rendercv-to-docx

Convert RenderCV-generated Typst (.typ) files to Microsoft Word DOCX format.

What is this?

RenderCV is a LaTeX/Typst CV generator that takes a YAML file and produces beautifully typeset PDFs. This tool takes the Typst output from RenderCV and converts it to DOCX format for situations where you need an editable Word document.

⚠️ Important: This is NOT a generic Typst converter. It only works with RenderCV-generated Typst files and their specific template syntax.

Why would I need this?

• Some job application systems only accept DOCX files
• You need to make quick edits without regenerating the PDF
• Your recruiter or HR department needs an editable version
• ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) sometimes prefer DOCX over PDF

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/anefzaoui/rendercv-to-docx.git
cd rendercv-to-docx

# Install dependencies
npm install

Usage

Command Line

# Basic conversion
node src/cli.js John_Doe_CV.typ

# Specify output file
node src/cli.js John_Doe_CV.typ resume.docx

# Verbose output
node src/cli.js John_Doe_CV.typ --verbose

# Parse only (output AST as JSON)
node src/cli.js John_Doe_CV.typ --parse > ast.json

# Show help
node src/cli.js --help

Programmatic API

import { convertToDocx, convertFile, parse } from 'rendercv-to-docx';
import fs from 'fs';

// Convert file directly
await convertFile('John_Doe_CV.typ', 'John_Doe_CV.docx');

// Convert content string to DOCX buffer
const content = fs.readFileSync('John_Doe_CV.typ', 'utf-8');
const buffer = await convertToDocx(content);
fs.writeFileSync('resume.docx', buffer);

// Parse Typst to AST (for debugging/inspection)
const ast = parse(content);
console.log(JSON.stringify(ast, null, 2));

Supported RenderCV Features

Header Information

| Feature | Supported | |---------|-----------| | name | ✅ | | headline | ✅ | | connections (email, phone, LinkedIn, GitHub, etc.) | ✅ | | photo | ❌ (photos not supported in DOCX output) |

Entry Types

| Entry Type | Supported | Notes | |------------|-----------|-------| | ExperienceEntry | ✅ | company, position, dates, location, highlights | | EducationEntry | ✅ | institution, degree, area, dates | | NormalEntry | ✅ | name, dates, location, highlights | | PublicationEntry | ✅ | title, authors, DOI, journal | | OneLineEntry | ✅ | label: details format | | BulletEntry | ✅ | Simple bullet points | | TextEntry | ✅ | Plain text paragraphs |

Formatting

| Feature | Supported | |---------|-----------| | #strong[text] | ✅ Bold | | #emph[text] | ✅ Italic | | #link("url")[text] | ✅ Hyperlinks | | Bullet lists (-) | ✅ | | Headings (=, ==) | ✅ | | Escaped characters (\/, \@, \%) | ✅ |

Design/Metadata

| Feature | Supported | |---------|-----------| | Colors (name, sections, links, body) | ✅ | | Font families | ✅ | | Font sizes | Partial (uses sensible defaults) | | Page margins | ❌ (uses Word defaults) | | Section title styles | ✅ (underlined headings) |

Example

Input (RenderCV Typst file):

#import "@preview/rendercv:0.1.0": *

#show: rendercv.with(
  name: "Jane Doe",
  colors-name: rgb(0, 79, 144),
  colors-section-titles: rgb(0, 79, 144),
)

= Jane Doe

#headline([Senior Software Engineer | Full-Stack Developer])

#connections(
  [#connection-with-icon("location-dot")[San Francisco, CA]],
  [#link("mailto:[email protected]")[jane\@example.com]],
)

== Experience

#regular-entry(
  [
    #strong[Acme Corp], Senior Engineer
    - Led migration to microservices architecture
    - Reduced deployment time by 80%
  ],
  [
    San Francisco, CA
    Jan 2020 – present
  ],
)

Output: A properly formatted DOCX file with:

• Colored name and section headers
• Clickable email/phone links
• Properly structured experience entries with bullet points
• Professional typography

API Reference

convertToDocx(content, options)

Convert Typst content string to DOCX buffer.

• content string - Typst file content
• options object - Optional conversion settings
• Returns: Promise<Buffer> - DOCX file buffer

convertFile(inputPath, outputPath, options)

Convert Typst file to DOCX file.

• inputPath string - Path to input .typ file
• outputPath string - Path to output .docx file
• options object - Optional conversion settings
• Returns: Promise<{inputPath, outputPath, success}>

parse(content)

Parse Typst content and return AST.

• content string - Typst file content
• Returns: object - Parsed AST

generateDocx(ast, options)

Generate DOCX from parsed AST.

• ast object - Parsed Typst AST
• options object - Generation options
• Returns: Promise<Buffer> - DOCX file buffer

Limitations

This tool is specifically designed for RenderCV output. It does NOT support:

• ❌ Generic Typst documents
• ❌ Custom Typst functions/macros
• ❌ Typst scripting (loops, conditionals, variables)
• ❌ Math equations
• ❌ Tables
• ❌ Images/photos
• ❌ Multi-column layouts
• ❌ Custom fonts (uses system fonts)

If you need a generic Typst → DOCX converter, you would need to essentially reimplement the Typst compiler, which is a massive undertaking.

How It Works

1. Parse - Reads the Typst file and extracts:

   • Metadata from rendercv.with() configuration
   • Header info (name, headline, connections)
   • Sections and their entries
   • Inline formatting

2. Transform - Converts the parsed AST to docx library structures:

   • Maps RenderCV entry types to Word paragraphs
   • Applies colors from metadata
   • Creates hyperlinks for connections
   • Formats bullet points and highlights

3. Generate - Uses the docx library to produce the final DOCX file

Development

# Run tests
npm test

# Convert sample file
npm run convert

# Debug parsing
node src/cli.js sample.typ --parse | jq .

Related Projects

• RenderCV - The CV generator that produces the Typst files this tool converts
• Typst - The modern typesetting system
• docx - The library used for DOCX generation

License

MIT