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Quick start

This guide assumes you have a Peanutbook project (Markdown chapters + peanut.config), or you ran bubble-scaffold to create one. See Project layout.

1. Configure the project

Create or edit peanut.config in the book repo root:

{
  "lang": "en",
  "chapter_style": "circle",
  "template": "amazon_7x10.tpl",
  "book_title": "Your Book Title"
}

2. Build one chapter

From the book repo root:

bubble-convert 1

Output PDF appears next to the chapter (e.g. chapter1-vector-space/chapter1.pdf).

Options:

bubble-convert 1 --style square --template lulu_7x10
bubble-convert 1 --chapter-opener-size 5
bubble-convert 3 --lang cn
bubble-convert margins/poem.md --format docx

3. Build the full book

bubble-build

Produces book_circle.pdf (or book_square.pdf / book_none.pdf depending on --style).

Common flags:

bubble-build --style square
bubble-build --chapter-opener-size 5
bubble-build --max-chapters 21
bubble-build --no-cover --style none          # KDP interior-only
bubble-build --lang cn --optimize-pdf
bubble-build --format epub                    # book.epub
bubble-build --format html                    # book_html/

4. HTML book site (optional)

For an online-readable edition alongside print:

bubble-render-html
# or
bubble-build --format html

See HTML generation for peanut.config keys (html_site_logo, html_purchase_url, themes, etc.).

5. Merge chapters for editing

bubble-merge concatenates chapter Markdown into a single file for review:

bubble-merge              # all detected languages
bubble-merge --en-only
bubble-merge --zh-only    # book_zh.md (Simplified Chinese)

6. Batch release build

For publishing multiple language/style variants into books/:

bubble-batch
bubble-batch --chapters
bubble-batch all --cover 7x10 --cover-provider kdp/paperback

Many projects wrap this as ./run.sh → bubble-batch "$@".

7. Watch mode (development)

Auto-rebuild when Markdown changes:

bubble-monitor 1 2 3
bubble-monitor --lang cn 1

8. Business plan (optional)

For a single-file business plan (not a multi-chapter book):

bubble-bizplan --init bizplan.md
bubble-bizplan bizplan.md --cover-name tech-white

See Business plans for required sections, peanut-biz.config, and cover styles.

9. Academic paper (optional)

For a single-file research paper (not a multi-chapter book):

bubble-paper --init
bubble-paper paper.md --papersize a4

See Academic papers (bubble-paper) for YAML front matter, bibliography, two-column layout, and PDF previews.

Next steps