ktbox is a modular LaTeX framework for semantic color palettes, structured highlight boxes, taxonomy tree visualizations, and ORCID-linked author utilities.
It improves clarity, portability, and reproducibility across articles, conference papers, posters, and presentations.

• Highlight boxes: ktbox, ktboxnumbered, ktboxwide
• Semantic color palettes (light & dark) via ktcolor
• Taxonomy tree environments via ktlrtree (left-to-right trees, unified arrow trees, and fusion diagrams)
• ORCID helpers via ktorcid (optional)
• Clean separation of structure (boxes), color (palettes), metadata (ORCID), and diagrams (trees)
• Works with common classes: article, IEEEtran, acmart, beamer, etc.

📦 Available on CTAN: ktbox
💻 Source code: GitHub Repository

\usepackage{ktbox}     % loads semantic colors, highlight boxes, and taxonomy trees
\usepackage{ktorcid}   % optional, for ORCID icons/links

Copy the .sty files into your project folder or local texmf tree. Then:

\usepackage{ktbox}     % already includes ktcolor + ktlrtree
\usepackage{ktorcid}   % only needed for ORCID integration

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{ktbox}     % provides ktbox, ktboxnumbered, ktboxwide, taxonomy trees
\usepackage{ktorcid}   % optional

\title{KTBox Example}
\author{Bhaskar Mangal\orcidicon{0000-0002-8126-3528}}
\date{}  % suppress date

\begin{document}
\maketitle

\begin{ktbox}[title={Key Insight}, theme=blue]
This is a highlighted message.
\end{ktbox}

\begin{ktboxnumbered}{Takeaway}
This takeaway is auto-numbered.
\end{ktboxnumbered}

\begin{forest} ktlrtree-arrow-unified
  [\ktwrapboxs{Taxonomy Root}, fill=ktred-bg
    [\ktwrapboxm{Branch A}, fill=ktgreen-bg]
    [\ktwrapboxm{Branch B}, fill=ktblue-bg]
  ]
\end{forest}

\end{document}

ktbox-<version>/
├── ktbox.sty
├── ktcolor.sty
├── ktlrtree.sty
├── ktorcid.sty
├── README.md
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── LICENSE
└── NOTICE

The repo includes a helper script:

## for CTAN
bash ktbox.build.sh ktbox.tex

This compiles the LaTeX manual into a PDF using latexmk.

If building manually, ensure TeX can find the .sty files:

TEXINPUTS=./: latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode ktbox.tex

Bhaskar Mangal — [email protected]

Apache License 2.0 (open-source and commercial-friendly). See LICENSE. Attributions and sponsor acknowledgments are listed in NOTICE.

This work was supported by C.E. Info Systems Ltd. (MapmyIndia) under the Industry Mentored Ph.D. in Advanced and Cutting-edge Technologies (PhD IMPACT) programme. The present contribution does not make use of proprietary code, data, or content from MapmyIndia. Instead, it extends auxiliary outcomes of the primary research activities, with the developed artifacts being released to the scientific community for broader use in scholarly communication.