diff --git a/src/typstgen.nim b/src/typstgen.nim
index 372b6c7..3e8b818 100644
--- a/src/typstgen.nim
+++ b/src/typstgen.nim
@@ -1,39 +1,90 @@
-import std/[streams, tables, strutils, os]
+import std/[os, sequtils, streams, strutils,  tables]
 import yaml, hwylterm
 
-
 type
+  Component = Table[string, string]
+  TypstTemplate = object
+    keys: seq[string]
+    src: string
   Config = object
-    components {.defaultVal: @[]}: seq[Table[string, string]]
-    templates {.defaultVal: initTable[string, string]()}: Table[string, string]
+    components {.defaultVal: @[]}: seq[Component]
+    templates {.defaultVal: initTable[string, TypstTemplate]()}: Table[string, TypstTemplate]
+
+func `%`(t: TypstTemplate, a: openArray[string]): string =
+  t.src % a
+
+proc checkTemplates(templates: Table[string, TypstTemplate]) =
+  ## quit if any templates have the same keys
+  var keyTable: Table[string, seq[string]]
+
+  for name, templ in templates.pairs():
+    let k = templ.keys.join(";")
+    if k in keyTable:
+      keyTable[k].add name
+    else:
+      keyTable[k] = @[name]
+
+  for keys, names in keyTable.pairs():
+    if names.len > 1:
+      quit("non-unique key combos in templates: " & names.join(","))
 
 
-proc typstGen(configPath: string) =
+proc addDefaultTemplates(c: var Config) =
+  # TODO: more default templates?
+  if "raw" notin c.templates:
+    c.templates["raw"] = TypstTemplate(keys: @["raw"], src: "$raw")
+
+  if "image" notin c.templates:
+    c.templates["image"] = TypstTemplate(keys: @["image"], src: """
+#figure(
+  image("$image"),
+  caption: [$image]
+)
+"""
+      )
+
+  if "figure" notin c.templates:
+    c.templates["figure"] = TypstTemplate(keys: @["image", "caption"], src: """
+#align(center)[
+  #figure(
+    image("$image"),
+    caption: [
+      $image
+    ]
+  )
+  $caption
+]
+"""
+      )
+
+
+proc loadConfig(configPath: string): Config =
 
-  var config: Config
   var s = newFileStream(configPath)
-  load(s, config)
-  s.close()
+  load(s, result)
+  close s
 
-  var output: string
+  addDefaultTemplates result
+  checkTemplates result.templates
 
-  if not config.templates.hasKey("raw"):
-    config.templates["raw"] = "$text"
+proc getTemplate(c: Config, component: Component): TypstTemplate =
+  let k = component.keys().toSeq()
+  for _, templ in c.templates.pairs():
+    if templ.keys == k:
+      return templ
 
+  quit($bb("[red]error[/] failed to find template for component:\n") & $component)
 
-  func componentToFmtArgs(t: Table[string, string]): seq[string] =
-    for k, v in t.pairs:
-      result.add k
-      result.add v
+func toFmtArgs(comp: Component): seq[string] =
+    for k, v in comp.pairs: result.add k; result.add v
 
-  for component in config.components:
-    var kind = "figure"
-    var component = component
-    discard component.pop("kind", kind)
-    output &= config.templates[kind] % componentToFmtArgs(component)
-
-  echo output
+proc applyTemplate(c: Config, component: Component): string =
+  let templ = c.getTemplate(component)
+  result = templ % component.toFmtArgs()
 
+proc typstGen(c: Config): string =
+  for component in c.components:
+    result &= c.applyTemplate(component)
 
 when isMainModule:
   import hwylterm/[cli, parseopt3]
@@ -45,10 +96,13 @@ when isMainModule:
       [
         ("h", "help", "show this help"),
         ("c","config", "path to config file"),
+        ("","check", "load config and exit"),
       ]
     )
-  var p = initOptParser()
-  var configPath = "typstgen.yml"
+  var
+    p = initOptParser(longNoVal= @["check"])
+    configPath = "typstgen.yml"
+    check: bool
   for kind, key, val in p.getopt():
     case kind
     of cmdError: quit($bb"[red]cli error[/]: " & p.message)
@@ -60,9 +114,14 @@ when isMainModule:
         writeHelp(); quit 0
       of "config", "c":
         configPath = val
+      of "check":
+        check = true
 
   if not fileExists(configPath):
     quit($bbfmt("file: [b]{configPath}[/] does not exist"))
-  typstGen(configPath)
+
+  let config = loadConfig(configPath)
+  if check: quit 0
+  echo typstGen(config)