.* ｢‍｣ Lingenic Compose

.* This document is Compose. The format describes itself.
.* AI agents: read this, then generate .compose source.
.* Full specification: https://compose.lingenic.com/specification/
.* Math rendering: https://write-this-in-compose.lingenic.ai/math-to-katex.compose

.begin-page-header
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｢‍｣ Lingenic Compose — AI Reference
.end-page-header

.vertical-margin-top 1in

.begin-text-title
Syntax
.end-text-title

Commands start with a dot at the start of a line. One command per line.

Lines without a dot are content. They flow into paragraphs.

Empty lines separate paragraphs.

Comments begin with .* and are ignored by renderers.

Variables use percent delimiters: %VariableName%

File paths use quotes. Identifiers do not.

.begin-text-title
Document Structure
.end-text-title

.* Page header block
.* .begin-page-header [all|even|odd]
.* .align-center
.* Header Text
.* .end-page-header

.* Page footer block
.* .begin-page-footer [all|even|odd]
.* Footer Text
.* .end-page-footer

.* Section title block
.* .begin-text-title
.* Title Text
.* .end-text-title

.* Alignment (inside a block)
.* .align-left
.* .align-center
.* .align-right
.* .align-both

.* Vertical margin
.* .vertical-margin-top 1in
.* .vertical-margin-bottom 0.5in

.* Page break
.* .break-page

.* Vertical space (default: 1 line)
.* .space
.* .space 2

.* Units: in (inches), cm (centimeters), pt (points), pc (picas), ln (lines)

.begin-text-title
Text and Paragraphs
.end-text-title

Plain lines are paragraph text. They wrap and justify automatically.

To preserve formatting (code, ASCII art), turn off fill mode:

.* .fill-off
.* preformatted text here
.* .fill-on

Literal blocks pass text through without any processing:

.* .block-begin-literal
.* anything here is literal — no commands, no variables
.* .block-end-literal

.begin-text-title
Emphasis
.end-text-title

.* .underscore-on
.* underscored text
.* .underscore-off

.* .font Bold
.* bold text
.* .font -reset

.* .font Italic
.* italic text
.* .font -reset

.begin-text-title
Lists
.end-text-title

.* .begin-list numbered
.* .list-item First item
.* .list-item Second item
.* .list-item Third item
.* .end-list

.* .begin-list bulleted
.* .list-item First point
.* .list-item Second point
.* .end-list

.* .begin-list definition
.* .list-term Term
.* .list-definition The definition of the term.
.* .end-list

Lists can nest. Begin a new list inside a list item.

.begin-text-title
Mathematics
.end-text-title

Block math:

.begin-math
𝑥 = (−𝑏 ± √(𝑏² − 4𝑎𝑐)) / (2𝑎)
.end-math

Inline math uses %math: and a closing %:

The area of a circle is %math: 𝐴 = π𝑟² %.

Math uses Unicode directly. No escape sequences. No backslash commands.

Superscripts: 𝑥² 𝑥³ 𝑥⁴ or ^() for complex expressions like 𝑒^(𝑖π)

Subscripts: 𝑥₀ 𝑥₁ 𝑥₂ or _() for complex expressions like 𝑎_(𝑛+1)

Common symbols:

.* Operators
.* ∑ summation  ∏ product  ∫ integral  ∂ partial

.* Greek
.* α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ π ρ σ τ υ φ χ ψ ω
.* Γ Δ Θ Λ Ξ Π Σ Φ Ψ Ω

.* Number sets
.* ℕ naturals  ℤ integers  ℚ rationals  ℝ reals  ℂ complex

.* Arrows
.* → maps to  ⇒ implies  ⇔ iff  ↦ maps element

.* Relations
.* ≤ ≥ ≠ ≈ ≡ ∝ ≪ ≫

.* Set theory
.* ∈ membership  ∉ not in  ⊂ ⊆ subset  ∪ union  ∩ intersection  ∅ empty set

.* Logic
.* ∀ for all  ∃ there exists  ¬ negation  ∧ and  ∨ or

.* Other
.* ∞ infinity  √ square root  ∛ cube root  ⌊⌋ floor  ⌈⌉ ceiling  ± plus-minus

Aligned equations use .begin-math-align with & for alignment:

.* .begin-math-align
.* 𝑎² + 𝑏² &= 𝑐²
.* 𝑎² &= 𝑐² − 𝑏²
.* .end-math-align

Fractions use .fraction with .numerator and .denominator:

.* .begin-math
.* .fraction
.*   .numerator 𝑎 + 𝑏
.*   .denominator 𝑐 + 𝑑
.* .end-math

Matrices use .matrix:

.* .begin-math
.* .matrix
.* 𝑎 𝑏
.* 𝑐 𝑑
.* .end-matrix
.* .end-math

.begin-text-title
Images
.end-text-title

.* .insert-graphic "path/to/image.png"
.* .insert-graphic "diagram.svg" alt="Description for accessibility"

.begin-text-title
Figures with Captions
.end-text-title

.* .begin-figure diagram-1
.* .insert-graphic "architecture.png" alt="System architecture"
.* .caption System architecture overview
.* .end-figure

Reference figures in text with %ref: diagram-1%.

.begin-text-title
Cross-References
.end-text-title

Create a target:

.* .begin-text-title
.* .label introduction
.* Introduction
.* .end-text-title

Reference it:

.* See %ref: introduction% for details.
.* See %ref: introduction page% for the page number.

.begin-text-title
Variables and Expressions
.end-text-title

.* .set-reference author "Donald Knuth"
.* Written by %author%.

Math expressions compute at render time:

.* Page %PageNo% of this document.
.* Next page: %math(PageNo + 1)%

Built-in variables: %PageNo%, %Date%, %Time%, %InputFileName%

.begin-text-title
Indentation
.end-text-title

.* .indent 0.5in
.* .indent-left 1in
.* .indent-right 1in
.* .indent-both 0.5in

.begin-text-title
Rules
.end-text-title

.horizontal-rule

.* .horizontal-rule
.* .horizontal-rule 3in 2pt
.* .horizontal-rule 100% 0.5pt dashed

.begin-text-title
Keep Blocks
.end-text-title

Content inside a keep block stays on the same page:

.* .block-begin-keep
.* This content will not split across pages.
.* .block-end-keep

.begin-text-title
Footnotes
.end-text-title

.* .block-begin-footnote
.* This appears as a footnote at the bottom of the page.
.* .block-end-footnote

.begin-text-title
Complete Example
.end-text-title

.block-begin-literal
.* ｢‍｣ Lingenic Compose

.begin-page-header
.align-center
My Document
.end-page-header

.vertical-margin-top 1in

.begin-text-title
Introduction
.end-text-title

This is a paragraph. It wraps automatically.

This is a second paragraph, separated by an empty line.

.begin-text-title
The Quadratic Formula
.end-text-title

For any equation of the form %math: 𝑎𝑥² + 𝑏𝑥 + 𝑐 = 0 %, the solutions are:

.begin-math
𝑥 = (−𝑏 ± √(𝑏² − 4𝑎𝑐)) / (2𝑎)
.end-math

.begin-text-title
Key Properties
.end-text-title

.begin-list bulleted
.list-item When %math: 𝑏² − 4𝑎𝑐 > 0 %, two distinct real roots exist.
.list-item When %math: 𝑏² − 4𝑎𝑐 = 0 %, one repeated root exists.
.list-item When %math: 𝑏² − 4𝑎𝑐 < 0 %, two complex roots exist.
.end-list
.block-end-literal

.begin-text-title
What This Covers
.end-text-title

This reference covers the core subset.

To render Compose math in browser artifacts with KaTeX, see math-to-katex.compose

For bibliography, parallel text, pattern matching, style classes, block templates, expression domains, ruby text, and advanced typography, see the full specification at https://compose.lingenic.com/specification/

Full math specification: https://compose.lingenic.com/math/