← Overview

Every manuscript starts with a small setup file — typically named 00 Document Setup.md and placed first. It initializes your document: it produces no visible text of its own; instead it holds the blocks that configure how the whole document looks.

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You usually don't write this file by hand. The obsitex-init skill generates it for you, tailored to your document type — see Starter structures. This page explains what's inside, for when you want to adjust it.

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The dds block — document design

A dds block is a small block of Document Design Settings: the document class, how tables and figures are wrapped, the quotation marks, how # levels map to LaTeX commands, the cross-reference command, and so on. It defines how the whole document looks.

{"documentClass":"\\documentclass[10pt]{article}", "tableGridHorizontal":true, "tableAlignment":"l", "documentLevelIndex":1, "createCrossReferenceCmd":true, "crossReferenceCmdText":"\\vref{%labelname%}"}

(abbreviated — the real block has more fields.) In the app, the same settings are also reachable via Tools → Dynamic Document Settings, but this file is where they live for a given document.

The latex-preamble block — packages

A latex-preamble block holds the LaTeX packages and commands that go into the document's preamble:

\usepackage[a4paper,hmargin=3cm,vmargin=3cm]{geometry}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage[backend=biber, style=numeric-comp]{biblatex}

If an element you use needs a package — a callout needs framed, a highlight needs soul — that package belongs here. Obsitex never injects packages on its own; the preamble is entirely yours.

An optional remark block

You can add a remark block for notes to yourself; it is ignored during conversion.

Adjusting it

• Change the look → edit the dds block.
• Add a package → add a line to the latex-preamble block.
• Not sure where to start? Generate a scaffold with obsitex-init and tweak from there.

How the special blocks relate

The dds and latex-preamble blocks are two of Obsitex's special fenced blocks; the others (latex, remark) are covered on Text formatting and Comments & excluding content.