Backends — Typst vs LaTeX¶

snowcite supports two document backends. Pick one per project at init_project; switching mid-project requires set_backend(new_backend, confirm_wipe_sections=True) because expanded section content is not cross-compatible.

TL;DR¶

Use case	Recommendation
Cyrillic text	Typst
Strict ГОСТ 7.32-2017	LaTeX (`standard="gost"`)
University-provided `.tex` template	LaTeX
Quick iteration	Typst (fast incremental compiles)
Medicine / Vancouver citations	Either — both support CSL / biblatex-vancouver
IEEE / ACM conference	Either — templates exist for both

Typst¶

Recommended default.

Pros

Cyrillic just works. No \babelfont, no T2A, no font file hunting.
Single static binary, installable via brew install typst. No TeXLive.
Fast incremental compilation — seconds on a 200-page document.
Modern error messages — locate problems without reading .log files.
Native CSL support for bibliography styles via the bundled Hayagriva.

Cons

Younger ecosystem. Some niche templates (strict legal-style citations, exotic typography) don't exist yet.
ГОСТ 7.32-2017 support comes via modern-g7-32, which is maintained but evolving. For mission-critical ГОСТ compliance, consider LaTeX.

Bibliography

snowcite emits .yml in the Hayagriva format. Typst's #bibliography("references.yml", style: "<csl>") takes any CSL style name.

LaTeX¶

Use LaTeX when you have a university-provided .tex template, when strict ГОСТ compliance matters, or when you're already committed to a biblatex-heavy workflow.

Compiler — tectonic only. System TeXLive is not supported (different font paths, different packages bundled). Tectonic is self-contained and downloads packages on demand.

Cyrillic in tectonic

Our plain.tex.j2 and gost.tex.j2 templates use fontspec + \babelfont:

\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage[russian,english]{babel}
\babelfont{rm}[Ligatures=TeX]{CMU Serif}
\babelfont{sf}[Ligatures=TeX]{CMU Sans Serif}
\babelfont{tt}{CMU Typewriter Text}

CMU fonts ship inside tectonic's bundle. The old \usepackage[T2A]{fontenc} + 8-bit Computer Modern pattern doesn't work under tectonic's XeTeX.

Bibliography

Hardcoded to backend=bibtex — biber isn't bundled with tectonic.

Switching¶

If the user chose the wrong backend at onboarding, set_backend(new_backend, confirm_wipe_sections=True) wipes section_content (because the syntax of already-written sections is backend-specific) and keeps outline and skeleton. The user then re-expands sections under the new backend.

Standards available today¶

Both backends ship plain and gost. IEEE, ACM, APA, Vancouver, MLA and Chicago templates are planned and will land under snowcite/templates/. Contributions welcome.