MCP LaTeX Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for LaTeX file creation, editing, validation, and compilation. Built with FastMCP and Pydantic for type-safe, structured output.

Features

• Create LaTeX documents from parameters or bundled templates (article, beamer, report)
• Edit files with replace, insert, append, and prepend operations
• Read and list .tex files within a secure base directory
• Validate syntax — braces, environments, references, required declarations
• Compile to PDF with pdflatex, xelatex, or lualatex
• Resources — browse and retrieve bundled templates via latex:// URIs

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11.9+
• LaTeX distribution (for compilation):
  • Windows: MiKTeX or TeX Live
  • macOS: MacTeX (brew install --cask mactex)
  • Linux: sudo apt install texlive-full (Debian/Ubuntu) or sudo dnf install texlive-scheme-full (Fedora)

Installation

Using uv (recommended)

git clone https://github.com/RobertoDure/mcp-latex-server
cd mcp-latex-server
uv pip install -e .

Using pip

git clone <repository-url>
cd mcp-latex-server
python -m venv .venv
# Windows
.venv\Scripts\activate
# macOS/Linux
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

Quick setup (Windows)

python quick_setup.py

This checks Python version, installs dependencies, verifies the server imports correctly, and optionally configures Claude Desktop.

Configuration

The server uses a single environment variable:

| Variable | Description | Default | |---|---|---| | LATEX_SERVER_BASE_PATH | Root directory for all file operations | . (current directory) |

All file paths passed to tools are resolved relative to this base directory. Access outside it is denied.

MCP client configuration

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "latex-server": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/mcp-latex-server",
        "run",
        "latex_server.py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "LATEX_SERVER_BASE_PATH": "/path/to/your/latex/files"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Add to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "servers": {
    "latex-server": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/mcp-latex-server",
        "run",
        "latex_server.py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "LATEX_SERVER_BASE_PATH": "${workspaceFolder}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools

create_latex_file

Create a new LaTeX document from parameters.

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | file_path | str | required | Path for the new .tex file | | document_type | article\|report\|book\|letter\|beamer\|minimal | article | Document class | | title | str | "" | Document title | | author | str | "" | Document author | | date | str | \today | Document date | | content | str | "" | Body content | | packages | list[str] | [] | Extra LaTeX packages | | geometry | str | "" | Geometry settings (e.g. margin=1in) |

create_from_template

Create a document from a bundled template.

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | file_path | str | required | Path for the new .tex file | | template | article\|beamer\|report | article | Template name |

edit_latex_file

Edit an existing LaTeX file.

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | file_path | str | required | Path to the file | | operation | `replace|insert_before

... View full README on GitHub