---
Title: Frontmatter & Variables Reference
Project: MD Visor Examples
Author: Documentation Team
Revision: 1.2
Date: 2026-08-13
Department: Technical Publications
---

# Frontmatter & Variables

A YAML-style block between two `---` lines at the very top of the document defines flat
`key: value` metadata - no nested structure, just plain pairs like the six above this
paragraph. Every key becomes usable two ways: on the exported PDF's title page, and anywhere
in the body text via `{{ key }}`.

## Five keys get special title-page treatment

If present, MD Visor uses these automatically, always in this order, regardless of the order
they're written in:

| Key | What it controls |
| :--- | :--- |
| `Title` | The title page's headline, and the title repeated in the running header on every page. Missing? Falls back to the document's first `#` heading, then "Untitled Document". |
| `Project` | A line on the title page |
| `Author` | A line on the title page |
| `Revision` | A line on the title page |
| `Date` | A line on the title page |

This document's own title page (page 1) was built entirely from its frontmatter - nothing
about it is hardcoded.

## Any other key still works

`Department` above isn't one of the five recognized names, but it's not ignored: it still
shows up on the title page (below the recognized fields), and it still works for
interpolation, exactly like the recognized ones. Add whatever custom fields your document
needs - `Reviewer`, `Status`, `PartNumber`, anything.

\pagebreak

## Using `{{ }}` in text

Reference any key, anywhere in the body, with `{{ KeyName }}`. Matching is case-insensitive,
so `{{ Author }}` and `{{ author }}` resolve to the same value:

This document was written by {{ author }} ({{ Department }}) for the {{ Project }} project,
revision {{ Revision }}, dated {{ Date }}.

A typo'd or undefined name is left exactly as written instead of silently vanishing, so a
mistake is obvious rather than hidden - {{ Reviewer }} isn't defined in this document's
frontmatter, and stays visible as-is right here.