nantex 0.1.3

LaTeX-to-PDF CLI with browser live preview — no local LaTeX install needed

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 result through a local HTTP server with automatic browser refresh via Server-Sent Events. No Overleaf tab 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

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 (no watch loop)

Privacy

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

Limitations

• Single-file only — \input{} / \include{} is not supported in v1.
• Requires internet access to the compile API (or a self-hosted instance).

Publishing

uv build
uv publish  # set UV_PUBLISH_TOKEN or use OIDC Trusted Publisher

License

MIT