How do I install the Latex Compile skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add practice019/latex-compile in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

What does the Latex Compile skill do?

编译 LaTeX 文档：xelatex → bibtex → xelatex ×2 多遍循环，输出日志尾部、页数与警告信号，可选用 --min-pages / --min-refs 做编译前门禁。当用户要编译 .tex、把论文/报告导出 PDF、或排查 LaTeX 编译报错时使用。 Compile a LaTeX project (xelatex x bibtex x xelatex x 2) and report the log tail, page count, and warning signals, with optional pre-compile gates. Use when the user wants a .tex file turned into a PDF, a citation/page contract enforced before compilation, or a LaTeX build failure diagnosed. Ported and generalized from the OpenSquilla latex-compile skill. It is listed under Docs & Writing on SkillMD.

Is Latex Compile safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Latex Compile?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Latex Compile free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Latex Compile?

Practice019 (@practice019) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Latex Compile by practice019 — Agent Skill

Name: Latex Compile
Author: Practice019

LaTeX Compile

Run the four-pass LaTeX build loop and report something a human can act on: the log tail, the page count, and the warnings that actually matter (undefined citations, overfull boxes, missing font shapes).

Boundaries

Do:

Compile an existing .tex entry file into a PDF.
Report exit code, page count, and extracted warning signals.
Optionally enforce --min-pages / --min-refs as pre-compile gates.

Do not:

Rewrite the user's .tex source. This skill only reads it.
Inject an author/title line or assemble sibling abstract.tex / method.tex fragments — that was the upstream meta-skill's contract, not a general compiler's job.
Claim a build succeeded without checking that the PDF actually exists.

Preflight

# 1. engine present?
Get-Command xelatex -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
# 2. document present?
Get-Item .\paper\paper.tex
# 3. bibliography present (only needed for citations)?
Get-ChildItem .\paper\*.bib

If xelatex is missing, stop and give the install command (winget install MiKTeX.MiKTeX or choco install miktex on Windows; tlmgr/TeX Live elsewhere). Do not fall back to a different engine silently — pdflatex cannot render CJK without extra packages.

Run

python scripts\compile.py .\paper\paper.tex
python scripts\compile.py .\paper\paper.tex --engine pdflatex --no-bibtex
python scripts\compile.py .\paper\paper.tex --min-pages 10 --min-refs 20
python scripts\compile.py .\paper\paper.tex --bib .\paper\refs.bib --tail-lines 80

Flag	Default	Meaning
`tex_path`	—	`.tex` entry file (required)
`--engine`	`xelatex`	LaTeX engine; use `pdflatex` for ASCII-only docs
`--bib`	auto	`.bib` path; otherwise `<stem>.bib` or `references.bib` next to the `.tex`
`--no-bibtex`	off	skip the bibtex pass
`--min-pages`	`0` (off)	fail when the PDF has fewer pages
`--min-refs`	`0` (off)	fail when fewer references are cited
`--tail-lines`	`40`	log tail lines written to stderr
`--timeout`	`300`	per-pass timeout in seconds

What the script does

Preflight: .tex exists, engine on PATH, .bib located.
Optional citation gate: undefined \cite keys and --min-refs are checked before spending build time.
Build passes: xelatex → bibtex → xelatex → xelatex. xelatex returns 0 even on minor issues, so only the final pass is allowed to fail hard.
PDF existence check, page-count parse from the log, warning extraction.
stdout stays a single clean line (Compiled: <pdf> (<n> KB, pages=<n>)); the verbose log tail and warnings go to stderr.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	success
2	`.tex` does not exist
3	engine not on `PATH`
4	no PDF produced
5	citation contract failed (undefined keys or `--min-refs`)
6	page contract failed (`--min-pages`)
124	a pass timed out
other	exit code of the final engine pass

Common traps

Stale .aux / .bbl: if citations look wrong after a .bib edit, delete *.aux / *.bbl and rebuild — the four-pass loop alone cannot always recover a corrupt aux.
bibtex fails but PDF exists: reported as a warning, not a hard failure. Check the warning list for bibtex: lines before telling the user citations resolved.
CJK renders as boxes: the engine lacks a CJK font mapping. Add \usepackage{xeCJK} + \setCJKmainfont{...} (or fontspec with a CJK TTF) to the preamble; the script does not inject it.
Windows PATH: a freshly installed MiKTeX/TeX Live needs a new shell. If Get-Command xelatex works but the script reports exit 3, pass the absolute engine path by putting its bin on PATH first.
Overfull hbox floods the tail: harmless warnings. Do not "fix" them by trimming the user's prose unless asked.

Related skills

../research-paper-writing/SKILL.md — drafting and polishing the manuscript itself.
../arxiv/SKILL.md — fetching papers and generating BibTeX entries.

Latex Compile

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