Reference Manual
CLI Reference

CLI Reference

Complete specification of the xts command-line interface.

Synopsis 

xts [command] [flags]

If no command is given, run is assumed.

Commands

Command Description
run Read layout and data files, produce PDF. This is the default.
clean Remove auxiliary files (xts-protocol.xml, xts-aux.xml, etc.)
compare <dir> Recursively compare generated PDFs against reference.pdf files
doc Open the documentation website in the default browser
list-fonts Print @font-face CSS rules for all fonts found in the search path
new [dir] Create a starter project with data.xml and layout.xml
version Print the version number and exit

Flags

Flag Type Default Description
-c, --config string xts.cfg Configuration file to read
--data string data.xml Data file name
--dummy boolean false Ignore data file, use <data/>
--dumpoutput string Write XML dump of PDF structure to this file
--extradir string Additional directory for file lookups (recursive)
--filter string Lua script to run before publishing
--jobname string xts Output file name (without .pdf)
--layout string layout.xml Layout file name
--loglevel string info Log level: debug, info, warn, error
--runs integer 1 Number of publishing runs
--quiet boolean false Suppress all console output
--suppressinfo boolean false Produce reproducible PDF (no timestamps)
--systemfonts boolean false Include system-installed fonts in search
--trace string Comma-separated traces: grid, gridallocation
--verbose boolean false Extra debug output

Examples 

# Default: read data.xml + layout.xml, produce xts.pdf
xts

# Custom files and output name
xts --data products.xml --layout catalog.xml --jobname catalog

# Multiple runs (for cross-references, page counts)
xts --runs 2

# Quick test without data file
xts --dummy

# Debug grid placement
xts --trace grid,gridallocation

# Create reference PDF for QA
xts --suppressinfo --jobname reference

# Run QA suite
xts compare qa/

# Generate font CSS
xts list-fonts

# Scaffold a new project
xts new myproject

Exit codes

Code Meaning
0 Success
Non-zero Error (check console output or protocol file)

Output files

File Description
<jobname>.pdf The generated PDF
xts-protocol.xml Processing protocol with messages, warnings, errors
xts-aux.xml Auxiliary data (marks, page numbers) for subsequent runs
CSS Properties