This is the source code for the Functor Network - a blog platform for mathematicians. The term "mathematician" here is used in a broad sense, encompassing people studying math at any level, as well as professionals in related fields. While we provide special support for mathematicians, anyone can register a blog site on our platform and express themselves on a variety of topics, whether they're related to math or not.
In a word, every feature on our platform is thoughtfully designed for mathematicians.
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Effortless Typesetting. Typesetting math on the web can be exhausting and time-consuming. On our platform, you focus on the content—we’ll take care of the typesetting.
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Powered by a Real TeX Engine. We might be the only blogging platform that renders mathematical content using a full TeX Live system. Enjoy complete LaTeX compatibility—import packages, use math environments, or even paste existing LaTeX documents directly.
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Flexible Writing Formats. Write in Pure LaTeX or Markdown with LaTeX—your choice. Either way, you retain powerful features like cross-referencing, bibliographies, and theorem environments.
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PDF Export. Need an offline copy? Download any post as a beautifully typeset PDF with one click.
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Minimalist & Focused. No clutter. No distractions. Just a clean, efficient, and secure space for your mathematical thoughts.
Other small yet useful features include syntax highlighting for Lean and integration with social platforms popular among mathematicians.
We make a comparison with other blog platform to clarify our features:
| Feature | Our Platform | Other Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Write posts directly in LaTeX | Supported | Not supported |
| Math formula rendering | Built-in support | Not supported or requires add-ons |
| Preserve LaTeX code | Yes | May corrupt backslashes or encode symbols like <, &, etc. |
| LaTeX packages | Supported — different packages can be used per post | Not supported |
| Automated numbering and referencing | Supported | Not supported or only partially supported |
| Custom LaTeX commands | Supported | Possibly supported |
| Theorem-like environments | Supported | Not supported |
| Bibliography | Supported | Possibly supported |
| Markdown with math features | Supported | Possibly supported but limited |
| PDF export | Supported | Not supported |
| Syntax highlight for Lean | Supported | Possibly supported |
| Design philosophy | Clean and minimal — intentionally abstract | Often cluttered with unnecessary features |
| Editor | Plain text editor with live preview — focuses on content | WYSIWYG editor — may be problematic for math content |
Functor Network is developed by Chun Ding, © 2023-2025 Chun Ding, licensed under the MIT License.
It is built on the Yesod web framework, © 2012–2017 Michael Snoyman, also under the MIT License.
This project includes the following third-party resources:
static/js/jquery.min.js— jQuery, © 2005–2025 jQuery Foundation, MIT Licensestatic/css/bootstrap.min.cssandstatic/js/bootstrap.min.js— Bootstrap, © 2011–2025 Twitter, Inc., MIT License- SVG icons from Bootstrap, © 2011–2025 Twitter, Inc., MIT License
- Syntax definition for Lean language highlighting — © 2025 Hagb (Junyu Guo), MIT License
static/editor— Ace Editor, © 2010 Ajax.org B.V., Licensestatic/js/js.cookie.min.js- js-cookie, © 2018 Klaus Hartl, Fagner Brack, GitHub Contributors, MIT Licensestatic/js/qrcode.min.js- QRCode.js, © 2012 davidshimjs, MIT Licensestatic/js/chart.min.js- Chart.js, © 2014-2024 Chart.js Contributors, MIT License