r2rtf
The clinical-report table engine learned Chinese, then learned to leave RTF entirely
Comparison · Analytics
typst-gather vs ymlthis
A side-by-side editorial comparison of typst-gather and ymlthis — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
typst-gather vs ymlthis: at a glance
What is typst-gather?
Extracted from Quarto's CLI, typst-gather learned to explain a dependency tree before fetching it.
typst-gather collects Typst packages into a local cache so documents build offline and hermetically. It was extracted from quarto-cli and reached CRAN-equivalent shape in three releases over a single day, then added an `analyze` subcommand that walks `@Preview` and `@Local` imports — following transitive dependencies of local packages — and prints structured JSON without downloading or copying anything.
What is ymlthis?
ymlthis retired itself, naming Quarto as the reason it no longer needs to exist.
ymlthis built R Markdown YAML front matter programmatically — a fluent `yml_*()` interface plus RStudio add-ins, so users did not have to hand-write metadata blocks whose valid fields were scattered across output-format documentation. Version 1.0.0 declares the package retired, with only CRAN-preserving changes to follow, and states the reason plainly: Quarto now provides good YAML support.
typst-gather vs ymlthis: editorial side-by-side
typst-gather
0.0ANALYTICS
Extracted from Quarto's CLI, typst-gather learned to explain a dependency tree before fetching it.
◆ Current state
typst-gather collects Typst packages into a local cache so documents build offline and hermetically. It was extracted from quarto-cli and reached CRAN-equivalent shape in three releases over a single day, then added an `analyze` subcommand that walks `@Preview` and `@Local` imports — following transitive dependencies of local packages — and prints structured JSON without downloading or copying anything.
◆ Where it's heading
The 0.2.0 restructuring is the tell: subcommands with backwards compatibility, config readable from stdin, and every diagnostic message moved to stderr so stdout carries nothing but JSON. Those are the conventions of a tool meant to be called by another program, not typed by a person. Given its origin inside Quarto's toolchain, the plausible consumer is a build system that needs to know a document's package requirements before deciding what to fetch.
◆ Prediction
The analyze path currently reports imports; the natural extension visible from here is acting on that report — lockfile output or verification that a cache satisfies a document's dependency set — though the entries do not commit to either.
ymlthis
0.0ANALYTICS
ymlthis retired itself, naming Quarto as the reason it no longer needs to exist.
◆ Current state
ymlthis built R Markdown YAML front matter programmatically — a fluent `yml_*()` interface plus RStudio add-ins, so users did not have to hand-write metadata blocks whose valid fields were scattered across output-format documentation. Version 1.0.0 declares the package retired, with only CRAN-preserving changes to follow, and states the reason plainly: Quarto now provides good YAML support.
◆ Where it's heading
The retirement is the endpoint of a long drift. Between 2020 and 2022 every release was reactive — patching around a crayon update that mangled rendered YAML, tracking shiny 1.6, following roxygen2 7.0.0, fixing a typo in an add-in. No new capability has landed in six years, and the four-year gap before 1.0.0 had already answered the question the release note finally makes explicit.
◆ Prediction
Nothing further of substance is expected — the stated policy is changes only where CRAN requires them, so the next release, if any, will be a compatibility patch.
Alternatives to typst-gather and ymlthis
Other Analytics products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either typst-gather or ymlthis.
DoseFinding
New stewardship at openpharma, then two releases adding the methods MCP-Mod was missing
webmockr
The stubbing library added httr2 support, then spent a year cutting itself free of everything else
crul
crul took mocking back from webmockr and made it a property of the client itself
dendroNetwork
Six releases, six identical bodies — the feed carries the package abstract instead of release notes
chattr
chattr deleted every LLM integration it had written and outsourced the lot to ellmer
See all typst-gather alternatives → · See all ymlthis alternatives →
Recent activity from typst-gather and ymlthis
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5mo agotypst-gatheranalyze subcommand reports the import graph as JSON ⚡
- 5mo agotypst-gatherWindows path escaping fix and README expansion
- 5mo agotypst-gatherSplit out of quarto-cli as a standalone package gatherer
- 5mo agoymlthisymlthis retired; Quarto covers the need ⚡
- 4y agoymlthisTypo fixed in the miniUI add-in check
- 4y agoymlthisyml_author() accepts yml_blank(); shiny fixes
- 4y agoymlthisciteproc handling moved to newer rmarkdown functions
- 5y agoymlthisPatched a crayon update that mangled rendered YAML
- 5y agoymlthisAdjustments for shiny 1.6
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between typst-gather and ymlthis?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. typst-gather and ymlthis are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is typst-gather better than ymlthis?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. typst-gather and ymlthis are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to typst-gather?
Top typst-gather alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "typst-gather alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/typst-gather for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to ymlthis?
Top ymlthis alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ymlthis alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ymlthis for the full list with editorial commentary on each.