The Complete Production SOP: How to Deploy and Run Pandoc XeLaTeX Engine Publisher in Autonomous AI Agents

---
name: "pandoc-pdf-engine-xelatex"
description: "Publish high-quality PDF books and whitepapers from Markdown using Pandoc and XeLaTeX."
metadata:
  author: "John MacFarlane"
  version: "1.0.0"
  runtime_compatibility:
    - "codex"
    - "claude-code"
    - "cursor"
    - "windsurf"
triggers:
  - "compile markdown to pdf pandoc xelatex"
  - "enable cjk unicode fonts pandoc"
  - "configure pandoc pdf template"
permissions:
  fs_read: true
  fs_write: "workspace"
  shell_exec: false
  net_access: false
---

# Pandoc XeLaTeX Engine Publisher

Configures Pandoc with XeLaTeX PDF engine, enabling full Unicode CJK font support, microtype typography, custom LaTeX preambles, and syntax highlighted code listings.

## Execution SOP & Rules
1. Specify --pdf-engine=xelatex to support OpenType and TrueType system fonts.
2. Set main and monospace fonts using -V mainfont="Inter" and -V monofont="JetBrains Mono".
3. Include custom LaTeX header configurations with -H preamble.tex.
4. Ensure all source code blocks declare appropriate language identifiers for syntax coloring.

## Verification Checklist
- Ensure generated PDF exists and has non-zero byte size.
- Verify TeX engine log contains no undefined font errors.
- Validate all markdown asset paths resolve inside workspace boundaries.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

if ! command -v pandoc >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo "ERROR: pandoc is not installed or not in PATH." >&2
  exit 1
fi

if ! command -v xelatex >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo "ERROR: xelatex engine is missing. Install texlive-xetex." >&2
  exit 1
fi

echo "Dependencies validated: Pandoc $(pandoc --version | head -n 1) and XeLaTeX are operational."

% Custom XeLaTeX Preamble for Pandoc
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{a4paper, margin=1in}
\usepackage{xeCJK}
\setCJKmainfont{Noto Sans CJK SC}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhead[CO,CE]{}
\fancyfoot[C]{\thepage}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0.4pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0.4pt}

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

OUTPUT_PDF="dist/whitepaper.pdf"

if [ ! -f "$OUTPUT_PDF" ]; then
  echo "Quality Gate Failed: Output PDF was not generated." >&2
  exit 1
fi

FILESIZE=$(stat -c%s "$OUTPUT_PDF" 2>/dev/null || stat -f%z "$OUTPUT_PDF")
if [ "$FILESIZE" -lt 1000 ]; then
  echo "Quality Gate Failed: PDF file size is anomalously small (${FILESIZE} bytes)." >&2
  exit 1
fi

echo "Quality Gate Passed: $OUTPUT_PDF compiled successfully (${FILESIZE} bytes)."