CLI reference

YMPrint installs a single command, ym, with two subcommands.

ym --help

Command

What it does

ym convert

Render a YAML file to a PDF once.

ym live

Render, open the PDF, and hot-reload on every save.

ym convert

Render a single YAML file to a PDF.

ym convert SRC [DEST] [--config-dir DIR]

Argument

Required

Meaning

SRC

✅

Path to the source YAML report.

DEST

Output PDF path. Defaults to the source path with a .pdf extension, written next to the source file.

--config-dir

Directory holding a project config file. If omitted, YMPrint searches parent directories for one.

Examples

# Write report.pdf next to report.yml
ym convert report.yml

# Choose an explicit output path
ym convert report.yml output/inspection.pdf

# Use a shared project config directory
ym convert report.yml --config-dir ../shared-config

On success it prints the resolved output path:

✍️ .... 📝 ... PDF created: /path/to/report.pdf

ym live

Render the PDF, open it in the Okular viewer, and rebuild automatically whenever the source (or a watched config file) changes. Ideal for drafting.

ym live SRC [DEST] [--config-dir DIR]

Argument

Required

Meaning

SRC

✅

YAML file to render and watch.

DEST

Output PDF path. Defaults to the source path with a .pdf extension.

--config-dir

Directory of config files to also watch for changes.

What it watches. Live mode watches the source file and, if a config directory is in play, the config files within it (doctemplate.yml, textstyles.yml, tablestyles.yml). When any of them changes, the PDF is re-rendered and Okular refreshes.

ym live report.yml

YMPrint live mode  watching report.yml — Ctrl+C to quit

Edit and save your report in another window; the preview updates. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Note

Live mode uses Okular as the viewer. Install it via your system package manager (for example sudo apt install okular on Debian/Ubuntu). See Installation → Live preview.

Config discovery

When you don’t pass --config-dir, YMPrint walks up from the current working directory looking for a config file (a *.ymprint.yml project config, or the individual doctemplate.yml / textstyles.yml / tablestyles.yml files). The nearest match is used. This lets a whole tree of documents share one project style. See Configuration.