scitex-tex 0.1.6

LaTeX helpers — export to .tex, render preview images, vector formatting — standalone module from the SciTeX ecosystem

scitex-tex

LaTeX helpers — export to .tex, compile to PDF, preview images, vector formatting.

Full Documentation · uv pip install scitex-tex[all]

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Problem and Solution

#	Problem	Solution
1	Hand-authored .tex from Python is brittle — escaping _ / & / % and locating the right pdflatex invocation eats hours per paper	export_tex + compile_tex — writer doc → .tex → .pdf in two calls; CompileResult exposes the pdf path + log on failure
2	Previewing a math snippet means firing up a full LaTeX project	preview(r"$\sum x_i$", "out.png") — single-call rendering via matplotlib; no system TeX install required
3	Sig-fig formatting for vectors / scalars is reinvented per script	to_vec(value, sig_figs=N) — consistent scientific notation for tables and captions

Architecture

scitex_tex/
├── _export.py        # writer doc  → .tex string + file
├── _compile.py       # .tex        → .pdf via pdflatex/xelatex
├── _preview.py       # snippet     → .png (matplotlib, no system TeX needed)
└── _vec.py           # numeric     → sig-fig vector strings

flowchart LR
    Doc[Writer Doc<br/>Python dict/object] --> Exp[export_tex]
    Exp --> Tex[manuscript.tex]
    Tex --> Cmp[compile_tex]
    Cmp --> Pdf[manuscript.pdf]
    Snip[r'\$\\sum x_i\$'] --> Prv[preview]
    Prv --> Png[preview.png]
    Val[1.234e-3] --> Vec[to_vec]
    Vec --> Str[formatted string]

_{Figure 1. Module layout. Four small helpers — export, compile, preview, sig-fig formatting — each callable independently.}

Installation

pip install scitex-tex

Quick Start

import scitex_tex as tx

# Convert a SciTeX-style writer doc → .tex
tx.export_tex(doc, "manuscript.tex")

# Compile .tex → .pdf (returns CompileResult)
result = tx.compile_tex("manuscript.tex")

# Render a snippet to a preview image
tx.preview(r"$\sum_{i=1}^N x_i$", "preview.png")

# Format a numeric value with sig-fig rules
tx.to_vec(1.234e-3, sig_figs=3)

1 Interfaces

Python API

import scitex_tex as tx

# Export — writer doc → .tex string + file
tx.export_tex(doc, "manuscript.tex")

# Compile — .tex → .pdf via pdflatex/xelatex; returns CompileResult
res = tx.compile_tex("manuscript.tex")
print(res.pdf_path, res.log)

# Preview — render a snippet to a PNG
tx.preview(r"$\frac{1}{2}\sum x_i$", "preview.png")

# Vector formatting helpers
tx.to_vec(1.234e-3, sig_figs=3)

Demo

import scitex_tex as tx

# 1) Render a math preview to PNG (no system TeX required)
tx.preview(r"$\hat{\beta} = (X^\top X)^{-1} X^\top y$", "preview.png")

# 2) Export + compile a manuscript end-to-end
tx.export_tex(doc, "manuscript.tex")
result = tx.compile_tex("manuscript.tex")
print(result.pdf_path)   # → manuscript.pdf

flowchart LR
    A[Python writer doc] -->|export_tex| B[manuscript.tex]
    B -->|compile_tex| C[manuscript.pdf]
    D["r'\$\\hat\\beta\$'"] -->|preview| E[preview.png]
    style C fill:#27ae60,stroke:#2c3e50,color:#fff
    style E fill:#27ae60,stroke:#2c3e50,color:#fff

_{Figure 2. Demo flow. preview is matplotlib-only; compile_tex shells out to pdflatex/xelatex.}

Status

Standalone fork of scitex.tex. Only dep is matplotlib (for preview rendering). The umbrella package's scitex.tex import path is preserved via a sys.modules-alias bridge.

Part of SciTeX

scitex-tex is part of SciTeX. Install via the umbrella with pip install scitex[tex] to use as scitex.tex (Python) or scitex tex ... (CLI).

Four Freedoms for Research

0. The freedom to run your research anywhere — your machine, your terms.
1. The freedom to study how every step works — from raw data to final manuscript.
2. The freedom to redistribute your workflows, not just your papers.
3. The freedom to modify any module and share improvements with the community.

AGPL-3.0 — because we believe research infrastructure deserves the same freedoms as the software it runs on.

License

AGPL-3.0-only (see LICENSE).

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