Helper Applications

Fabric extends its utility through several standalone helper applications, designed to streamline specific workflows and integrate more deeply with your system. These tools complement the main fabric command, providing specialized functionalities for common tasks.

Helper Applications

to_pdf

The to_pdf helper is a command-line tool designed to convert LaTeX (.tex) files into PDF format. It's particularly useful when working with AI-generated LaTeX content or when you need a quick way to render LaTeX documents.

• Purpose: to_pdf facilitates the conversion of LaTeX source files into high-quality PDF documents. It's built to integrate seamlessly with standard input/output, making it a powerful component in command-line pipelines, especially with Fabric Patterns that generate LaTeX code.

• Installation: To install to_pdf, you use the Go install command, similar to how you would install Fabric itself from source. Ensure you have Go installed on your system (see Getting Started for Go installation details).

• Usage Examples:

  1. Converting a single LaTeX file: If you have a LaTeX file named input.tex, you can convert it to input.pdf as follows:

  2. Piping output from a Fabric Pattern: to_pdf works effectively with input from other commands. For instance, if you use the write_latex Pattern to generate a LaTeX document, you can directly pipe its output to to_pdf to create a PDF file (e.g., output.pdf by default).

• Dependency: to_pdf relies on pdflatex to perform the conversion. You must have a LaTeX distribution installed on your system (such as TeX Live or MiKTeX) and ensure that pdflatex is available in your system's PATH. If pdflatex is not found, to_pdf will report an error.

code_helper

The code_helper application is a specialized tool designed to assist with AI-driven code generation and modification tasks within a project.

• Purpose: code_helper generates a structured JSON representation of a given code directory. This JSON output includes file names, their contents, and an overall report. This format is specifically engineered to be consumed by AI models, enabling them to understand the codebase contextually. It is primarily used in conjunction with the create_coding_feature Pattern, allowing AI agents to generate new features or modify existing code based on a comprehensive understanding of the project structure.

• Installation: To install code_helper, use the Go install command:

• Usage: code_helper takes a directory path and instructions as arguments. For example:

  For detailed usage instructions and examples on how to integrate code_helper with the create_coding_feature pattern, please refer to the specific documentation for that pattern in the Fabric repository: data/patterns/create_coding_feature/README.md↗. This pattern provides the AI with the necessary context and prompts to effectively utilize the JSON output from code_helper.

pbpaste and Clipboard Integration

While not a standalone Fabric helper application itself, the pbpaste command (and its equivalents on other operating systems) is frequently used in Fabric examples for clipboard integration. It's a macOS utility that outputs the contents of the system clipboard to standard output.

• Linux: You can use xclip -selection clipboard -o. You may need to install xclip via your package manager (e.g., sudo apt install xclip).
• Windows (PowerShell): Use Get-Clipboard.

Many CLI Usage Guide examples, including those in the Getting Started guide, leverage these tools to pipe clipboard content directly into Fabric patterns. To simplify usage, you can often set up shell aliases (e.g., alias pbpaste='xclip -selection clipboard -o') to use a consistent command across platforms.