thesis-template-typst

This repository provides a comprehensive Typst template for writing your Bachelor's or Master's thesis at the CIT School of TUM (Technical University of Munich). It includes two types of documents: a proposal template and a thesis template, both specifically designed for students in the field of Informatics. For more information about writing a thesis at the CIT School, please visit the official CIT website.

Important

This is only a template. You have to adapt the template to your thesis and discuss the structure of your thesis with your supervisor!

Guidelines

Tip

Please thorougly read our guidelines and hints on confluence! (TUM Login Required)

Installation

For detailed installation instructions, please refer to the official installation guide. Here, we provide basic steps for installing Typst's CLI:

• You can get sources and pre-built binaries from the releases page.
• Use package managers like brew or pacman to install Typst. Be aware that the versions in the package managers might lag behind the latest release.
• If you have a Rust toolchain installed, you can also install the latest development version.

Nix and Docker users, please refer to the official installation guide for detailed instructions.

Note

Git LFS is required in this repository to handle large files, such as figures. Make sure to install it before cloning the repository.

Usage

Use this repository as a template

You can use this repository as a template for your thesis. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click on the green "Use this template" button at the top right of this page.
2. Select "Create a new repository" and fill in the required information.
3. Clone the new repository to your local machine using git clone <repository-url>.

Set thesis metadata

Fill in your thesis details in the metadata.typ file:

• Degree (Bachelor or Master)
• Your study program
• English and German title
• Advisor and supervisor
• Your name (without e-mail address or matriculation number)
• The start and submission date

Write your thesis

For the actual content of your thesis, there is a dedicated folder named /content which includes all the chapters and sections of your thesis. This applies for the proposal as well as the thesis (see /content/proposal for proposal content). You can add or remove chapters as needed (adapt the thesis.typ with the #include(...) accordingly). If you need to customize the layout of the template, you can do so by modifying the corresponding file in the layout directory.

Build PDFs locally

Once you have installed Typst, you can use it like this:

# Creates `thesis.pdf` in working directory.
typst compile thesis.typ

# Creates `proposal.pdf` in working directory.
typst compile proposal.typ

# Creates PDF file at the desired path.
typst compile thesis.typ path/to/output.pdf

You can also watch source files and automatically recompile on changes. This is faster than compiling from scratch each time because Typst has incremental compilation.

# Watches source files and recompiles on changes.
typst watch thesis.typ

Updating Your Repository to the Latest Template Version

If you have created your thesis repository using the Typst Thesis Template, you might want to update your repository to incorporate the latest changes from the template. Follow these steps to sync your repository with the latest version of the template.

Steps to Update:

1. Add the Template Repository as a Remote First, navigate to your repository in the terminal and add the original template repository as a new remote:

git remote add template https://github.com/ls1intum/thesis-template-typst.git

2. Fetch the latest updates from the template repository:

git fetch template

3. Merge the Changes into Your Repository Merge the changes from the template's main branch into your current branch. This might require resolving merge conflicts if there are any differences between your customizations and the template's updates:

git merge template/main --allow-unrelated-histories

4. Resolve Merge Conflicts If there are any merge conflicts, git will notify you. Open the conflicting files, resolve the conflicts, and then add the resolved files:

git add <resolved-file>

5. Commit the Merge After resolving conflicts and adding the resolved files, commit the merge:

git commit -m "Merge updates from Typst Thesis Template"

6. Push the Changes to Your Repository Finally, push the merged changes to your repository:

git push origin <branch-name>

Working with the Typst Web Editor

If you prefer an integrated IDE-like experience with autocompletion and instant preview, the Typst web editor allows you to import files directly into a new or existing document. Here's how you can do this:

1. Navigate to the Typst Web Editor.
2. Create a new blank document.
3. Click on "File" on the top left menu, then "Upload File".
4. Select all .typ and .bib files along with the figures provided in this template repository.

Note

You can select multiple files to import. The editor will import and arrange all the files accordingly. Always ensure you have all the necessary .typ, .bib, and figures files you need for your document.

Working with VS Code

If you prefer to have a more integrated experience with your favorite code editor, you can use the Typst VS Code extension. The extension provides syntax highlighting, autocompletion, and error checking for Typst files. You can install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace.

1. Open your project in VS Code
2. Set the correct file (thesis.typ or proposal.typ) as the main file. This can be done by opening the respective file and running the command Typst: Pin the main file to the currently opened document. Just hit CMD + Shift + P and search for the command.

Working with GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot can significantly enhance your thesis workflow, especially for proposal review and development. As a student, you can access GitHub Copilot for free through GitHub Education.

Getting GitHub Copilot (Free for Students)

1. Visit GitHub Education and sign up for the GitHub Student Developer Pack using your university email
2. After verification, you'll get free access to GitHub Copilot
3. Install the GitHub Copilot extension:
   • Open VS Code
   • Go to Extensions (or press Cmd+Shift+X on Mac)
   • Search for "GitHub Copilot"
   • Click "Install"
4. After installation, you'll need to sign in to your GitHub account in VS Code

Thesis Proposal Review Assistant

This template includes custom Copilot instructions specifically designed to help evaluate thesis proposals against academic standards. The instructions help Copilot provide detailed feedback on:

• Structure and completeness of all required sections
• Scientific rigor and citation quality
• Diagram and figure requirements
• Writing quality and style issues

These custom instructions are located in .github/copilot-instructions.md. You can modify or remove this file if you prefer different Copilot behavior.

Using Copilot for Proposal Review

For the best thesis proposal feedback experience:

1. Open Copilot Chat by clicking the Copilot icon or use Ctrl+Cmd+I on Mac
2. In the chat use the "Ask" mode (default) and select "Claude 3.7 Sonnet Thinking" as your model for comprehensive academic feedback (you might need to enable this in your GitHub settings)
3. Ask questions such as:
   • "Do you have any feedback for my proposal?"
   • "Review my problem description section for academic rigor"
   • "Check if my citations follow proper academic standards"
4. Also try out the "Agent" mode for applying the feedback directly to your document. This mode can help you make changes based on Copilot's suggestions.

Note

Remember to acknowledge AI assistance in your transparency statement if you used GitHub Copilot extensively for your thesis work.

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Further Resources

• Typst Documentation
• Typst Guide for LaTeX Users
• Typst VS Code Extension (inofficial)