texMini

LaTeX that just works, without managing a full TeX installation.

Quick start

Install uv, open a terminal in your LaTeX project, and run:

uvx texmini paper.tex

That is the standard workflow on macOS, Linux, and Windows x86-64. Windows needs no other required system dependency. macOS and Linux also need Perl, which is usually already installed and is checked before texMini downloads anything. Optional GnuPG support enables TeX Live repository signature verification on every platform.

On the first build, texMini downloads and verifies a private TinyTeX runtime, installs the packages required by paper.tex, and writes paper.pdf beside the source. Expect roughly 300–350 MB of disk use for the initial managed runtime; it grows as documents require more packages. Later builds reuse the runtime and incremental build state.

Install the command if you use it regularly:

uv tool install texmini
texmini paper.tex

The most common variations are:

texmini --watch paper.tex
texmini --engine lualatex paper.tex
texmini --engine xelatex paper.tex
texmini --shell-escape paper.tex
texmini --clean paper.tex

How it works

paper.tex  ──▶  texmini  ──▶  auto-detect + install what is missing  ──▶  paper.pdf

texMini is a self-contained LaTeX utility that grows with your documents instead of arriving as a multi-gigabyte desktop distribution. It builds upon TinyTeX and keeps its managed runtime under ~/.texmini. texMini neither requires nor modifies a pre-existing system TeX installation.

The utility uses latexmk as its build driver, while supporting pdfLaTeX, LuaLaTeX, XeLaTeX, and common document complications such as bibliographies (BibTeX, Biber), indices, glossaries, and nomenclatures out of the box. The wider TeX Live package ecosystem also remains available. Existing projects do not need to adopt a new document language or a different TeX engine.

Each texMini release pins an official TinyTeX bundle and verifies its SHA-256 digest before installation. texMini then uses the same Python downloader for subsequent package requests while upstream tlmgr remains responsible for TeX Live package management.

What happens during a build

Running:

texmini paper.tex

causes texMini to:

1. Select paper.tex, or find the unique top-level .tex file that declares a document class.
2. Recursively check local inputs, classes, and packages for required TeX files and build tools.
3. Install the private TinyTeX runtime if it does not exist.
4. Compile with managed latexmk and pdfLaTeX.
5. Read a failed build for missing TeX files, resolve their TeX Live packages, and install them together.
6. Continue installing and retrying while each round discovers a new package, with a 20-round safety ceiling.
7. Write the PDF to the effective latexmk output location and retain incremental build state by default.

For a path such as docs/paper.tex, texMini uses latexmk -cd, so sibling bibliographies, included files, logs, auxiliary state, and paper.pdf remain with the source. A root-level latexmkrc still loads and can configure the project.

Package mappings are cached in ~/.texmini/package-map.json. Package installation modifies only texMini's private TinyTeX tree.

The runtime metadata in ~/.texmini/TinyTeX/.texmini-runtime.json records its source release and artifact digest. texMini preserves existing managed runtimes because they may contain user-installed packages. Delete ~/.texmini/TinyTeX and run texMini again when you intentionally want to recreate it from the pinned baseline.

If a directory contains exactly one top-level .tex document, the filename is optional:

texmini

TeX Live reports an advisory warning when GnuPG is unavailable because package repository signatures cannot be verified. The current build continues without verification. Install GnuPG through Homebrew on macOS, your operating system package manager on Linux, or a Windows GnuPG distribution so future package installations can be verified; the current build does not need to be rerun.

Engines and options

texmini [install-tinytex] [--engine pdflatex|lualatex|xelatex] [OPTIONS] [document.tex] [refs.bib ...]

Examples:

texmini paper.tex
texmini docs/paper.tex
texmini --engine lualatex paper.tex
texmini --engine xelatex paper.tex
texmini --watch paper.tex
texmini --shell-escape minted-paper.tex
texmini -synctex=1 paper.tex
texmini --clean paper.tex
texmini --verbose paper.tex
texmini paper.tex references.bib

Options:

• --engine ENGINE: select pdflatex, lualatex, or xelatex.
• --clean: remove supported auxiliary files after a successful build.
• --watch: rebuild when project files change without launching a PDF viewer. -pvc is an alias.
• --shell-escape: permit the document to run external commands. -shell-escape is an alias.
• --verbose: show complete TeX, latexmk, Biber, and package-manager output.
• --no-install: do not install missing TeX Live packages.
• --version: print the texMini version.

Arguments not handled by texMini are passed to managed latexmk. -view=none is accepted with watch mode, but texMini rejects options that would launch or control a viewer.

Prepare the managed runtime without compiling a document:

texmini install-tinytex

Bibliographies

texMini distinguishes the usual bibliography workflows and installs the required backend automatically:

• \bibliography, \bibliographystyle, and natbib use BibTeX.
• BibLaTeX uses Biber by default.
• BibLaTeX with backend=bibtex uses BibTeX.
• Missing local or TeX Live bibliography styles are resolved before a retry.

A traditional BibTeX document needs no special texMini option:

\usepackage{natbib}
\bibliographystyle{plainnat}
\bibliography{refs}

texmini paper.tex

Explicit bibliography files are checked before compilation:

texmini paper.tex references.bib

Indices, glossaries, and nomenclatures

The standard package workflows are integrated with latexmk: makeidx, imakeidx, glossaries, glossaries-extra, and nomencl. texMini installs MakeIndex, makeglossaries, or Xindy when the source selects them and reruns the document until the generated material is current.

texmini indexed-paper.tex
texmini glossary.tex
texmini nomenclature.tex

Project latexmkrc rules remain authoritative. This lets publisher templates replace texMini's built-in glossary and nomenclature rules when needed.

Minted and external commands

texMini includes Pygments and can install the minted TeX package, but it never grants external command execution implicitly. A document using minted must opt in:

texmini --shell-escape paper.tex

Shell escape lets TeX execute commands with the permissions of the current user or container. Use it only for documents and project files you trust. Without the option, texMini stops with a focused instruction instead of silently enabling execution.

Continuous rebuilding

Use watch mode while editing with a PDF viewer that already refreshes changed files:

texmini --watch paper.tex

The familiar texmini -pvc paper.tex spelling is equivalent. texMini performs its normal package analysis, recovery, diagnostics, and incremental latexmk build after project source, bibliography, class, style, configuration, script, or image dependencies change. It keeps watching after ordinary LaTeX errors so saving a fix rebuilds the PDF.

Watch mode does not open or manage a viewer. It cannot be combined with --clean; incremental state is part of the continuous workflow. Press Ctrl-C to stop.

Engines and editor directives

The default engine is pdfLaTeX. Projects can select LuaLaTeX or XeLaTeX through either common magic-comment form:

% !TeX program = lualatex

% !TEX TS-program = xelatex

Precedence is explicit --engine, then TEXMINI_ENGINE, then the source directive, then pdfLaTeX. Unsupported directives produce a warning and use the configured or default engine.

Custom build layouts

texMini honors project latexmkrc settings and the short or long latexmk forms for output directories, auxiliary directories, and job names:

texmini -outdir=build -auxdir=aux -jobname=final paper.tex

The corresponding long names are -output-directory, -aux-directory, and -jobname. Status messages, diagnostics, change detection, and cleanup use the effective layout reported by latexmk, including layouts configured in Perl rather than guessed from command-line text.

SyncTeX

SyncTeX is available as an opt-in latexmk argument, including in watch mode:

texmini --watch -synctex=1 paper.tex

texMini does not enable it by default. --clean -synctex=1 removes the generated .synctex.gz file while preserving the PDF and sources.

Build cleanup

By default, successful builds retain .aux, .bbl, .bcf, .fdb_latexmk, and related state so latexmk can avoid unnecessary work on the next invocation.

With --clean, texMini removes supported bibliography, index, glossary, acronym, nomenclature, minted-cache, SyncTeX, and ordinary LaTeX auxiliary files after a successful build. It preserves sources, bibliography files, local classes and styles, images, scripts, PDFs, and unrelated files. Failed builds always retain their logs and auxiliary files for diagnosis.

Output and diagnostics

Normal builds show short, stable progress messages and suppress successful tlmgr, TeX, Metafont, Biber, and latexmk transcripts. Warnings that affect the finished document, including unresolved references and missing characters, remain visible.

texMini provisions its managed toolchain and runs the document's declared build. It does not repair the document or attempt to diagnose the full range of LaTeX errors. The diagnostic responsibility principle defines this boundary and how texMini surfaces ordinary TeX failures.

Use --verbose to stream complete subprocess output. On failure, the default output shows the primary LaTeX error and source line when available, points to the retained log, and warns when the failed invocation created or changed the PDF.

A PDF with missing characters or unresolved citations or references is an incomplete build. texMini retains the PDF and diagnostic files, prints the content-loss warnings beside the final result, and exits with a nonzero status.

Automation and AI agents

texMini is noninteractive and uses stable status lines without spinners or terminal-only formatting. A successful build exits with zero; a failed build returns the underlying nonzero status, retains its log and diagnostic files, and prints the primary error near the end. Use --verbose for complete tool transcripts and --clean when an automation should remove supported auxiliary files after success.

This makes texMini friendly to scripts, CI, and AI coding agents without adding an agent-specific protocol: the same small CLI is used by people and automation.

Why texMini

A conventional TeX installation offers broad compatibility, but asks you to install and maintain an entire distribution. Tectonic offers an excellent self-contained build experience, but uses its own XeTeX-derived engine and cannot replace every traditional TeX engine and utility. TinyTeX provides the small, portable TeX Live foundation used here, while its most automatic missing-package workflow is normally accessed through R.

texMini combines conventional TeX compatibility with a disposable and portable command-line experience:

• Use the project you already have. Build ordinary .tex files with TeX Live and latexmk.
• Install only what the document needs. Missing classes, packages, fonts, bibliography styles, and Biber are resolved and installed automatically.
• Keep TeX contained. The managed runtime stays under ~/.texmini.
• Remove it cleanly. Delete the managed directory; there is no system-wide installation to unwind.

Comparison

Reproducibility boundary

Each texMini release packages a manifest that pins the TinyTeX release, official platform filenames, and SHA-256 digests. Use an exact texMini version when the bootstrap baseline must remain fixed:

uvx texmini==0.6.0 paper.tex

Adaptive packages are installed from the live TeX Live repository by upstream tlmgr. Their revisions can change over time, so this release does not promise identical grown runtimes or bit-for-bit identical PDFs. texMini does not silently replace an existing managed runtime, even when it was created by an older texMini version, because that directory is user state and may contain additional packages.

Optional Docker

Use the published image when you specifically want container isolation:

docker run --rm -v texmini-runtime:/opt/TinyTeX -v "${PWD}:/work" ghcr.io/alexmill/texmini:latest paper.tex

The image uses the same pinned provisioning path as native texMini. The named volume preserves packages across runs; omit it for a disposable runtime or remove it with docker volume rm texmini-runtime.

Compatibility and limitations

texMini targets ordinary projects that build with real TeX Live, latexmk, and pdfLaTeX, LuaLaTeX, or XeLaTeX. It can plausibly replace the compilation part of an Overleaf workflow, but it is not a collaborative editor or document-hosting service.

• Native runtime installation supports macOS Apple Silicon and x86-64, Linux glibc x86-64 and ARM64, Linux musl x86-64, and Windows x86-64.
• macOS and Linux require host Perl. Windows uses the infrastructure Perl contained in the official TinyTeX bundle.
• Windows ARM64 and platforms outside the supported matrix are not supported natively.
• DVI/PostScript output, plain TeX, pLaTeX/upLaTeX, and ConTeXt are outside texMini's supported build model.
• System-font projects depend on fonts installed on the host or in the container; texMini does not provision arbitrary operating-system fonts.
• Arbitrary project-specific executables and scripts may require additional setup. Shell escape is always opt-in.
• The managed native runtime grows as packages are installed. It is shared across builds and is not locked independently per project.

Environment

• TEXMINI_ENGINE: default engine; defaults to pdflatex.
• TEXMINI_CLEAN=true: remove supported auxiliary files after successful builds.
• TEXMINI_AUTO_INSTALL=false: disable document-driven package installation.
• TEXMINI_TINYTEX_ROOT: managed TinyTeX directory; defaults to ~/.texmini/TinyTeX.
• TEXMINI_PACKAGE_MAP: package mapping cache; defaults to ~/.texmini/package-map.json.

Development

Changes to automatic recovery and error reporting must follow the diagnostic responsibility principle.

Run texMini from the source tree:

uv run texmini paper.tex

Run the test suite and validate the distributions:

uv run python -m unittest discover -s tests -v
uv build --sdist --wheel
uvx --from twine==6.2.0 twine check dist/*

TinyTeX bundle benchmark methodology and raw results are in benchmarks.