cheatsheet-template

A LaTeX template for compact three-column cheat sheets on landscape A4

Preview · Quick start · Usage · PDF

Features

• 📐 Three columns on landscape A4 with 0.5 cm margins; the number of columns is an option
• 🎨 Color-coded heading boxes for sections, subsections and subsubsections
• 🧮 Math macros for boxed formulas, matrices, norms, absolute values, floor and ceiling
• 📋 A symbols table that fills the column width, for symbol–meaning lists
• ⚙️ Compiles with pdfLaTeX (recommended) and LuaLaTeX, locally or on Overleaf
• 🤖 GitHub Actions builds the PDF on every push and attaches it to releases

Note

Created in 2020 on Overleaf and updated in 2026 (v2): the layout moved into cheatsheet.sty, the heading boxes fit the column width, lists and tables are compact, and the deprecated commath package is replaced by mathtools. The example content is a German summary of common math notation.

Contents

• Preview
• Repository structure
• Quick start
• Usage
• Customisation
• Build in CI
• License
• Author

Preview

Repository structure

Path	Content
cheatsheet.sty	Layout, colors, heading boxes and math macros
cheatsheet.tex	Example cheat sheet (math notation, in German)
.latexmkrc	latexmk settings (pdfLaTeX, cheatsheet.tex as default file)
.github/workflows/build.yml	Builds the PDF and attaches it to releases
docs/preview.png	Rendered example, shown above

Quick start

Overleaf

1. Download cheatsheet.sty and cheatsheet.tex (or the repository as ZIP).
2. In Overleaf, choose New Project → Upload Project and upload both files (or the ZIP).
3. Keep the compiler at pdfLaTeX and edit cheatsheet.tex.

Local

You need a TeX distribution with latexmk, e.g. TeX Live or MacTeX. A full installation contains every package the template uses.

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone git@github.com:HuberNicolas/cheatsheet-template.git

2. Build the PDF (.latexmkrc selects pdfLaTeX and cheatsheet.tex):

   latexmk

3. Rebuild on every save while you edit:

   latexmk -pvc

4. Remove the build files:

   latexmk -c

Docker

Without a local TeX installation, build with the official TeX Live image (several GB):

docker run --rm -v "$PWD":/w -w /w texlive/texlive:latest latexmk

Usage

A minimal cheat sheet:

\documentclass[fontsize=10pt]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[columns=3]{cheatsheet}
\usepackage[english]{babel}

\title{Linear Algebra}
\author{Your Name}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\begin{cheatsheet}
\maketitle

\section{Matrices}
\subsection{Determinant}
\eqbox{\det\matp{a & b \\ c & d} = ad - bc}

\subsubsection{Symbols}
\begin{symbols}
    A^T    & transpose \\
    A^{-1} & inverse \\
\end{symbols}

\end{cheatsheet}
\end{document}

Command / environment	Result
\begin{cheatsheet} … \end{cheatsheet}	Multi-column body; columns are filled one after another
\maketitle	Compact title banner at the top of the first column
\section, \subsection, \subsubsection	Heading boxes in three shades of blue, unnumbered
\begin{symbols} … \end{symbols}	Two-column table: symbol (math mode) and meaning (text)
\eqbox{…}	Formula in a colored box (display style)
\matp{…}, \matb{…}, \mat{…}	Matrix with round, square or no brackets
\abs{x}, \norm{x}, \floor{x}, \ceil{x}	Paired delimiters; the starred form (\abs*{…}) scales
\vect{v}	Bold vector
\dif	Upright d for integrals: \int f(x) \dif x
\defn, \bem	Markers for definitions and remarks (Def.:, Bem.:)

Customisation

What	Where
Number of columns	Package option: \usepackage[columns=4]{cheatsheet}
Font size	Class option: \documentclass[fontsize=9pt]{scrartcl}
Colors	\definecolor{cs-…} lines in cheatsheet.sty, or redefine them after loading the package
Margins, paper	geometry line in cheatsheet.sty
Heading spacing	\RedeclareSectionCommand lines in cheatsheet.sty
Language	babel option in your .tex file (ngerman, english, …)

Build in CI

build.yml compiles cheatsheet.tex with xu-cheng/latex-action on every push and pull request and uploads the PDF as a workflow artifact. Pushing a tag v* also attaches the PDF to a GitHub release.

License

MIT © 2020 Nicolas Huber.

Author

Nicolas Huber · GitHub