classic-msc-thesis

A classic, formal Typst template for a Master's thesis: black serif headings, a
clean rule-framed title page, roman front matter followed by arabic main matter,
and author–year (APA) citations. It ships with a complete example — front matter,
four chapters, an appendix, figures, and a bibliography — so you can replace the
placeholder text and start writing immediately.

Features

• Rule-framed title page driven entirely by metadata, with support for one or
  two institutional logos.
• Structured front matter: Certificate of Direction, Acknowledgments,
  Abstract (+ keywords), Table of Contents, List of Figures, List of Tables, and
  List of Abbreviations — each optional.
• Short captions in the lists: a flex-caption shows a full caption under the
  figure and a short title in the List of Figures / Tables.
• Figures and tables with automatic, separate numbering (Fig. N / Table N),
  booktabs-style table rules, and captions placed correctly (below figures, above
  tables).
• Print-friendly: links and cross-references render in black (still clickable
  in the PDF), so nothing turns colourful on paper.
• Running headers that show the current chapter, roman-then-arabic page
  numbering, and a lettered appendix (A, A.1, …) after the references.

Quick start

From Typst Universe

Once the package is available on Typst Universe, create a new project
from it with the CLI:

typst init @preview/classic-msc-thesis
cd classic-msc-thesis
typst watch main.typ           # live preview while you edit

Or, in the Typst web app, choose Start from template and search for
classic-msc-thesis.

From this repository (local install)

You can also use it without Typst Universe by installing it as a local package.
Clone the repository into your Typst package directory under the preview
namespace, then copy the example out to start your thesis:

# Linux / WSL
DEST="${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/typst/packages/preview/classic-msc-thesis/0.1.0"
# macOS:   DEST="$HOME/Library/Application Support/typst/packages/preview/classic-msc-thesis/0.1.0"
# Windows: %APPDATA%\typst\packages\preview\classic-msc-thesis\0.1.0

git clone https://github.com/Cobos-Bioinfo/classic-msc-thesis "$DEST"

# start a new thesis from the bundled example
cp -r "$DEST/template" my-thesis
cd my-thesis
typst watch main.typ

The main.typ you copied imports the package as @preview/classic-msc-thesis:0.1.0,
which now resolves to your local install.

Project structure

Starting from the template gives you:

main.typ              # metadata + front matter + #includes + back matter, you edit this
chapters/
  01-introduction.typ
  02-methodology.typ
  03-results.typ
  04-discussion.typ   # the four main-matter chapters
  05-appendix.typ     # rendered after the references (lettered A, A.1, …)
figures/
  placeholder.svg     # swap in your own figures here
references.bib        # your bibliography

You only edit content — main.typ and the chapters/*.typ files. All layout is
controlled by the template.

Section order

The order of sections is fixed by the template:

Title page → Certificate of Direction → Acknowledgments → Abstract → Contents →
List of Figures → List of Tables → List of Abbreviations →
Introduction → Methodology → Results → Discussion → References → Appendix.

Any front-matter block left as none is skipped, and the three list toggles
(show-toc, show-list-of-figures, show-list-of-tables) can be turned off.

Writing your thesis

Metadata and front matter

Everything on the title page and in the front matter is passed to the template in
main.typ via #show: thesis.with(...). Any argument set to none (or omitted)
drops the corresponding element.

Argument	Purpose
title, subtitle	Title (and optional subtitle) on the title page
author	Author name
degree	Degree, e.g. "MSc in Bioinformatics"
university, department	Institutional lines under the logos
supervisor, tutor	Supervision credits
institute	Research institute where the work was carried out
location, date	Printed with the date (date is a datetime)
logo, logo-secondary	One or two title-page logos (see below)
certificate	Certificate of Direction (raw content; full control)
acknowledgments	Acknowledgments section
abstract, keywords	Abstract and an optional keyword line
abbreviations	List of (short, long) pairs → List of Abbreviations
show-toc, show-list-of-figures, show-list-of-tables	Toggle the lists
heading-numbering	true for numbered headings (1.1), false for none
bibliography	A bibliography(..) call for the References section
appendix	Content rendered after the references (lettered headings)

Logos. By default logo and logo-secondary are placeholder boxes so the
template compiles out of the box. Replace them with your own files, both sized to
a common height:

logo:           image("figures/university-logo.svg", height: 1.7cm),
logo-secondary: image("figures/institute-logo.png",  height: 1.7cm),

Set either (or both) to none for a text-only header. Institutional logos are
copyrighted — supply your own; none are bundled with this template.

Figures and the List of Figures

Figures use a standard #figure(image(...)). To keep the List of Figures tidy,
give the figure a flex-caption: the long form renders under the figure, the
short form renders in the list. Import it in each chapter that has figures
(chapters are #included and do not inherit main.typ's imports):

#import "@preview/classic-msc-thesis:0.1.0": flex-caption

#figure(
  image("../figures/your-figure.png", width: 80%),
  caption: flex-caption(
    [The full caption shown beneath the figure, as long as you like …],  // long
    [Short title shown in the List of Figures],                          // short
  ),
) <fig:your-figure>

Refer to it with @fig:your-figure, which renders as Fig. N. A plain
caption: [ … ] still works and simply shows in full in both places.

Tables

Wrap a table(..) in a #figure(..) so it is numbered and listed. The template
applies booktabs-style rules and places the caption above the table; reference it
with @tab:…, which renders as Table N.

Abbreviations

Pass a list of (short, long) pairs to abbreviations: in main.typ and the
List of Abbreviations is generated for you:

abbreviations: (
  ("DNA", "Deoxyribonucleic Acid"),
  ("API", "Application Programming Interface"),
),

Citations and bibliography

Point bibliography: at your .bib (or Hayagriva .yml) file and pick a style:

bibliography: bibliography("references.bib", style: "apa"),

Cite with @citekey. Citations render in black, in author–year style.

Compiling

typst compile main.typ        # -> main.pdf
typst watch   main.typ        # live preview while editing

Developing this template

Clone this repository and symlink it into your local package directory so the
@preview/classic-msc-thesis:0.1.0 imports in template/ resolve to your working
copy:

DEST="${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/typst/packages/preview/classic-msc-thesis/0.1.0"
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$DEST")"
ln -s "$(pwd)" "$DEST"
typst compile template/main.typ            # test the example

# regenerate the Universe thumbnail (page 1)
typst compile -f png --pages 1 --ppi 250 template/main.typ thumbnail.png

License

Released under the MIT License © 2026 Alejandro Cobos
(@Cobos-Bioinfo). The template code is MIT;
the placeholder text and the placeholder.svg figure are yours to replace.