing units via string concatenation instead of siunitx. $9.8 m/s^2$ produces inconsistent spacing and formatting; \qty{9.8}{m/s^2} from siunitx formats consistently across locales and handles magnitude formatting automatically. Use siunitx for all quantities and units.
• Running the LaTeX engine once instead of latexmk. A single engine pass leaves cross-references, table of contents, and bibliography stale. latexmk -lualatex reruns the engine and biber as many times as needed until the output stabilizes.
• Relying on locally installed fonts without documenting the dependency. A document that compiles on one machine because a specific OpenType font is installed will fail elsewhere. Document all font dependencies and prefer fonts available via a standard TeX distribution or bundled with the project.

Full reference

Minimal LuaLaTeX preamble

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{tabularray}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage[backend=biber, style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\usepackage{cleveref}
\addbibresource{references.bib}

Common mistakes

• Using $$...$$ for display math — it is not plain-TeX in LaTeX. Use \[...\] or an equation environment.
• Manual spacing with \, and ~ instead of proper environments.
• Forgetting \label immediately after \caption inside a float — the label must come after the caption, or it references the enclosing section instead.
• Including bitmap images where vector (PDF or SVG) would produce crisper output at no cost.
• Forgetting to run biber when the bibliography does not appear — use latexmk and it is handled automatically.
• Using \ref{} alone when \cref{} would produce "Figure 3" instead of just "3".
• Writing multi-sentence lines, which makes git diffs unreadable.
• Building with pdfLaTeX when the preamble loads fontspec, unicode-math, or emoji.

Tables with tabularray

tabularray replaces the older tabular/booktabs combo with a key-value interface and saner defaults. Use tblr for tables in a table float and the booktabs library for rules.

Standalone diagrams

When a TikZ diagram will be reused or is complex enough to warrant its own file, build it with the standalone class so it produces a cropped PDF you can \includegraphics from the main document. This keeps the main compile fast and lets you iterate on diagrams independently.

Further reading

• references/packages.md — per-package usage and configuration
• references/math-reference.md — math symbols, environments, and formulas
• references/tikz-reference.md — TikZ drawing commands and patterns