quarto

Scientific and technical publishing system

TLDR

Render document to output format

$ quarto render [document.qmd]

Render entire project

$ quarto render

Preview document with live reload

$ quarto preview [document.qmd]

Create new project

$ quarto create project [website]

Publish to Quarto Pub

$ quarto publish quarto-pub

Convert Jupyter notebook to Quarto

$ quarto convert [notebook.ipynb]

Install extensions

$ quarto add [quarto-ext/fontawesome]

Check installation

$ quarto check

SYNOPSIS

quarto command [options] [arguments]

Quarto is an open-source publishing system for technical and scientific documents. It extends Pandoc with support for executable code cells in Python, R, Julia, and Observable JS.
Documents use .qmd (Quarto Markdown) format combining narrative text with code cells. Code executes during rendering, embedding outputs (plots, tables, results) in the final document.
Output formats include HTML, PDF, Word, presentations (RevealJS, Beamer), websites, and books. Projects organize multiple documents with shared configuration.
The preview command provides live development with automatic re-rendering on file changes. Hot module replacement updates the browser without full refresh.
Extensions add features: custom formats, shortcodes, filters, and themes. The extension ecosystem provides templates for journals, presentations, and specialized outputs.
Publishing integrates with Quarto Pub, GitHub Pages, Netlify, Posit Connect, and other platforms. Single command deployment updates hosted content.

PARAMETERS

render [input]

Render document or project.

preview [input]

Live preview with auto-reload.

create type [name]

Create project or extension.

publish provider

Publish to hosting service.

add extension

Install extension.

remove extension

Remove extension.

update extension

Update extension.

convert file

Convert between formats.

check [component]

Verify installation.

install tool

Install optional tools.

--to FORMAT

Output format (html, pdf, docx, etc.).

--output FILE

Output file name.

--execute

Execute code cells.

--no-execute

Skip code execution.

--cache

Cache code execution results.

--port NUM

Preview server port.

--browser

Open in browser.

CAVEATS

Requires Jupyter or knitr for code execution. Large documents with heavy computation slow rendering. PDF output requires LaTeX installation. Some extensions may break with Quarto updates. Preview server can be resource-intensive.

HISTORY

Quarto was released by Posit (formerly RStudio) in 2022 as a next-generation version of R Markdown. It was designed to be language-agnostic, supporting Python and Julia equally with R. The name "quarto" refers to a book format and continues the printing/publishing theme from R Markdown.