MarkTex

Overleaf For People Who Think In Markdown.

I built this because writing LaTeX directly in Overleaf felt tedious for my day-to-day workflow. I moved to Markdown + Pandoc in VS Code, but that became command-heavy very quickly, and previewing output meant constantly switching context. I wanted one small, offline tool where I can write Markdown and see a live PDF preview in real time.

MarkTex is that tool.

What This Repository Contains

1. MarkTex: a local-first desktop writing app (editor + project manager + live PDF preview + version control).
2. MarkPDF: a Markdown-to-PDF tool that opens as localhost browser tab.

The idea is simple: MarkTex for full writing workflow, MarkPDF for quick conversion jobs. Detailed MarkPDF notes are in artifacts/artifacts/markpdf-cli/README.md.

What It Looks Like

MarkTex

MarkPDF

Core Behavior

• Write Markdown in a CodeMirror-based editor.
• Get live PDF preview through a local render pipeline.
• Organize writing into projects/files.
• Keep version history and restore past states.
• Export to PDF from a local/offline setup.

Install (Windows)

1. Open Releases.
2. Download the latest MarkTex installer.
3. Run the installer and launch MarkTex.
4. Optional: install MarkPDF from the same release artifacts.

Quick Start

MarkTex (desktop app)

pnpm install
pnpm --filter @workspace/marktex run tauri:dev

MarkPDF (CLI + localhost UI)

pnpm install
pnpm --filter @workspace/markpdf-cli run dev

If MarkPDF is installed globally on Windows, you can use:

markpdf --version
markpdf --help
markpdf
markpdf uninstall

MarkPDF at a glance

• Accepts .md / .markdown files and project bundles.
• Supports folder upload or .zip upload workflows.
• Applies markdownlint-style auto-fixes for common formatting issues.
• Converts through Pandoc.
• Supports batch mode (up to 50 files).
• Returns a single PDF for one file, or a ZIP for batch output.

Warning: MarkPDF is an experimental tool and is not guaranteed to work.

Development

For web development of the editor + backend, run these in separate terminals:

cd artifacts/artifacts/api-server
PORT=8080 pnpm run dev

cd artifacts/artifacts/marktex
pnpm run dev

Note: in browser-based dev, keep API requests relative (/api) and use the Vite proxy.

Build and Test

Workspace-level checks:

pnpm run typecheck
pnpm run test
pnpm run build

Windows desktop build:

pnpm --filter @workspace/marktex run tauri:build:windows

MarkPDF Windows CLI payload:

pnpm --filter @workspace/markpdf-cli run dist:win

Stack

• Desktop shell: Tauri 2
• Frontend: React + Vite + CodeMirror
• Backend: Express + WebSocket
• Rendering: Pandoc + Typst
• Data: SQLite (libSQL) + Drizzle ORM

Use Cases

• Writing papers, reports, or notes in Markdown while seeing PDF layout live.
• Running a local-first writing workflow that works fully offline.
• Managing multi-file writing projects with restorable version history.
• Converting single files or batches to PDF quickly with MarkPDF.
• Keeping source content clean in Markdown while exporting publication-ready PDFs.

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.

License

Distributed under the terms of the [MIT license][license], MarkTex is free and open source software.

Issues & Support

If you encounter any problems:

• File an Issue: Bug reports and feature requests
• Discussions: Questions and community support
• Documentation: Project docs and release notes

AI Usage Disclosure

Parts of this project (code, docs, and release automation) are developed with AI assistance. AI-assisted changes are reviewed and validated by the author before release.

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