Overleaf Comment

Overleaf bulk comment poster

Post N Overleaf comments from a JSON plan, one CDP eval per item. Uses the user's already-logged-in browser session via the chrome-cdp skill.

Break-even is around 5 comments — for fewer, type them directly in Overleaf.

Prerequisites

1. chrome-cdp skill installed; the wrapper auto-discovers cdp.mjs (or set $CDP_BIN).
2. Brave / Chrome running with --remote-debugging-port=9222.
3. Overleaf project tab open in that browser, logged in, with commenting permission.

Usage

# 1. find the project tab
${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/overleaf-comment/overleaf-comment --list

# 2. post a plan (target prefix from `cdp list`)
${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/overleaf-comment/overleaf-comment 6172EEAA plan.json

# or supply the project URL — the wrapper picks the matching tab
${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/overleaf-comment/overleaf-comment --url https://www.overleaf.com/project/<id> plan.json

For self-hosted Overleaf set OVERLEAF_HOSTS="overleaf.example.com" (space-separated for multiple).

Plan format

A JSON array of {file, line, text}:

[
  {"file": "main.tex",                 "line": 8,   "text": "linespread should be 1.5"},
  {"file": "parts/200-discussion.tex", "line": 108, "text": "ungrammatical"}
]

• file matches Overleaf's file tree by basename (or path-suffix when the plan supplies /).
• line is 1-indexed. Blank lines cannot be commented on.
• text is the comment body; multi-line is fine via \n in the JSON string.

Output

Per-item results stream to stdout:

[main.tex] OK: main.tex (155 lines)
  L8: OK: line 8
  L109: FAIL: line 109 is blank — Overleaf cannot anchor a comment

A summary, identity preflight, and any FAIL diagnostics go to stderr.

Exit codes: 0 = all OK · 1 = at least one FAIL/SKIP · 2 = usage / validation · 75 = EX_TEMPFAIL (background tab, "Out of sync" modal — re-run after fixing).

Residual plan: if any items failed or were skipped, the wrapper writes <plan>.residual.json containing just those items. Retry with overleaf-comment <target> <plan>.residual.json.

Limitations

• One top-level thread per entry — no replies / threading.
• Single-line anchor only (no multi-line range).
• English UI required; non-English locales surface a warning at preflight.
• Pegged to Overleaf's current React UI; selectors and strings are gathered at the top of page-helpers.js for easy re-targeting on a redesign.
• Posts under whichever account the tab is logged in as; the wrapper prints posting as Overleaf account: <email> before running so you can verify.
• Don't type or click in the Overleaf editor while a run is in progress.

File type support

Comments land on any file Overleaf renders in CodeMirror — including .tex, .bib, .bst, .cls, .sty. The skill auto-selects one of two paths:

• Toolbar path (used on .tex): selects the line and clicks the static "Add comment" button.
• Popover path (used elsewhere, e.g. .bib): Overleaf suppresses the toolbar button for non-tex modes but still mounts a floating Add-comment popover on a trusted PointerEvent-driven selection. The wrapper synthesises a real mouse drag via CDP Input.dispatchMouseEvent to trigger the popover, then clicks through. The fallback fires automatically when the toolbar button is absent — no plan changes required.