User Instructions

The following instructions are calling the various commands for creating a book using the Tanagra main script.

In general, the process to use Tanagra is as follows:

Setup Tanagra on your local computer. See Setup.
Build a book template. See Build a Book Template.
Populate the outline.md file
Convert the completed outline file into a directory and file structure. See Convert an Outline into a Directory and File Structure.
Write the content of your book in the generated files of the content/ directory and add any media files to each book part’s media Directory.
Compile markdown into a rendered book. See Compile Markdown into a Rendered Book.

Calling Tanagra

There are two ways to call Tanagra: interactive mode or command mode.

Interactive

In interactive mode, you just call Tanagra and it will prompt you for what you want to do:

$ tanagra
-------------------------------------
| Tanagra                           |
|   A markdown book pipeline tool   |
|   https://www.tanagra.dev/        |
-------------------------------------

Please enter a number to specify a command.
 [1] Build a new book template
 [2] Convert outline into file structure
 [3] Compile markdown files and media into a book
 [4] Exit Tanagra

In command mode, you provide the command and bypass Tanagra’s prompts:

Build

$ tanagra build
-------------------------------------
| Tanagra                           |
|   A markdown book pipeline tool   |
|   https://www.tanagra.dev/        |
-------------------------------------

Building book template.
Checking current working directory (/Users/user/Books) for project...
Tanagra project not found in current directory: /Users/user/Books
What is a short name for your book project? This is not your title. [new_book_20200113-201753]

Convert

$ tanagra convert
-------------------------------------
| Tanagra                           |
|   A markdown book pipeline tool   |
|   https://www.tanagra.dev/        |
-------------------------------------

Converting outline into file structure.
Checking current working directory (/Users/user/Books/magic_tricks_for_dogs) for project...
...

Compile

$ tanagra compile pdf
-------------------------------------
| Tanagra                           |
|   A markdown book pipeline tool   |
|   https://www.tanagra.dev/        |
-------------------------------------

Compiling markdown into book.
Checking current working directory (/Users/user/Books/magic_tricks_for_dogs) for project...
...

Alternately, you can call compile command in semi-interactive mode:

$ tanagra compile
-------------------------------------
| Tanagra                           |
|   A markdown book pipeline tool   |
|   https://www.tanagra.dev/        |
-------------------------------------

Compiling markdown into book.
Checking current working directory (/Users/user/Books/magic_tricks_for_dogs) for project...
Warning: Content directory is not empty.
Please select the output format for your rendered book.
 [1] PDF
 [2] EPUB
 [3] HTML
...

More Information

For more details on each step in the process of building a book with Tanagra, please view these sections: