Formatting Backend Strategy

Status

• Type: Normative
• Stability: Draft

Goal

Provide safe formatting while acknowledging LaTeX’s complexity.

Backend Options

Option A: Built-in Structural Formatter (Required)

FerroTeX MUST provide a built-in formatter that:

• indents environments and groups
• preserves comments
• preserves math and verbatim-like regions by default

This formatter targets safety and idempotence.

Option B: External Formatter Integration (Optional, but supported by v1.0.0)

FerroTeX MAY integrate with latexindent as an external tool.

Constraints:

• opt-in via configuration
• deterministic invocation
• sandboxed argument passing (no shell interpolation)

Safety Rules

• Do not rewrite verbatim/minted/listings bodies unless explicitly enabled.
• Maintain idempotence.

Diagnostics

If external formatting fails:

• surface a diagnostic or user-facing error
• fall back to built-in formatting if configured