By just using the existing "code"/markup. Similarly, I would not count writing markdown as programming. Now if you need some new stuff, e.g. complicated tree diagrams, it starts to turn into programming.

You could do it through Pandoc. Pandoc can process multiple data sources (citations, chapters, yamls etc.) and output a pdf.

You can turn on citation linking (in the text), you can apply a custom latex template.

Once it is all setup, you just write text in Pandoc Markdown.