moda-document

moda-core

moda doctor --json

moda brand list

stale_revision

moda ask "<question>"

Settle the scope before you build it

• One page (one-pager, brief, handout, fact sheet, infographic) → one committed concept. Pick the strongest direction, plan it in a paragraph, build it end to end. Alternates only when the user asks for options.
• Multi-page (report, guide, whitepaper, proposal — any named count) → one cohesive document, not alternates: settle the grid, margins, type ladder, palette, and headers/footers once, then outline page by page.
• Email/newsletter-shaped → a custom tall page (

  --size 600x2000

  -ish), delivered as PDF or png. Moda designs the page; it does not send mail or emit sendable HTML — say that boundary up front (moda-core's capability map has the list).
• Print pieces (poster, flyer, menu, resume, certificate, invitation, card) → load moda-document-print. Slides → moda-deck. Animated → moda-video.
• Charts, diagrams, and tables that belong INSIDE this document stay here — build them in place, never hand the document off mid-build.

Workflow

1. Create + link:

   moda canvas create --name "…" --intent "a launch one-pager" --size 816x1056 --pages N

   (A4: 794x1123) —

   --intent

   explains the blank page to whoever opens the link before you have filled it. Send the link right away: "follow along live here." A recurring document type may already be a team template — load moda-templates first.
2. Read the source with your harness's file-reading/search tools, your own research, and

   moda web search

   /

   moda web read

   (references/web.md). Uploaded PDF/DOCX/XLSX? Moda designs NEW pages grounded in that content — it never edits inside the uploaded file. Every source number survives.
3. Plan the layout per references/document-design.md, then compute the type ladder (references/design-quality.md; 816×1056 → body ≈ 11px, floor 11px). Brand kit in play → LOOK at its assets before settling the concept (references/brand.md).
4. Imagery by document type: report covers and section breaks earn generated art (

   moda media generate-image

   , styled to the brand); a dense text-only document is a legitimate vector-only choice. State which.
5. Author with

   moda canvas markup CANVAS_REF --file -

   — one page or one section per apply, using the kit's tokens. Read every result; repair

   requires_repair

   or skipped ops before building more.
6. Verify:

   moda canvas screenshot

   and LOOK — vertical balance, dead zones, clipped text, consistent margins across pages.
7. Deliver: the live link IS the handoff. This lane's asks usually name a PDF, and format words win:

   moda export CANVAS_REF --format pdf -o …

   . Otherwise offer once. Hyperlinks flatten to plain text in the PDF — never promise clickable links.

The bar

• Pack the page. A PDF is read up close, not across a room: icons, dividers, stat rows, and cards carry structure that prose cannot.
• Balance the vertical composition. Content top-packed above a dead band reads unfinished; distribute the slack as deliberate spacing, or anchor a closing block near the bottom margin.
• Print-friendly backgrounds (simple fills and rules, no generated art behind body text), and never encode a comparison in semantic red/green — differentiate with layout, weight, or tonal variations of the palette.
• A chart inside a document needs its type set:

  <chart>

  typography defaults to 12px at any canvas size — set

  font-size

  explicitly and check the screenshot.

Recipes

moda-document-print

Errors

invalid_markup

stale_revision

moda ask "<what failed>" --context "<the error>"

References