NovaType for Visual Studio Code

The ultimate Typst editing experience for VS Code

Features • Installation • Quick Start • Code Intelligence • Bibliography • Table Editor • Configuration

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Overview

NovaType for VS Code is the official extension for NovaType, a modern document composition system built on Typst. Write beautiful scientific documents, papers, and reports with real-time preview, intelligent autocompletion, and integrated bibliography management.

Features

Live Preview

Real-time PDF preview that updates on save. The preview compiles the project's main file (detected via nova.toml), so editing any file in the project triggers a correct compilation. Choose between the built-in viewer or the vscode-pdf extension.

Code Intelligence

• Document Outline — Hierarchical view of headings, labels, and imports in the Explorer sidebar
• Go to Definition (Ctrl+Click) — Jump to <label> definitions, #let bindings, #import sources, and .bib entries
• Find All References (Shift+F12) — Find every usage of a label, reference, or #let identifier across all project files
• Inline Diagnostics — Compilation errors and warnings displayed directly in the editor
• Unescaped @ Detection — Warns about unescaped @ in emails with one-click quick fix
• Code Folding — Fold headings, raw blocks, and block comments

Smart IntelliSense

• Reference Completion — Type @ to see all labels and citations
• Label Snippets — Type < to insert structured labels (eq:, fig:, tbl:, etc.)
• Bibliography Integration — Automatic parsing of .bib files referenced in your document

Snippets

Quickly insert common Typst structures:

Prefix	Description
```, raw, code	Raw block with language
eq, equation	Inline equation with label
eqb	Block equation with label
fig	Figure with caption and label
tbl	Table figure with caption and label
mail, email	Email address with escaped \@
url, link	Hyperlink with #link()

Bibliography Management

• CrossRef Search (Ctrl+Shift+R) — Search millions of academic papers directly from VS Code
• DOI Import (Ctrl+Shift+D) — Paste any DOI to instantly fetch and insert BibTeX entries
• Smart .bib Handling — Automatic file creation and duplicate detection

Visual Table Editor

• Edit Table — Click the "Edit Table" CodeLens above any table() to open a spreadsheet-like visual editor
• Create Table — Create a table from scratch via the Command Palette
• Import from Excel — Paste tab-separated data directly from Excel or Google Sheets
• Import CSV — Load data from .csv or .tsv files
• Cell Editing — Tab/Enter navigation, bold toggle, per-column alignment control, add/remove rows and columns

Editing Enhancements

• Word Wrap — Enabled by default for .typ files
• Word Count — Live word count displayed in the status bar
• List Indentation — Tab/Shift+Tab to indent/outdent list items (-, +, 1.)
• List Continuation — Enter automatically continues list markers

Developer Experience

• Full Typst syntax highlighting (improved in 0.2.0)
• Configurable nova binary path for local development
• Detailed output logging for debugging

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Installation

Prerequisites

Install the NovaType CLI:

# Via Cargo (recommended)
cargo install novatype-cli

# Or download pre-built binaries
# https://github.com/AureClai/novatype/releases

Extension Installation

From VS Code Marketplace:

1. Open VS Code
2. Press Ctrl+P / Cmd+P
3. Type ext install aureclai.novatype

From VSIX:

code --install-extension novatype-0.2.0.vsix

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Quick Start

1. Create a Document

#set math.equation(numbering: "(1)")

= Introduction

The famous equation by Einstein:

$ E = m c^2 $ <eq:einstein>

As shown in @eq:einstein, energy and mass are equivalent.

#bibliography("references.bib")

2. Open Preview

Press Ctrl+Shift+V (or Cmd+Shift+V on Mac) to open the live preview panel.

3. Compile to PDF

Press Ctrl+Shift+B (or Cmd+Shift+B on Mac) to compile your document.

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Code Intelligence

Document Outline

The Explorer sidebar shows a structured outline of your document:

• Headings are nested hierarchically by level (=, ==, ===, ...)
• Labels appear as children of their enclosing heading
• #import statements are shown at the top level

Go to Definition (Ctrl+Click / F12)

Jump to the definition of:

• @ref — Jump to the corresponding <label> or .bib entry
• #import "file.typ": name — Jump to the file or to the #let binding inside it
• #let identifiers — Jump to the binding, even if defined in an imported file

Find All References (Shift+F12)

Right-click any label, reference, or identifier and select "Find All References":

• On a <label> — find all @label usages
• On a @ref — find the declaration and all other usages
• On a #let name — find the definition and all usages across the project

Inline Diagnostics

Compilation errors and warnings from Typst are shown as squiggly underlines directly in the editor, with messages in the Problems panel. Diagnostics update each time you save.

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IntelliSense

Reference Completion (@)

Type @ anywhere in your document to see a list of all available references:

Type	Example	Description
Equation	@eq:einstein	Mathematical equations
Figure	@fig:results	Images and diagrams
Table	@tbl:data	Data tables
Section	@sec:intro	Document sections
Citation	@vaswani2017attention	Bibliography entries

Label Snippets (<)

Type < to insert a new label with the appropriate prefix:

Prefix	Use Case	Example
eq:	Equations	<eq:maxwell>
fig:	Figures	<fig:architecture>
tbl:	Tables	<tbl:results>
sec:	Sections	<sec:methods>
lst:	Code listings	<lst:algorithm>
def:	Definitions	<def:entropy>
thm:	Theorems	<thm:main>
lem:	Lemmas	<lem:auxiliary>
cor:	Corollaries	<cor:consequence>
prop:	Propositions	<prop:existence>
alg:	Algorithms	<alg:dijkstra>

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Bibliography

Search Papers (Ctrl+Shift+R)

Search the CrossRef database containing over 130 million academic works:

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+R (or Cmd+Shift+R)
2. Enter search terms (title, author, keywords)
3. Select a paper from the results
4. BibTeX is automatically added to your .bib file

Import from DOI (Ctrl+Shift+D)

Have a DOI? Import it directly:

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+D (or Cmd+Shift+D)
2. Paste the DOI (any format accepted):
   • 10.48550/arXiv.1706.03762
   • https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1706.03762
   • doi:10.48550/arXiv.1706.03762
3. BibTeX is fetched and inserted automatically

.bib File Management

• Auto-detection — Finds .bib files referenced via #bibliography("file.bib")
• Auto-creation — Offers to create a new .bib file if none exists
• Duplicate prevention — Checks for existing DOIs before inserting
• Multi-file support — Works with multiple bibliography files

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Visual Table Editor

Edit an Existing Table

A "Edit Table" CodeLens appears above every table() call in your document. Click it to open a spreadsheet-like editor where you can:

• Edit cell contents by clicking
• Navigate with Tab, Shift+Tab, and Enter
• Toggle bold on cells
• Change column alignment (left / center / right)
• Add or remove rows and columns

Click Apply to replace the table source code, or Cancel to discard changes.

Create a New Table

Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and run "NovaType: Create Table" to start with an empty 3x3 grid. Edit it in the visual editor, then Apply to insert a #figure(table(...)) block at your cursor position.

Import from Excel or CSV

In the table editor:

• Paste from Excel — Copy cells in Excel or Google Sheets, then click "Paste from Excel" (or press Ctrl+V in the editor)
• Import CSV — Click "Import CSV" to load a .csv or .tsv file from disk

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Configuration

Interactive Settings

Run NovaType: Configure Extension from the Command Palette for an interactive configuration experience.

Available Settings

Setting	Default	Description
novatype.binaryPath	""	Custom path to nova binary
novatype.preview.backend	"builtin"	Preview backend (builtin or vscode-pdf)
novatype.preview.autoRefresh	true	Auto-refresh preview on save
novatype.preview.refreshDelay	300	Refresh delay in milliseconds
novatype.compile.outputFormat	"pdf"	Output format (pdf or svg)
novatype.compile.openAfterCompile	true	Open file after compilation

Preview Backends

Backend	Description
builtin	Integrated PDF.js viewer with zoom controls
vscode-pdf	Uses vscode-pdf extension (better navigation, bookmarks, outline)

Development Mode

For NovaType contributors, point to your local build:

{
  "novatype.binaryPath": "C:/path/to/novatype/target/release/nova.exe"
}

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Command	Windows / Linux	macOS
Open Preview	Ctrl+Shift+V	Cmd+Shift+V
Compile to PDF	Ctrl+Shift+B	Cmd+Shift+B
Search Bibliography	Ctrl+Shift+R	Cmd+Shift+R
Insert from DOI	Ctrl+Shift+D	Cmd+Shift+D
Indent list item	Tab	Tab
Outdent list item	Shift+Tab	Shift+Tab

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Commands

Command	Description
NovaType: Open Preview	Open live PDF preview
NovaType: Compile to PDF	Compile document to PDF
NovaType: Compile and Open PDF	Compile and open in default viewer
NovaType: Search Bibliography (CrossRef)	Search for academic papers
NovaType: Insert BibTeX from DOI	Import citation from DOI
NovaType: Edit Table	Open visual editor for a table
NovaType: Create Table	Create a new table from scratch
NovaType: Configure Extension	Open settings menu

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Troubleshooting

"nova" command not found

Ensure NovaType CLI is installed and in your PATH:

cargo install novatype-cli
nova --version

Or set a custom binary path in settings.

Preview not updating

1. Check that novatype.preview.autoRefresh is enabled
2. Ensure the document compiles without errors (check Output panel)
3. Try reloading VS Code

Preview compiles the wrong file

NovaType reads nova.toml to find the project's main file. Make sure your project has a nova.toml with:

[document]
main = "main.typ"

Bibliography not showing in autocomplete

Ensure your document includes a bibliography reference:

#bibliography("references.bib")

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

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Related Projects

• NovaType — The core document composition system
• Typst — The underlying typesetting system
• novatype-wasm — WebAssembly bindings for browser usage

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

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Made with ❤ by AureClai