TeXFlow MCP

A LaTeX document compiler with an MCP interface. AI agents operate on a structured document model — sections, paragraphs, figures, tables — while TeXFlow handles all LaTeX mechanics: packages, preamble, fonts, and compilation.

Install

pip install texflow-mcp

Or run without installing:

uvx texflow-mcp

System dependencies (optional)

TeXFlow compiles documents to PDF using XeLaTeX. Without it, you can still build and export .tex files.

# Arch
pacman -S texlive-xetex texlive-fontsrecommended texlive-fontsextra

# Debian/Ubuntu
apt install texlive-xetex texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-fonts-extra

# Fedora
dnf install texlive-xetex texlive-collection-fontsrecommended texlive-collection-fontsextra

For page preview (PNG), install poppler-utils (provides pdftoppm).

Configure with Claude Code

claude mcp add texflow -- uvx texflow-mcp

That's it. Restart Claude Code and the tools are available.

To set a workspace directory (where documents are saved):

claude mcp add texflow -- uvx texflow-mcp ~/Documents/TeXFlow

Configure with Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "texflow": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["texflow-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

How it works

TeXFlow has two entry flows, both converging on the same in-memory document model:

1. Scaffold — document(action="create") builds an empty document skeleton. Add content with edit(action="insert").
2. Markdown ingest — document(action="ingest", source="paper.md") parses markdown into the model. Refine layout from there.

The model auto-saves to disk as JSON. LaTeX is only ever an output artifact — you never edit .tex directly.

Tools

Every response includes a workflow state hint showing where you are and what to do next.

Example session

> document(action="create", title="My Paper", document_class="article")

> queue(operations=[
    {"tool": "edit", "action": "insert", "block_type": "section", "title": "Introduction", "level": 1},
    {"tool": "edit", "action": "insert", "content": "This paper explores...", "section": "Introduction"},
    {"tool": "edit", "action": "insert", "block_type": "section", "title": "Methods", "level": 1},
    {"tool": "layout", "font": "palatino", "columns": 2}
  ])

> render(action="compile")

Development

git clone https://github.com/aaronsb/texflow-mcp
cd texflow-mcp
uv sync
uv run pytest tests/ -v    # 222 tests
uv run texflow              # Start MCP server

License

MIT