vibeTeX

Capability Tiers

vibeTeX has four capability tiers that auto-detect and degrade gracefully. overleaf_whoami reports which are active right now.

vibeTeX is built around four capability tiers. They are auto-detected at startup and degrade gracefully — vibeTeX always offers the most it can given your environment. Call overleaf_whoami first in any session: it reports the active tiers, which TeX binaries are on PATH, and the configured projects.

The four tiers

1 · Git bridge — the robust core

The official Overleaf git authentication token gives full read/write plus commit history. This is the recommended path: your project becomes a real working copy you can pull, edit, push, and diff.

  • Needs: git installed and OVERLEAF_GIT_TOKEN. The token is an Overleaf premium feature (project Menu → Git).
  • Gives: overleaf_pull, overleaf_status, overleaf_push, overleaf_history, and all file ops.
  • Note: never auto-poll the git endpoint — it rate-limits with roughly a one-minute recovery.

2 · Open in Overleaf — no auth, one-way

Turn generated LaTeX (raw content, a file set, or a zip URL) into a brand-new Overleaf project via Overleaf's public "Open in Overleaf" endpoint.

  • Needs: nothing — always available.
  • Gives: overleaf_create_project. One-way: it creates a project, it does not sync back.

3 · Local / CLSI compile — no premium needed

Compile to PDF and parse the log without any Overleaf account, using a local TeX engine or a self-hosted CLSI.

  • Needs: latexmk (preferred), tectonic (zero-TeXLive), or pdflatex on PATH; or a VIBETEX_CLSI_URL.
  • Gives: latex_compile, latex_log, latex_get_pdf, and the quality checks.

4 · Session cookie — unofficial, experimental, OFF by default

The only way free-tier Overleaf users get list / pull / push / compile against their cloud projects. Best-effort and ToS-grey; you paste your own cookie.

  • Needs: VIBETEX_EXPERIMENTAL_SESSION=true and OVERLEAF_SESSION_COOKIE.
  • Gives: session-tier project listing and sync — see Free-tier (experimental).

Capability matrix

CapabilityGit bridgeOpen in OverleafLocal / CLSISession cookie
Auth requiredPaid git tokenNoneNoneYour session cookie
List projects✓——✓ (experimental)
Pull / read✓—local files✓ (experimental)
Edit / push✓—local files✓ (experimental)
Commit history✓———
Create new project—✓——
Compile to PDFvia local/CLSI—✓via local/CLSI
Quality checks✓—✓✓
Stabilityrobustrobustrobustbest-effort

What overleaf_whoami returns

overleaf_whoami is read-only and takes no arguments. It reports:

  • the active tiers (gitBridge, openInOverleaf, localCompile, clsi, experimentalSession);
  • which binaries are on PATH (latexmk, tectonic, pdflatex, xelatex, lualatex, chktex, latexindent, texcount);
  • configured projects (default + aliases) with their git URLs;
  • the resolved compile engine and the Overleaf base URLs.

Use it to decide: if git + token are present, prefer overleaf_pull / overleaf_push; otherwise use overleaf_create_project or a local latex_compile.

vibeTeX Documentation

vibeTeX is the everything Overleaf MCP server — a Git bridge, project sync, and LaTeX compile for Claude and any MCP client.

Configuration

All environment variables for vibeTeX — Overleaf auth, projects, compile, ops/production, and the remote OAuth server.

On this page

The four tiers1 · Git bridge — the robust core2 · Open in Overleaf — no auth, one-way3 · Local / CLSI compile — no premium needed4 · Session cookie — unofficial, experimental, OFF by defaultCapability matrixWhat overleaf_whoami returns