Thesis Compliance

"Never get your thesis rejected for formatting again."

A tool that detects formatting deviations in thesis PDFs by analyzing the actual rendered output, not just linting LaTeX source. Show grad students exactly where their document breaks from the style spec.

Features

• Margin checking - Verify 1.5" left (binding) and 1" other margins
• Font validation - Check for 12pt Times/Arial body text
• Line spacing - Detect double-spacing violations
• Page numbers - Validate Roman numerals for front matter, Arabic for body
• Title page - Verify 2" top margin requirement
• Multiple university specs - Rackham (UMich), UNC, Rice, and more

Installation

pip install thesis-compliance

Or install from source:

git clone https://github.com/thesis-compliance/thesis-compliance
cd thesis-compliance
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Quick Start

CLI Usage

# Basic check with default (Rackham) spec
thesis-check my-thesis.pdf

# Use a different university's requirements
thesis-check my-thesis.pdf --spec unc

# Check specific pages
thesis-check my-thesis.pdf --pages 1-10,42

# JSON output for CI
thesis-check my-thesis.pdf --format json --strict

# Get document info without checking
thesis-check info my-thesis.pdf

# List available specs
thesis-check list-specs

Python API

from thesis_compliance import ThesisChecker

# Check a thesis
with ThesisChecker("my-thesis.pdf") as checker:
    report = checker.check()

    if report.passed:
        print("All checks passed!")
    else:
        for violation in report.errors:
            print(f"Page {violation.page}: {violation.message}")

REST API

Start the server:

pip install thesis-compliance[api]
uvicorn thesis_compliance.api:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

Check a thesis:

curl -X POST "http://localhost:8000/check" \
  -F "file=@my-thesis.pdf" \
  -F "spec=rackham"

Example Output

Thesis Compliance Report

Document:     my-thesis.pdf
Spec:         rackham
Pages checked: 142
Rules checked: 23

Errors: 2

  ✗ Page 1: Title page top margin must be at least 2.0 inches
    Expected: >= 2.0 inches
    Found: 1.75 inches
    Suggestion: Add 18pt of space before the title

  ✗ Page 42: Body text must be double-spaced
    Expected: 2.0 line spacing
    Found: 1.80 (1.5 lines)
    Suggestion: Check paragraph settings use "double" not "1.5 lines"

Warnings: 0

──────────────────────────────────────────────────
Status: Failed - 2 error(s)

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	All checks passed
1	Errors found
2	Warnings found (strict mode)
3	Tool error (invalid PDF, etc.)

Available Specs

Spec	University	Notes
rackham	University of Michigan	Default, strictest
unc	UNC Chapel Hill
rice	Rice University

Custom Specifications

Create a YAML file with your requirements:

name: my-university
university: My University
description: Custom thesis requirements

margins:
  left: 1.5
  right: 1.0
  top: 1.0
  bottom: 1.0
  tolerance: 0.05

fonts:
  allowed_fonts:
    - Times New Roman
    - Arial
  body_size: 12.0

spacing:
  required_ratio: 2.0  # double-spaced
  tolerance: 0.2

page_numbers:
  front_matter:
    style: roman
    alignment: center
  body:
    style: arabic
    alignment: center

Use it:

thesis-check my-thesis.pdf --spec my-university.yaml

How It Works

Thesis Compliance uses PyMuPDF to analyze the actual rendered PDF, not just source code:

1. Margin detection - Calculates content bounding box and measures distance from page edges
2. Font extraction - Reads embedded font information and sizes from each text block
3. Line spacing - Measures baseline-to-baseline distance divided by font size
4. Page numbers - Detects Roman/Arabic numerals near page edges

This "Software 2.0" approach catches issues that source linting misses, like font substitution or spacing from included figures.

Development

# Install dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Type checking
mypy src

# Linting
ruff check src tests

License

MIT