Introduction
Papyrus is a Composer package and CLI for authors who write books in Markdown and need more than one delivery format from a single tree of chapters.
One project layout yields:
- PDF — print interiors and shareable digital books
- EPUB — stores, e-readers, and Kindle upload
- HTML — a single file with light / dark mode
- Site — a multi-page static website with popup search (this handbook)
- KDP helpers — Kindle EPUB, print PDF, covers, wrap estimates, metadata, package zip
This handbook is itself a Papyrus book. The Markdown source lives in
examples/the-papyrus-handbook/
on GitHub. Prebuilt PDF, HTML, and site outputs are published from that
example so you can read without installing anything.
Who it is for
- Authors shipping a technical or long-form book from Markdown
- Teams migrating off ibis-next
- Anyone who wants PDF and a hosted docs site from the same chapters
Project shape
Every book is a directory with:
| Path | Role |
|---|---|
papyrus.php |
Title, trim, themes, Mermaid, samples, KDP |
content/ |
Markdown chapters (natural filename order) |
assets/ |
Your overrides (covers, banner, custom themes/fonts); bundled defaults used when absent |
export/ |
Build outputs (usually gitignored) |
Next steps
Install Papyrus (next chapter), run papyrus doctor, then papyrus build or
papyrus build:site. Later chapters document every build and KDP command and
the full papyrus.php option set.
Source and releases: github.com/milon/papyrus.