Templates & Packages
Flow comes with built-in templates and gives you access to thousands more through CTAN.
Built-in templates
Flow ships with six templates that cover the most common use cases. These load instantly — no download needed.
| Template | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Article | Standard document with sections. The go-to for essays, papers, and general writing. |
| Minimal | Bare-bones document. Just a title and empty body — good for quick experiments. |
| Letter | Formal letter with sender, recipient, opening, and closing fields. |
| Resume | Professional CV with sections for experience, education, and skills. |
| Report | Longer academic document with chapters, table of contents, and bibliography support. |
| Presentation | Beamer slide deck with title slide and content frames. |
CTAN Template Browser
CTAN (the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) hosts thousands of LaTeX packages and templates. Flow lets you browse and install them directly — no command line needed.
From the welcome screen or File menu, open the template browser. You can browse by topic:
- Resumes & CVs — moderncv, europasscv, and more
- Academic — Journal and thesis templates
- Letters — Various letter formats
- Beginner — Simple, well-documented templates
Each template card shows a description and the package it comes from.
How template loading works
When you select a template, Flow follows this sequence:
- Check built-in — If the template matches one of the six built-ins (exact name match only), it loads instantly from local storage.
- Check cache — Flow caches downloaded templates so you don't have to re-download them. If it's already been downloaded, it loads from cache.
- Download from CTAN — If not cached, Flow downloads the package from CTAN. A progress indicator shows the download, extraction, and analysis stages.
After downloading a CTAN package, Flow intelligently selects the best .tex file to use as the template. It prioritizes example and sample files, and skips documentation files like manuals and guides. It also validates that the selected file contains \begin{document} — so you always get a usable starting point.
Template cache
Downloaded templates are cached locally so they're available offline and load faster the next time. You don't need to manage the cache manually — it just works.
If you want to re-download a template (for example, if the upstream package was updated), you can force a refresh from the template browser.
Using your own templates
You're not limited to the built-in templates or CTAN. Flow works with any .tex file:
- Use File > Open (or
Ctrl+O) to open any LaTeX file. - Drag and drop a
.texfile onto the editor window. - Flow's fillable detection works on any template — it'll find the empty fields and let you tab through them just like the built-in ones.
If you use a template that relies on packages not bundled with Tectonic, Tectonic will automatically download them on first compile. No manual package management needed.