RepDown

A collaborative Markdown → PDF report editor built for security professionals

Write your pentest reports in Markdown. Compile to professional PDF with XeLaTeX, pdfLaTeX or wkhtmltopdf. Collaborate in real-time.

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✨ Features

• Markdown-first editor — write in clean Markdown with live syntax highlighting
• Multi-engine PDF compilation — XeLaTeX · pdfLaTeX · LuaLaTeX · wkhtmltopdf
• Real-time collaboration — multiple operators edit the same report simultaneously via WebSocket
• Project management — dashboard with search, tags, templates and stats
• ZIP import/export — portable project archives, bulk backup of all projects
• Smart error reporting — YAML frontmatter validation, LaTeX error parsing with actionable hints
• 6 built-in templates — OSCP, Red Team, Corporate Blue, Minimalist, Thesis, OSINT
• No cloud, no account — runs entirely on your local machine

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📸 Screenshots

Project Dashboard	Markdown Editor
Live PDF Preview	Template Gallery

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🗂 Project Structure

repdown/
├── server/
│   ├── index.js              # Express + Socket.io entry point
│   ├── database.js           # SQLite via better-sqlite3
│   └── routes/
│       ├── projects.js       # CRUD + ZIP import
│       ├── files.js          # File read/write per project
│       ├── compile.js        # pandoc + LaTeX pipeline
│       ├── templates.js      # Template discovery
│       └── backup.js         # Bulk ZIP backup
├── public/
│   ├── index.html            # Dashboard SPA
│   ├── editor.html           # Editor SPA
│   ├── styles.css            # Shared dark theme
│   └── image.png             # App logo
├── templates/                # Built-in report templates
│   ├── oscp-purple/
│   ├── redteam-dark/
│   ├── corporate-blue/
│   ├── minimalist/
│   ├── thesis-style/
│   └── osint-report/
├── projects/                 # Created at runtime (gitignored)
├── data/                     # SQLite DB (gitignored)
├── build.sh                  # Install + launch script
├── run.sh                    # CLI compile runner
└── deps.sh                   # System dependency installer

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⚡ Quick Start

1 — Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/zurefx/repdown.git
cd repdown

2 — Install system dependencies

Run the auto-detect installer — it detects your distro and installs everything needed:

chmod +x deps.sh
./deps.sh

Manual install by distro

Debian / Ubuntu / Kali / Parrot

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y curl unzip git pandoc \
  texlive-xetex texlive-latex-extra \
  texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-fonts-extra \
  wkhtmltopdf
# Node.js 20
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

Arch / Manjaro / EndeavourOS

sudo pacman -S --noconfirm curl unzip git pandoc \
  texlive-xetex texlive-latexextra \
  texlive-fontsrecommended nodejs npm
# wkhtmltopdf via AUR
yay -S wkhtmltopdf-static

Fedora / RHEL / Rocky / Alma

sudo dnf install -y curl unzip git pandoc \
  texlive-xetex texlive-collection-latexextra \
  texlive-collection-fontsrecommended
# Node.js 20
curl -fsSL https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo bash -
sudo dnf install -y nodejs

3 — Build and launch

chmod +x build.sh
./build.sh

This single command:

• Verifies all dependencies
• Runs npm install (only if node_modules is missing)
• Creates required directories
• Starts the RepDown server

4 — Open in browser

http://localhost:3000

Port can be overridden: REPDOWN_PORT=8080 ./build.sh

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🖊 Editor Keybindings

Text Formatting

Action	Shortcut
Bold	Ctrl+B
Italic	Ctrl+I
Strikethrough	Ctrl+D
Inline Code	`Ctrl+``
Code Block	`Ctrl+Shift+``
Link	Ctrl+K

Structure

Action	Shortcut
Heading 1	Ctrl+1
Heading 2	Ctrl+2
Heading 3	Ctrl+3
Bullet List	Ctrl+U
Numbered List	Ctrl+O
Blockquote	Ctrl+Q
Horizontal Rule	Ctrl+R
Insert Table	Ctrl+T

File & Compile

Action	Shortcut
Save	Ctrl+S
Compile PDF	Ctrl+Enter
Export ZIP	Ctrl+Shift+E

Search & Replace

Action	Shortcut
Find (live)	Ctrl+F
Find & Replace	Ctrl+H
Next match	Enter
Previous match	Shift+Enter
Close search	Esc

Editor

Action	Shortcut
Undo	Ctrl+Z
Redo	Ctrl+Y
Select All	Ctrl+A
Indent	Tab
Outdent	Shift+Tab
Toggle Comment	Ctrl+/

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📄 Report Format

Reports are written in Markdown with a YAML frontmatter block:

---
title: "OSCP Penetration Test Report"
author: "Operator"
date: "2025-01-01"
target: "10.10.10.X"
---

# Executive Summary

This document presents the results of a penetration test...

## Scope

| Item | Value |
|------|-------|
| Target IP | 10.10.10.X |
| Engagement | Internal Pentest |
| Duration | 1 day |

## Findings

### Critical — Remote Code Execution

**CVSS Score:** 9.8  
**Affected Host:** 10.10.10.5

![Proof of Concept](img/poc.png)

Tip: All images must be placed in the img/ folder inside your project and referenced as img/filename.png

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🗜 Import & Export

Export a project as ZIP

Click ZIP in the editor topbar — downloads the entire project as a portable archive.

Import a ZIP

From the dashboard, click Import .zip and upload any RepDown project archive.

Backup all projects

Click Backup All in the dashboard topbar — downloads a master ZIP containing one ZIP per project:

repdown-backup-20250303.zip
  ├── OSCP Report (abc12345).zip
  ├── Red Team Engagement (def67890).zip
  └── ...

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🖥 CLI Usage

Compile a project directly from the terminal:

# Basic usage (XeLaTeX by default)
./run.sh <project-id>

# Specify engine
./run.sh <project-id> pdflatex
./run.sh <project-id> lualatex
./run.sh <project-id> wkhtmltopdf

# List all projects
curl http://localhost:3000/api/projects | python3 -m json.tool

The CLI runner automatically:

• Starts the server if it's not already running
• Validates YAML frontmatter before compiling
• Parses LaTeX/pandoc errors and shows actionable hints

Example error output:

  RepDown — Compile Runner
  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  ✓ Server already running on port 3000

  Project : d8d3297b-19c7-4ceb-9f5b-607d62d9f8bf
  Engine  : xelatex

  ✗ Compilation failed

  ▸ Missing LaTeX Package
    File 'somepackage.sty' not found
    → Install: sudo tlmgr install somepackage

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🎨 Templates

Template	Description	Best for
oscp-purple	Dark purple header, clean body	OSCP / HTB reports
redteam-dark	Aggressive dark styling	Red team engagements
corporate-blue	Professional corporate layout	Client deliverables
minimalist	Clean, no-frills white	Academic / internal
thesis-style	Chapter-based long form	Research / thesis
osint-report	Info-dense, grid layout	OSINT investigations

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🔧 Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
REPDOWN_PORT	3000	HTTP server port

Custom Templates

Add a folder to templates/ with the following structure:

templates/my-template/
├── report.md          # starter content
├── template.json      # metadata
├── img/               # template images
├── lua/               # pandoc lua filters
└── config/            # pandoc/LaTeX config

template.json format:

{
  "id": "my-template",
  "name": "My Template",
  "description": "Short description shown in the UI",
  "tags": ["custom", "pentest"]
}

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🏗 Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Backend	Node.js + Express
Real-time	Socket.io
Database	SQLite (better-sqlite3)
Editor	CodeMirror 5
PDF pipeline	pandoc + XeLaTeX / pdfLaTeX / LuaLaTeX
Archive	archiver + unzipper
File upload	multer

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🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
3. Commit your changes: git commit -m 'Add my feature'
4. Push the branch: git push origin feature/my-feature
5. Open a Pull Request

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📜 License

MIT © RepDown Contributors

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_{Built for operators, by operators.}