Quick Start

Introduction

Neural Sketch (neural-sketch) is a modern, opinionated, yet highly customizable $\LaTeX$ package for crafting consistent, publication-ready diagrams with minimal effort.

A design grammar for structured technical ideas

It combines an intuitive, boilerplate-free syntax with a powerful key–value configuration system, allowing you to quickly produce top-tier diagrams—while retaining complete control over fine-grained customization when needed.

Built on l3build and powered by modern $\LaTeX3$ paradigms such as expl3 and l3keys, it delivers a fast, robust, and extensible framework for communicating ideas with precision.

Bundles and Modules

Neural Sketch is modular. But modularity alone isn't enough.

To reduce friction, we provide bundles:

small, coherent sets of modules designed to work together.

Each module addresses a specific concern—layout, grouping, color, annotation, positioning, or routing.

You can load them all. Or only what you need.

The goal is not to overwhelm. The goal is to help you begin—with a toolkit that grows as your diagrams do.

At present, Neural Sketch ships with a single bundle: the core.

It consists of 13 foundational modules—handling layout, grouping, styling, annotation, positioning, and routing.

This core forms the structural backbone for most diagrams. Future bundles will extend this foundation—tailored to specific domains, dynamic interactions, or alternative visual grammars.

Key Benefits

Publication-Ready by Default

Colors, borders, spacing, line thicknesses—everything is tuned for the aesthetic standards of top AI/ML venues. No need to wrestle with TikZ styles.

Concise by Construction

You define what matters: blocks, positions, annotations.

Everything else—IDs, alignment, spacing—is handled for you. Less code. Fewer distractions. Faster iteration.

Precise When You Need It

Every visual parameter—padding, corners, connectors, stacks, patterns—is exposed via keys. Override only what you need, when you need it.

Global Consistency, Local Overrides

Change a single style key—and update every figure across your document.

Consistency becomes effortless.

Built for Transferrability

Your diagrams shouldn't be locked to one medium.

Neural Sketch adapts gracefully—from $LaTeX$ papers to slides, posters, and web formats.

Supports dark mode, vector-safe rendering, and pixel-perfect styling for flexible reuse across platforms, devices, and display contexts.

Quick Start

Follow these simple steps to begin using Neural Sketch in your document.

\usepackage{neural-sketch}

\nskUseModule{*}

Creating Your First Diagram

Now you're ready to create your first Neural Sketch diagram.

Let's begin with a simple composition—a pair of labeled blocks, neatly grouped inside a container and connected with a line.

Example Diagram

Let's craft a simple figure featuring grouped blocks neatly encapsulated within a labeled container:

\begin{nskFigure}[]
 
\nskContainer[]{
 
  \nskBlock[id=cat, text-center=Dog, border-type=dashed]
  \nskBlock[id=dog, text-center=Cat, fill=nskPink, last-pos=right]
 
  \nskConnect[from=cat, to=dog]
 
}
 
\end{nskFigure}

What's Happening Here?

• \nskFigure The figure environment. It initializes the drawing space and resets internal counters, ensuring consistency across diagrams.

• \nskContainer Think of it as a bounding box with structure and intent. It automatically wraps whatever is inside, adds padding, and can display a label—like a titled region.

• \nskBlock The core primitive. Each block is styled by default and positioned using smart relative references like last-pos. You can control its appearance with keys like fill, border-type, or text-center.

• \nskConnect Draws an arrow or connector between blocks. Here, it links the block with ID cat to the one labeled dog.

This is the heart of Neural Sketch: A declarative syntax that lets you focus on structure, not scaffolding.

What's Next?

Neural Sketch empowers you to effortlessly create professional, publication-quality diagrams. To dive deeper, explore:

• What is Neural Sketch? Dive into Neural Sketch's philosophy, core principles, and why it's tailored for top-tier research publications.

• Notation & Conventions Learn the naming principles and visual grammar that unify diagrams.

• Package Options Discover how to customize global styling—colors, borders, padding, and more—to align diagrams with your unique visual requirements.

• Module Loading Learn how to optimize your workflow and reduce compilation overhead by selectively loading only the modules you need.

• Color Palette Explore Neural Sketch's curated color scheme, and easily adapt or extend it to fit your personal or institutional style guidelines.

Happy Diagramming! 🎨