# Latex Engine

> >

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-tobiasblask-open-paper-machine-latex-engine`
- **Verified:** Pending review
- **Seller:** [TobiasBlask](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/tobiasblask)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [TobiasBlask](https://github.com/TobiasBlask)
- **Source:** https://github.com/TobiasBlask/open-paper-machine/tree/main/skills/latex-engine

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-tobiasblask-open-paper-machine-latex-engine
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

> **Orchestration Log**: When this skill is activated, append a log entry to `outputs/orchestration_log.md`:
> ```
> ### Skill Activation: LaTeX Engine
> **Timestamp:** [current date/time]
> **Actor:** AI Agent (latex-engine)
> **Input:** [brief description of the export request]
> **Output:** [brief description of what was produced — e.g., "Compiled paper.tex to PDF (24 pages), no errors"]
> ```

# LaTeX Engine

## Core Principle
The paper machine works in markdown throughout Phases 1-5 for speed and flexibility.
This engine is the **final production step**: it takes the completed draft.md,
references.bib, and figures/ and produces a submission-ready LaTeX project with
compiled PDF using the arxiv-style template (https://github.com/kourgeorge/arxiv-style).

## Prerequisites

**Required files in the working directory:**
- `draft.md` — complete paper draft from Phase 5
- `references.bib` — BibTeX file from literature search
- `figures/` — directory with generated PNG figures (optional but recommended)

**Required system packages for PDF compilation:**
- `texlive` or equivalent LaTeX distribution with `pdflatex` and `bibtex`
- Install if missing: `apt-get install -y texlive-latex-base texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-bibtex-extra`

**Plugin files used:**
- `templates/arxiv.sty` — the arxiv-style LaTeX style file
- `scripts/md_to_latex.py` — the markdown-to-LaTeX converter

---

## When to Activate

- User says "export to LaTeX", "generate PDF", "make it submission-ready"
- After Phase 5 (Assembly) completes in the paper machine pipeline
- User explicitly asks for `.tex` output
- User mentions arXiv submission preparation

---

## Conversion Pipeline

### Step 1: Prepare the LaTeX Project Directory

Create a `latex/` subdirectory with the proper structure:

```
latex/
├── arxiv.sty          ← copied from templates/
├── paper.tex          ← generated by md_to_latex.py
├── references.bib     ← copied from working dir
├── figures/           ← copied from working dir
│   ├── fig_method_*.png
│   ├── fig_results_*.png
│   └── ...
└── paper.pdf          ← compiled output
```

### Step 2: Run the Converter

```python
import sys, shutil
from pathlib import Path

# Paths
plugin_dir = Path(".")  # or wherever the plugin is
work_dir = Path(".")     # project working directory
latex_dir = work_dir / "latex"
latex_dir.mkdir(exist_ok=True)

# Copy arxiv.sty
shutil.copy(plugin_dir / "templates" / "arxiv.sty", latex_dir / "arxiv.sty")

# Copy references.bib
shutil.copy(work_dir / "references.bib", latex_dir / "references.bib")

# Copy figures
figures_src = work_dir / "figures"
if figures_src.exists():
    figures_dst = latex_dir / "figures"
    if figures_dst.exists():
        shutil.rmtree(figures_dst)
    shutil.copytree(figures_src, figures_dst)

# Run converter
sys.path.insert(0, str(plugin_dir / "scripts"))
from md_to_latex import md_to_latex, compile_pdf

tex_content = md_to_latex(
    md_path=str(work_dir / "draft.md"),
    bib_path=str(work_dir / "references.bib"),
    title=None,       # auto-detect from draft.md
    authors=None,      # user provides or TODO marker
    header_right="A Preprint",
)

tex_path = latex_dir / "paper.tex"
tex_path.write_text(tex_content, encoding="utf-8")
print(f"LaTeX written: {tex_path}")
```

### Step 3: Compile to PDF

```python
# Compile: pdflatex → bibtex → pdflatex → pdflatex
pdf_path = compile_pdf(str(tex_path))
if pdf_path:
    print(f"PDF ready: {pdf_path}")
else:
    print("Compilation had issues — check paper.log")
```

### Step 4: Validate Output

After compilation, verify:
1. **Citation resolution**: Check for undefined references in the `.log` file
2. **Figure inclusion**: Verify all `\includegraphics` paths resolve
3. **BibTeX entries**: Check that all `\citep`/`\citet` keys exist in `.bib`
4. **Page count**: Report total pages
5. **TODO markers**: List any remaining `% TODO:` comments

```python
import re

log_path = latex_dir / "paper.log"
if log_path.exists():
    log_text = log_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8", errors="ignore")

    # Undefined references
    undef = re.findall(r"Citation `([^']+)' undefined", log_text)
    if undef:
        print(f"⚠️  Undefined citations: {undef}")

    # Missing figures
    missing_figs = re.findall(r"File `([^']+)' not found", log_text)
    if missing_figs:
        print(f"⚠️  Missing figures: {missing_figs}")

    # Page count
    pages = re.findall(r"Output written on .+ \((\d+) page", log_text)
    if pages:
        print(f"📄 PDF: {pages[0]} pages")

# TODO markers in .tex
tex_text = tex_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
todos = re.findall(r"% TODO: (.+)", tex_text)
if todos:
    print(f"📝 Remaining TODOs ({len(todos)}):")
    for t in todos:
        print(f"   - {t}")
```

---

## Citation Conversion Details

The converter handles these citation patterns:

| Markdown Pattern | LaTeX Output |
|---|---|
| `(Smith, 2023)` | `\citep{smith2023}` |
| `(Smith & Jones, 2023)` | `\citep{smithjones2023}` |
| `(Smith et al., 2023)` | `\citep{smithetal2023}` |
| `Smith (2023)` | `\citet{smith2023}` |
| `Smith et al. (2023)` | `\citet{smithetal2023}` |
| `(Smith, 2023; Jones, 2024)` | `\citep{smith2023, jones2024}` |

**Resolution process:**
1. Parse all BibTeX entries → extract (LastName, Year) pairs
2. For each citation in markdown, match against the BibTeX index
3. Exact match → use BibTeX key directly
4. Fuzzy match → try without accents, partial first name
5. No match → generate fallback key, leave `% TODO` comment

---

## Author Block

Authors can be provided in three ways:

**Option A: Via command arguments**
```
--author "Tobias Blask;;University of Applied Sciences;;blask@university.de"
--author "Co-Author Name;;Other University;;coauthor@uni.de"
```

**Option B: Via the converter function**
```python
tex = md_to_latex(
    md_path="draft.md",
    bib_path="references.bib",
    authors=[
        "Tobias Blask;;HTW Berlin;;tobias.blask@htw-berlin.de",
        "Co-Author;;Institution;;email@inst.de",
    ],
)
```

**Option C: Edit the .tex file directly**
The generated .tex has a clear author block section to edit manually.

---

## Table Conversion

Markdown tables are converted to LaTeX `booktabs` tables:

```markdown
| Column A | Column B | Column C |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Data 1   | Data 2   | Data 3   |
```

Becomes:

```latex
\begin{table}[htbp]
\centering
\begin{tabular}{lll}
\toprule
\textbf{Column A} & \textbf{Column B} & \textbf{Column C} \\
\midrule
Data 1 & Data 2 & Data 3 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
```

For concept matrix tables (which can be wide), the converter wraps in `\adjustbox{max width=\textwidth}`.

---

## Figure Handling

**From figure-engine (LaTeX already in draft.md):**
If the draft already contains `\begin{figure}...\end{figure}` blocks (from the figure-engine),
they are passed through as-is.

**From markdown images:**
`` is converted to:
```latex
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{figures/filename.png}
\caption{Caption}
\label{fig:auto_label}
\end{figure}
```

---

## Troubleshooting

| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| `arxiv.sty not found` | Ensure arxiv.sty is copied to the same directory as paper.tex |
| `Citation undefined` | BibTeX key mismatch — check references.bib has the expected keys |
| `Missing figure` | Check figures/ directory is in the latex/ folder |
| `Font not found` | Install texlive-fonts-recommended |
| `natbib errors` | Ensure natbib package is installed (texlive-latex-extra) |
| `Compilation hangs` | Check for infinite loops in .tex — usually malformed tables |

---

## arXiv Submission Preparation

For arXiv upload, the user needs:
1. `paper.tex` — the generated .tex file
2. `arxiv.sty` — the style file
3. `references.bib` — OR the `.bbl` file (generated during compilation)
4. `figures/` — all PNG figures

**Important:** arXiv doesn't always process `.bib` files correctly. To be safe:
1. Copy the contents of `paper.bbl` (generated during compilation)
2. Paste into `paper.tex` replacing the `\bibliography{references}` line
3. Comment out the `\bibliographystyle` and `\bibliography` lines

The converter can prepare this automatically with `--arxiv-bundle` (copies .bbl inline).

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [TobiasBlask](https://github.com/TobiasBlask)
- **Source:** [TobiasBlask/open-paper-machine](https://github.com/TobiasBlask/open-paper-machine)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** yes
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: flagged — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-tobiasblask-open-paper-machine-latex-engine
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/tobiasblask
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

---
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