docrev

A CLI for writing documents in Markdown while collaborating with Word users.

Write in .md files under version control; build Word or PDF when you need to share. When reviewers return their annotated copy, rev sync pulls the feedback into your markdown sections, where you reply to comments, accept or reject changes, and rebuild. Equations, figures, citations, and cross-references survive both directions.

The Problem

After a few rounds of feedback, the project directory looks like this:

manuscript_v1.docx
manuscript_v2_john_comments.docx
manuscript_v2_jane_comments.docx
manuscript_v3_merged_final.docx
manuscript_v3_merged_final_REAL.docx
manuscript_v3_merged_final_REAL_submitted.docx

By the third filename, the document has split. One file has Jane's comments, another has John's track changes, a third has your reconciliation, and which one is current depends on what you remember. Reconciliation takes an afternoon and goes wrong every time the Word formatting drifts.

docrev keeps the markdown as the canonical version, under git. The DOCX is rebuilt each time you share; reviewer comments and track changes come back into your section files when you sync, where you reply to or accept them in the terminal.

Highlights

• Markdown → Word/PDF with citations, figures, equations, cross-references
• Round-trip sync: import Word track changes and comments back to Markdown
• CLI review workflow: reply to comments, accept/reject changes from terminal
• DOI tools: validate, lookup, and auto-add references from DOIs
• 21 journal styles: Nature, Science, PNAS, and more
• Version control friendly: plain text source, full git history

Install

npm install -g docrev

Requires Node.js 18+. Building DOCX or PDF needs Pandoc. For complex PDFs (math, cross-references, journal styles), LaTeX is also needed; simpler documents can build through pandoc alone with a non-LaTeX engine (e.g. pdf.engine: typst in rev.yaml).

Quick Example

Write in Markdown with citations and cross-references:

Climate change poses significant challenges [@IPCC2021]. As shown in
@fig:temperature, global temperatures have risen steadily.

![Temperature anomalies](figures/temperature.png){#fig:temperature}

The relationship follows $\Delta T = \lambda \cdot \Delta F$ (@eq:forcing).

Build and share:

rev build docx    # → output/paper.docx
rev build pdf     # → output/paper.pdf

When collaborators return the Word doc with track changes:

rev sync reviewed.docx    # their comments → your markdown

How It Works

┌─────────────┐     rev build docx      ┌─────────────┐
│             │ ───────────────────────→│             │
│  Markdown   │                         │    Word     │  → collaborators
│   (you)     │     rev build pdf       │   / PDF     │  → journals
│             │ ───────────────────────→│             │
└─────────────┘                         └─────────────┘
       ↑                                       │
       │              rev sync                 │
       └───────────────────────────────────────┘
              their feedback → your files

What's in a Project

rev new my-paper creates the project. It prompts for the section names (default: introduction, methods, results, discussion) or accepts them up front via -s intro,methods,results,discussion. Each name becomes its own .md file. (rev import some.docx is the other entry point — it splits an existing Word document into one section per top-level heading.)

my-paper/
├── rev.yaml          ← config: title, authors, section order, journal profile
├── intro.md          ← section files; named at creation, one per section
├── methods.md
├── results.md
├── discussion.md
├── references.bib    ← BibTeX bibliography
├── figures/          ← images referenced from sections
├── paper.md          ← auto-combined source, regenerated each build
└── output/           ← built artefacts (docx, pdf, tex)
    ├── my-paper.docx
    └── my-paper.pdf

You edit the section files and the config; everything else is generated. paper.md is rebuilt from the section files in the order set by rev.yaml, and output/ holds whatever the last build produced. After rev sync, comments and track changes from the reviewer's Word file appear inline in the section files as CriticMarkup annotations. Set outputDir: null in rev.yaml if you'd rather have outputs land alongside paper.md.

To set your own per-user default sections so future rev new calls skip the prompt:

rev config sections "intro,methods,results,discussion"

The CLI Review Cycle

When reviewers send back a Word document with track changes and comments:

rev sync reviewed.docx            # import feedback into markdown

Track changes appear inline - accept or reject by editing:

The sample size was {--100--}{++150++} participants.

Handle comments without opening Word:

rev comments                      # list all comments
rev reply methods.md -n 1 -m "Added clarification"
rev resolve methods.md -n 1       # mark as resolved
rev build docx --dual             # clean + annotated versions

PDF annotations work the same way:

rev sync annotated.pdf
rev pdf-comments annotated.pdf --append methods.md

When several reviewers return separate files, rev merge reconciles them:

rev merge reviewer_A.docx reviewer_B.docx

Each reviewer's file is compared against .rev/base.docx (auto-saved on every build) to isolate that reviewer's changes; conflicts on the same passage are flagged for interactive resolution.

Getting Started

Starting a New Document

Create a new project:

rev new my-report
cd my-report

You'll be prompted to enter your section names, or press Enter to use the default structure. You can also specify sections directly:

rev new my-report -s intro,methods,results,discussion

Or set your preferred default sections once:

rev config sections "intro,methods,results,discussion"

This creates the project folder with your section files — edit them, then build:

rev build docx pdf

The output filename comes from title in rev.yaml. Citations are resolved, equations rendered, and cross-references numbered. The directory layout is described above in What's in a Project.

Starting from an Existing Word Document

If you have a Word document to convert:

rev import manuscript.docx

This creates a project folder and splits the document into section files. Images are extracted to figures/, equations are converted to LaTeX, and track changes/comments are preserved as markdown annotations.

Configuration

Layout is controlled in rev.yaml:

title: "My Document"
authors: []
sections:
  - intro.md
  - methods.md
  - results.md
  - discussion.md

# Where built artefacts land (default: output/). Set to null for the
# legacy "outputs alongside paper.md" layout.
outputDir: output

docx:
  reference: template.docx       # your Word template

pdf:
  documentclass: article
  fontsize: 12pt
  engine: pdflatex               # or xelatex/lualatex for Latin-Extended
  # Fonts apply only under xelatex/lualatex (fontspec):
  # mainfont: "TeX Gyre Termes"
  # sansfont: "TeX Gyre Heros"
  # monofont: "TeX Gyre Cursor"

Switch to engine: xelatex (or lualatex) when the manuscript has Czech/Polish/Croatian/Spanish names or species epithets that pdflatex mangles. Under those engines, mainfont/sansfont/monofont are forwarded to pandoc.

Configure your name for comment replies:

rev config user "Your Name"

Table Formatting

For PDF output, configure columns that should not wrap:

tables:
  nowrap:
    - Prior              # column headers to keep on one line
    - "$\\widehat{R}$"

Distribution notation in nowrap columns is auto-converted to LaTeX math: Normal(0, 0.5) → $\mathcal{N}(0, 0.5)$

Postprocess Scripts

Run custom scripts after output generation:

postprocess:
  pdf: ./scripts/fix-tables.py    # runs after PDF
  docx: ./scripts/add-meta.js     # runs after DOCX
  all: ./scripts/notify.sh        # runs after any format

Scripts receive environment variables: OUTPUT_FILE, OUTPUT_FORMAT, PROJECT_DIR, CONFIG_PATH.

Use --verbose to see script output:

rev build pdf --verbose

Journal Profiles

Journal profiles provide both validation rules and build formatting defaults. Set in rev.yaml:

journal: nature

Or pass on the command line:

rev build pdf -j nature     # applies Nature's CSL style + PDF settings

When a journal is set, its formatting defaults (CSL citation style, font size, margins, line spacing) are applied automatically. Your explicit rev.yaml settings always take priority.

Six profiles include formatting: nature, science, cell, pnas, plos-one, elife. All 21 profiles support validation. Custom profiles can include formatting too — see docs/configuration.md.

rev validate --list          # see all profiles ([formatting] tag = build support)
rev profiles --fetch-csl apa # download a CSL style to cache
rev profiles --list-csl      # list cached CSL styles

Annotation Syntax

Track changes from Word appear as CriticMarkup:

The sample size was {--100--}{++150++} participants.   # deletion + insertion
Data was collected {~~monthly~>weekly~~}.              # substitution
{>>Reviewer 2: Please clarify.<<}                      # comment

Writing Tips

Track word count changes between versions:

rev diff                    # compare against last commit
#  methods.md     +142 words  -38 words
#  results.md      +89 words  -12 words

Add references to references.bib (BibTeX format):

@article{Smith2020,
  author = {Smith, Jane},
  title = {Paper Title},
  journal = {Nature},
  year = {2020},
  doi = {10.1038/example}
}

Cite with [@Smith2020] or [@Smith2020; @Jones2021] for multiple sources.

Equations use LaTeX: inline $E = mc^2$ or display $$\sum_{i=1}^{n} x_i$$.

Cross-references: @fig:label, @tbl:label, @eq:label → "Figure 1", "Table 2", "Equation 3".

Command Reference

Run rev help to see all commands, or rev help <command> for details on a specific command.

Full command reference: docs/commands.md

Claude Code Skill

Install the docrev skill for Claude Code:

rev install-cli-skill      # install to ~/.claude/skills/docrev
rev uninstall-cli-skill    # remove

Once installed, Claude understands docrev commands and can help navigate comments, draft replies, and manage your revision cycle.

Installing Dependencies

Pandoc

Pandoc handles document conversion.

Other platforms: pandoc.org/installing

LaTeX (for complex PDF builds)

Alternatively, TinyTeX provides a minimal distribution that downloads packages on demand.

License

MIT