tldrpoints is a small LaTeX package for writing section-level and
paragraph-level takeaways beside the prose they summarize. It gathers those
annotations into a compact hierarchy with two-way PDF links.
\usepackage{tldrpoints}
\section{A result}
\sectiontldr{The high-level result in one sentence.}
The full explanation remains ordinary LaTeX prose.
\tldr{The paragraph's essential claim.}
\printtldr[Paper at a glance]No paragraph environment or wrapper is required. Point text appears only in the generated summary. Each source location receives a numbered marker in the left margin and a linked TL;DR marker in the right margin; the matching number on the summary's return button makes the destination easy to recognize.
Download tldrpoints.sty next to the document's main .tex file:
curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/EvoEvolver/tldrpoints/main/tldrpoints.styThen add \usepackage{tldrpoints} to the preamble.
git clone https://github.com/EvoEvolver/tldrpoints.git
cd tldrpoints
make installmake install uses the TEXMFHOME reported by kpsewhich. Override it when
needed with make install TEXMFHOME=/path/to/texmf.
The package requires LaTeX 2021-06-01 or newer plus xcolor, hyperref,
l3keys2e, and etoolbox, all included in normal TeX Live and MiKTeX
installations.
| Command | Effect |
|---|---|
\tldr{text} |
Adds a point for the current prose paragraph |
\sectiontldr{text} |
Adds a point for the current section heading |
\printtldr[title] |
Prints the collected hierarchy |
\tldrdisable |
Stops collecting and rendering annotations |
\tldrenable |
Re-enables the package |
Place \tldr after some paragraph text and before the terminating blank
line or explicit \par. Multiple points may describe the same paragraph and
share one source number. Place \sectiontldr immediately after a supported
heading.
The standard tracked heading hierarchy is \part, \chapter, \section,
\subsection, \subsubsection, \paragraph, and \subparagraph. Custom
sectioning commands implemented with LaTeX's \@startsection are tracked at
any non-negative level as well, so the hierarchy can be extended beyond
\subparagraph. Commands that do not exist in the active document class are
ignored.
Compile twice when \printtldr appears before the annotated body. The first
run writes a jobname.tldrpoints event log; the second run uses it to render
the summary before the source points have been encountered.
pdflatex example.tex
pdflatex example.texWhen the summary comes after all annotations, it can render current-run data, although a second compilation is still recommended for stable PDF links.
The repository includes skills/tldrpoints-paper/SKILL.md,
which teaches an AI agent how to identify grounded takeaways, introduce the
style file, annotate section and paragraph sources, place the overview, and
validate the resulting PDF navigation. Install that skill from this repository
or provide it directly to an agent working on a LaTeX paper.
Build the same source without markers or a summary:
\usepackage[disabled]{tldrpoints}The alias disable is also accepted as a package option. \tldrdisable and
\tldrenable are useful for preamble-level conditional builds.
The colors and three button labels are public customization points:
\colorlet{tldrAccent}{violet!70!black}
\colorlet{tldrMarkerBackground}{violet!5}
\renewcommand\tldrmarkertext{Summary}
\renewcommand\tldrsectionmarkertext{Section summary}
\renewcommand\tldrbacktext{$\leftarrow$}- One
\printtldrcall is supported per document. \tldrmust be used in horizontal mode inside its source paragraph.- Margin markers follow the normal
\marginparrestrictions and should not be placed in environments such asminipagethat prohibit margin notes. - Classes with nonstandard sectioning internals may require an adapter.
- Extremely deep hierarchies may become visually wide because indentation is proportional to the heading level.
make checkThe optional regression suite compiles article, book, disabled, and summary-first documents using your local TeX installation.