Typst Format doesn't use SVG images

[bauerj]

I have:

• searched the issue tracker for similar issues
• installed the latest version of Quarto CLI
• formatted my issue following the Bug Reports guide

Bug description

The documentation for Typst format says:

Typst has great support for SVG graphics, so format: typst defaults to fig-format: svg. This configuration means executable code cells that produce images will produce .svg output.

This is great, however I could not reproduce this using a simple .qmd file using matplotlib. Even setting fig-format to svg renders .png outputs.

Steps to reproduce

test.qmd:

---
keep-md: true
format:
  typst:
    fig-format: svg
    keep-typ: true
---

# Hello World

```{python}
#| label: fig-polar
#| fig-cap: "A line plot on a polar axis"

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

r = np.arange(0, 2, 0.01)
theta = 2 * np.pi * r
fig, ax = plt.subplots(subplot_kw={'projection': 'polar'})
ax.plot(theta, r)
ax.set_rticks([0.5, 1, 1.5, 2])
ax.grid(True)
plt.show()
```

# uv run quarto render test.qmd --verbose 

Starting python3 kernel...Done

Executing 'test.quarto_ipynb'
  Cell 1/1: 'fig-polar'...Done

pandoc --verbose
  to: typst
  output-file: test.typ
  standalone: true
  default-image-extension: svg
  wrap: none
  citeproc: false
  variables: {}

[INFO] Loaded Temp\quarto-sessiond0d2adb3d650f8d6\7d36c9b38a916f72\64ede515bd6cd7bc\template.patched from Temp\quarto-sessiond0d2adb3d650f8d6\7d36c9b38a916f72\64ede515bd6cd7bc\template.patched
[INFO] Loaded Temp\quarto-sessiond0d2adb3d650f8d6\7d36c9b38a916f72\64ede515bd6cd7bc\definitions.typ from Temp\quarto-sessiond0d2adb3d650f8d6\7d36c9b38a916f72\64ede515bd6cd7bc\definitions.typ
[INFO] Loaded Temp\quarto-sessiond0d2adb3d650f8d6\7d36c9b38a916f72\64ede515bd6cd7bc\typst-template.typ from Temp\quarto-sessiond0d2adb3d650f8d6\7d36c9b38a916f72\64ede515bd6cd7bc\typst-template.typ
[INFO] Loaded Temp\quarto-sessiond0d2adb3d650f8d6\7d36c9b38a916f72\64ede515bd6cd7bc\typst-show.typ from Temp\quarto-sessiond0d2adb3d650f8d6\7d36c9b38a916f72\64ede515bd6cd7bc\typst-show.typ
[INFO] Loaded Temp\quarto-sessiond0d2adb3d650f8d6\7d36c9b38a916f72\64ede515bd6cd7bc\notes.typ from Temp\quarto-sessiond0d2adb3d650f8d6\7d36c9b38a916f72\64ede515bd6cd7bc\notes.typ
[INFO] Loaded Temp\quarto-sessiond0d2adb3d650f8d6\7d36c9b38a916f72\64ede515bd6cd7bc\biblio.typ from Temp\quarto-sessiond0d2adb3d650f8d6\7d36c9b38a916f72\64ede515bd6cd7bc\biblio.typ
[INFO] Running filter Programs/Quarto/share/filters/main.lua
[INFO] Completed filter Programs/Quarto/share/filters/main.lua in 31 ms
[typst]: Compiling test.typ to test.pdf...DONE

Output created: test.pdf

Actual behavior

test.typst.md contains the plot as a png file:

---
keep-md: true
format:
  typst:
    fig-format: svg
    keep-typ: true
---

# Hello World

::: {.cell execution_count=1}
``` {.python .cell-code}
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

r = np.arange(0, 2, 0.01)
theta = 2 * np.pi * r
fig, ax = plt.subplots(subplot_kw={'projection': 'polar'})
ax.plot(theta, r)
ax.set_rticks([0.5, 1, 1.5, 2])
ax.grid(True)
plt.show()
```

::: {.cell-output .cell-output-display}
![A line plot on a polar axis](test_files/figure-typst/fig-polar-output-1.png){#fig-polar}
:::
:::

Of course the same is true for the .typ and the .pdf file.

Expected behavior

I would expect the generated markdown to include the plot as an svg file, e.g.:

::: {.cell-output .cell-output-display}
![A line plot on a polar axis](test_files/figure-typst/fig-polar-output-1.svg){#fig-polar}
:::

Your environment

# uv run quarto --version
1.7.32

Quarto check output

# uv run quarto check
Quarto 1.7.32
[>] Checking environment information...
      Quarto cache location: Local\quarto
[>] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
      Pandoc version 3.6.3: OK
      Dart Sass version 1.85.1: OK
      Deno version 1.46.3: OK
      Typst version 0.13.0: OK
[>] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[>] Checking Quarto installation......OK
      Version: 1.7.32
      Path: Programs\Quarto\bin
      CodePage: 1252

[>] Checking tools....................OK
      TinyTeX: (not installed)
      Chromium: (not installed)

[>] Checking LaTeX....................OK
      Tex:  (not detected)

[>] Checking Chrome Headless....................OK
      Using: Chrome found on system
      Path: C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
      Source: Windows Registry

[>] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[>] Checking Python 3 installation....(None)

      Unable to locate an installed version of Python 3.
      Install Python 3 from https://www.python.org/downloads/

[>] Checking R installation...........(None)

      Unable to locate an installed version of R.
      Install R from https://cloud.r-project.org/

[mcanouil]

Could you properly format your post using code blocks for code and terminal outputs? Thanks.
If your code contains code blocks, you need to enclose it using more backticks, i.e., usually four ````.
See https://quarto.org/bug-reports.html#formatting-make-githubs-markdown-work-for-us.

[bauerj]

Sorry, I fixed the formatting.

[mcanouil]

FYI

• fig-format for Notebook generated plots #6416

[mcanouil]

Probably related if not a duplicate of:

• QUARTO_FIG_* environment variable are not updated when configuration values changes and kernel is opened. #11713

[bauerj]

I'm not quite sure if this is the same issue. The QUARTO_FIG_FORMAT variable seems to be set correctly. Here is the generated markdown file:

---
keep-md: true
execute:
  daemon: false
format:
  typst:
    fig-format: svg
    keep-typ: true
---

# Hello World

::: {.cell execution_count=1}
``` {.python .cell-code}
import os
print(f'QUARTO_FIG_WIDTH: {os.environ["QUARTO_FIG_WIDTH"]}')
print(f'QUARTO_FIG_HEIGHT: {os.environ["QUARTO_FIG_HEIGHT"]}')
print(f'QUARTO_FIG_DPI: {os.environ["QUARTO_FIG_DPI"]}')
print(f'QUARTO_FIG_FORMAT: {os.environ["QUARTO_FIG_FORMAT"]}')
```

::: {.cell-output .cell-output-stdout}
```
QUARTO_FIG_WIDTH: 5.5
QUARTO_FIG_HEIGHT: 3.5
QUARTO_FIG_DPI: 96
QUARTO_FIG_FORMAT: svg
```
:::
:::


::: {.cell execution_count=2}
``` {.python .cell-code}
# Get the value of figure.figsize
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
print(f'Default figure size: {plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"]}')
print(f'Default figure size: {plt.rcParams["figure.dpi"]}')
```

::: {.cell-output .cell-output-stdout}
```
Default figure size: [5.5, 3.5]
Default figure size: 96.0
```
:::
:::


::: {.cell execution_count=3}
``` {.python .cell-code}
import matplotlib

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt


r = np.arange(0, 2, 0.01)
theta = 2 * np.pi * r
fig, ax = plt.subplots(subplot_kw={'projection': 'polar'})
ax.plot(theta, r)
ax.set_rticks([0.5, 1, 1.5, 2])
ax.grid(True)
plt.show()
```

::: {.cell-output .cell-output-display}
![A line plot on a polar axis](test_files/figure-typst/fig-polar-output-1.png){#fig-polar}
:::
:::

The workaround you described in #6416 (reply in thread) works fine:

plt.savefig('x.svg')
plt.close()
return SVG('x.svg')

[mcanouil]

Yes, but it does not seem to be used to set rcParam nor the direct YAMl option.
Looking at the codebase, it was working at some points via a deprecated function which has no workaround right now in the codebase of 1.7.

• quarto-cli/src/resources/jupyter/lang/python/setup.py

  Lines 20 to 36 in b075bab

  	try:
  	import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  	plt.rcParams['figure.figsize'] = (fig_width, fig_height)
  	plt.rcParams['figure.dpi'] = fig_dpi
  	plt.rcParams['savefig.dpi'] = "figure"
  	# IPython 7.14 deprecated set_matplotlib_formats from IPython
  	try:
  	from matplotlib_inline.backend_inline import set_matplotlib_formats
  	except ImportError:
  	# Fall back to deprecated location for older IPython versions
  	from IPython.display import set_matplotlib_formats
  	set_matplotlib_formats(fig_format)
  	except Exception:
  	pass

[bauerj]

Oh, I see the issue. The code you linked is not yet included in 1.7.32. If I change my setup.py accordingly, it works as expected.

For now, I'll just add

import matplotlib_inline
matplotlib_inline.backend_inline.set_matplotlib_formats('svg')

to my qmd file as a workaround.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

Fixed in #12753.

[mcanouil]

@cderv Is this fix worth a backport?

[cderv]

Let's see if this is small enough change.
I opened

• [backport] fix set_matplotlib_formats being removed from Ipython #13117