In custom typst format extension, relative or project relative font-paths not working

[cderv]

Discussed in https://github.com/orgs/quarto-dev/discussions/13742

^{Originally posted by the-solipsist December 1, 2025}

Description

I have an custom extension in which I use font-paths. If I use an absolute font-path, the fonts get picked up. If I use a relative font path, they don't.

title: lirneasia
author: Pranesh Prakash
version: 1.0.0
quarto-required: ">=1.8.0"
contributes:
  metadata:
    project:
      brand: brand.yml
  formats:
    typst:
      template-partials:
        - typst-template.typ
        - typst-show.typ
        - page.typ
      font-paths: 
        - assets/fonts # doesn't work
        - /_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts # doesn't work
        # - /home/sol/documents/tmp/_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts
        # the absolute path works.
      format-resources:
        - assets/logos

The CI fails in this repo. (If anyone has any other comments about how that repo is organized, or the Typst template I've written, or anything else, I'm very happy to receive feedback.)

I found this issue, but it doesn't seem to explain what's going on: #12695

The output of quarto render seems to be okay, but still the fonts don't get recognized.

...
metadata
  font-paths:
    - ../../_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts
    - /_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts
...

The error:

[typst]: Compiling d4dasia_country-report_sl.typ to d4dasia_country-report_sl.pdf...warning: unknown font family: montserrat
    ┌─ country/sl/d4dasia_country-report_sl.typ:612:30
    │
612 │ #show heading: set text(font: ("Montserrat",), weight: "bold", fill: rgb("#a51212"), )
    │                               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

warning: unknown font family: aptos
    ┌─ country/sl/d4dasia_country-report_sl.typ:283:10
    │
283 │     font: font,
    │           ^^^^

warning: unknown font family: montserrat
    ┌─ country/sl/d4dasia_country-report_sl.typ:428:23
    │
428 │         set text(font: heading-family, weight: heading-weight, style: heading-style, fill: heading-color)
    │                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If I uncomment the absolute path, the fonts get recognized when I do quarto render:

...
metadata
  font-paths:
    - ../../_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts
    - /_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts
    - /home/sol/documents/tmp/_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts
...
```</div>

[cderv]

It is possible the issue comes from the font-paths handling when at a command line flag to typst

quarto-cli/src/core/typst.ts

Lines 44 to 71 in 20d67b9

	export async function typstCompile(
	input: string,
	output: string,
	options: TypstCompileOptions = {},
	) {
	const quiet = options.quiet ?? false;
	const fontPaths = options.fontPaths;
	if (!quiet) {
	typstProgress(input, output);
	}
	const cmd = [
	typstBinaryPath(),
	"compile",
	];
	if (options.rootDir) {
	cmd.push("--root", options.rootDir);
	}
	cmd.push(
	input,
	...fontPathsArgs(fontPaths),
	output,
	);
	const result = await execProcess({ cmd: cmd[0], args: cmd.slice(1) });
	if (!quiet && result.success) {
	typstProgressDone();
	}
	return result;
	}

and quarto typst compile command is ran from the working directory where quarto is called. So project root when calling quarto render .\country\sl\d4dasia_country-report_sl.qmd

However, the font-paths are resolved by extensions mechanism as relative to the document

asArray(format.metadata?.[kFontPaths])
(2) ['../../_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts/montserrat', '../../_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts/aptos']

So the built flags to typst are

fontPathsArgs(fontPaths)
(6) ['--font-path', 'C:\\Users\\chris\\Documents\\DEV_R\\quarto-cli\\src\\resources\\formats\\typst\\fonts', '--font-path', '../../_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts/montserrat', '--font-path', '../../_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts/aptos']

And working dir is

Deno.cwd()
'C:\\Users\\chris\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\quarto\\lirneasia-d4dasia'

so indeed '../../_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts/montserrat' is not found.

• /_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts # doesn't work

Using the / for project root don't work either because it seems the paths are not resolved as project root path
as I see

fontPathsArgs(fontPaths)
(6) ['--font-path', 'C:\\Users\\chris\\Documents\\DEV_R\\quarto-cli\\src\\resources\\formats\\typst\\fonts', '--font-path', '/_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts/montserrat', '--font-path', '/_extensions/lirneasia/assets/fonts/aptos']

Which is surprising as it should have been solved

• font-path for typst format in _quarto.yml beginning with / is not resolved relative to project root #12695

But maybe it is not done when this is in extensions 🤔

[the-solipsist]

I think #13773 is the ultimate cause. If I set citeproc: false, and remove the bibliography, then relative font paths work again.

[the-solipsist]

I tested with pre-release 1.9.13, which included #13777, and everything works as expected. Thanks! I think this issue should be closed.

[cderv]

@the-solipsist I think this works for you now because you remove the fonts from your extension, right ?

If you put them back as you tried initially, I think you will still have some issues.

[cderv]

I have made a more minimal example that reproduces the issue: https://github.com/cderv/test-typst-font

Even with current pre release

❯ quarto render 
[1/2] subdir\nested.qmd
[typst]: Compiling nested.typ to nested.pdf...warning: unknown font family: montserrat
    ┌─ \\?\C:\Users\chris\AppData\Local\Temp\quarto\test-typst-font\subdir\nested.typ:284:30
    │
284 │ #show heading: set text(font: ("Montserrat",), weight: "bold", fill: red, )
    │                               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

warning: unknown font family: aptos
    ┌─ \\?\C:\Users\chris\AppData\Local\Temp\quarto\test-typst-font\subdir\nested.typ:205:17
    │
205 │            font: font,
    │                  ^^^^

warning: unknown font family: montserrat
    ┌─ \\?\C:\Users\chris\AppData\Local\Temp\quarto\test-typst-font\subdir\nested.typ:213:23
    │
213 │         set text(font: heading-family, weight: heading-weight, style: heading-style, fill: heading-color)
    │                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

DONE

[2/2] test.qmd
[typst]: Compiling test.typ to test.pdf...DONE


Output created: test.pdf

The problem is that font-paths: resources set in extension configuration for format are resolved based on input file, while typst compile will be called from where quarto render is called, with TYPST_ROOT set to project.

As explained above (#13745 (comment)), --font-paths flag will be relative to the document.

Doing rendering from inside the subdir works.

$ cd .\subdir\  
$ quarto render .\nested.qmd
pandoc 
  to: typst
  output-file: nested.typ
  standalone: true
  default-image-extension: svg
  wrap: none
  citeproc: false
  variables: {}

metadata
  font-paths:
    - ../_extensions/demo/assets/fonts/montserrat
    - ../_extensions/demo/assets/fonts/aptos
  engines:
    - path: C:\Users\chris\scoop\apps\quarto-prerelease\current\share\extension-subtrees\julia-engine\_extensions\julia-engine\julia-engine.js
  title: font working ?

[typst]: Compiling nested.typ to nested.pdf...DONE

Output created: nested.pdf

So I believe this is path resolution question:

• we typst compile --font-paths=<path>
• what exactly should be the <path>: absolute ? Relative to where typst is called ?

quarto-cli/src/core/typst.ts

Lines 22 to 36 in d96d9da

	function fontPathsArgs(fontPaths?: string[]) {
	// orders matter and fontPathsQuarto should be first for our template to work
	const fontPathsQuarto = ["--font-path", resourcePath("formats/typst/fonts")];
	const fontPathsEnv = Deno.env.get("TYPST_FONT_PATHS");
	let fontExtrasArgs: string[] = [];
	if (fontPaths && fontPaths.length > 0) {
	fontExtrasArgs = fontPaths.map((p) => ["--font-path", p]).flat();
	} else if (fontPathsEnv) {
	// Env var is used only if not specified in config by user
	// to respect Typst behavior where `--font-path` has precedence over env var
	return fontExtrasArgs = ["--font-path", fontPathsEnv];
	}
	return fontPathsQuarto.concat(fontExtrasArgs);
	}

quarto-cli/src/core/typst.ts

Lines 44 to 71 in d96d9da

	export async function typstCompile(
	input: string,
	output: string,
	options: TypstCompileOptions = {},
	) {
	const quiet = options.quiet ?? false;
	const fontPaths = options.fontPaths;
	if (!quiet) {
	typstProgress(input, output);
	}
	const cmd = [
	typstBinaryPath(),
	"compile",
	];
	if (options.rootDir) {
	cmd.push("--root", options.rootDir);
	}
	cmd.push(
	input,
	...fontPathsArgs(fontPaths),
	output,
	);
	const result = await execProcess({ cmd: cmd[0], args: cmd.slice(1) });
	if (!quiet && result.success) {
	typstProgressDone();
	}
	return result;
	}

[the-solipsist]

I actually tried using relative and project-absolute paths to fonts that had already been downloaded by Quarto. I tried both this:

typography:
  fonts:
    - family: "Montserrat"
      source: file
      files:
        - path: /.quarto/typst-font-cache/fonts.gstatic.com/s/montserrat/v31/JTUFjIg1_i6t8kCHKm459Wx7xQYXK0vOoz6jq6R9WXh0ow.ttf
          weight: bold

and relative path:

typography:
  fonts:
    - family: "Montserrat"
      source: file
      files:
        - path: ../../.quarto/typst-font-cache/fonts.gstatic.com/s/montserrat/v31/JTUFjIg1_i6t8kCHKm459Wx7xQYXK0vOoz6jq6R9WXh0ow.ttf
          weight: bold

Both worked for me.

[the-solipsist]

Ah, sorry, I didn't test correctly! When I checked (with 1.9.13), I checked with typography: in _brand.yml, (which in turn was set via brand: _brand.yml in _extension.yml), but the bug issue was raised wrt font-paths: in _extension.yml.