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Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆ Beginner · Estimated time: ~1.5 hours
Imagine creating a polished, professional cover letter — perfectly formatted, ready to send — just by describing what you want. No Word templates, no fighting with margins, no design skills needed.
Tutorial led by Chan Meng — Senior AI/ML Engineer, open-source contributor, and former ByteDance developer. Chan has built 30+ live applications and specialises in AI-powered solutions. She is also a panel speaker at this event and the developer behind this website.

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What You Will Build

Describe

Tell AI what document you need in plain language

Build

Gemini CLI writes Typst code that defines your document

Export

Compile to a pixel-perfect PDF you can send or print

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How It Works

You start from a professionally designed template. Gemini CLI customises it based on your description. Typst compiles it into a beautiful PDF. Review, refine, and repeat until it’s perfect.

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Why Typst?

FeatureWordLaTeXMarkdownTypst
AI-friendlyPoor — binary formatOK — verbose syntaxGood — simpleExcellent — clean, concise
Typography qualityBasicExcellentBasicExcellent
Easy to learnYesNoYesYes
Fast compileN/ASlowFastInstant
Token-efficientN/APoorGoodExcellent
Typst is ideal for AI-generated documents because its syntax is clean and concise — AI models produce fewer errors and use fewer tokens compared to LaTeX. Compile times are instant, and error messages are clear and actionable. Unlike Word, Typst files are plain text — so AI can read, write, and modify them directly. Unlike LaTeX, Typst is easy to learn and compiles in milliseconds.

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What You Will Learn

This tutorial focuses on communication skills with AI, not coding knowledge. You will learn how to:
  • Describe a professional document clearly so AI can build it
  • Use Typst to compile documents into polished PDFs
  • Iterate on design — adjust fonts, colours, layout, and content through conversation
  • Adapt templates for different purposes (cover letters, invoices, reports)
  • Work with the describe → build → compile → review loop
No coding required. Gemini CLI writes the Typst code — your job is to describe what you want. If you can explain what a document should look like, you can create professional PDFs.

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Cost

ToolCost
Gemini CLIFree (1,000 requests/day)
Node.jsFree
Typst CLIFree and open source
Wispr Flow (optional)Free trial
Total$0

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Prerequisites

A laptop with internet

Windows or macOS. No special hardware needed.

About 1.5 hours

Take your time — there’s no rush. You can pause and come back anytime.
Ready to get started? Head to Set up your tools to install everything you need.