nantex

LaTeX-to-PDF live preview in your browser — no local LaTeX install needed.

Write .tex, save, see the result. That's it.

How it works

nantex watches your .tex file, compiles it via the latex-on-http public API, and serves the PDF through a local HTTP server with automatic browser refresh via Server-Sent Events. No Overleaf switching. No Skim install. Just your editor and a browser.

Install

# via uv (recommended)
uv tool install nantex

# zero-install run
uvx nantex main.tex

# via pip
pip install nantex

Usage

nantex main.tex                       # watch mode, opens http://localhost:7474
nantex main.tex --once                # compile once and exit
nantex main.tex --port 8080           # custom port
nantex main.tex --compiler xelatex   # use xelatex instead of pdflatex
nantex main.tex --output ~/out.pdf   # custom output path
nantex main.tex --api https://...    # self-hosted latex-on-http instance
nantex main.tex --share              # print LAN URL for collaborators
nantex main.tex --snippet fig:label  # preview a single figure or line range
nantex --mcp                         # run as MCP server for AI agents

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
--compiler	pdflatex	LaTeX compiler: pdflatex, xelatex, lualatex
--api	https://latex.ytotech.com/builds/sync	Compile API endpoint
--output	<file>.pdf	Output PDF path
--port	7474	Preview server port
--once	off	Compile once and exit
--share	off	Print local network URL for live collaboration
--snippet	off	Compile a label (fig:x) or line range (10-25) in isolation
--mcp	off	Run as an MCP server for AI agent integration

Project config

Add a .nantex.toml in your project directory to persist settings:

compiler = "xelatex"
port     = 7475

CLI flags always override the config file.

Multi-file projects

nantex automatically detects \input{} and \include{} directives, watches all discovered files, and bundles them in the API call. No extra configuration needed.

Collaboration

nantex main.tex --share
# Preview: http://localhost:7474
# Share:   http://192.168.0.113:7474  ← anyone on your network can open this

MCP server

Run nantex as an MCP server so AI agents (Claude, etc.) can compile LaTeX autonomously:

nantex --mcp

Exposes two tools: compile_latex and get_compile_status.

To wire it into Claude Code, add to .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nantex": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["nantex", "--mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Examples

Ready-to-run examples are in the examples/ folder:

nantex examples/01-hello-world.tex   # minimal quickstart
nantex examples/02-math.tex          # equations, Maxwell's laws, matrices
nantex examples/03-resume.tex        # CV / resume template
nantex examples/04-report.tex        # report with table of contents + tables

Privacy

Your .tex file content is sent to the configured API on every compile. For sensitive documents, run a self-hosted latex-on-http instance and point --api at it.

License

MIT