TexSet

A fast, local-first LaTeX editor. Write LaTeX on the left, watch the PDF build on the right. Everything runs on your machine: no accounts, no external APIs, no cloud. Your documents are just files in a folder you control.

In active development. TexSet is usable today but still growing, and not everything is polished yet. Bug reports, ideas, and feedback are very welcome — open an issue and let me know what works and what doesn't.

It's built to be modular. Today it compiles LaTeX with xelatex (driven by latexmk); the editor and compiler sit behind an engine abstraction so Typst support can drop in later. The accent color follows the document type (green for LaTeX) so you always know what you're editing.

What you can do

• Editor — CodeMirror 6 with LaTeX highlighting, a formatting toolbar (bold, italic, headings, lists, math), and autocomplete for commands, environments, packages, and your own \ref/\cite/\label.
• Live preview — the PDF rebuilds as you type (2s debounce) with a manual compile button, pinch-to-zoom, and zoom controls. Errors are listed and click to jump to the offending line.
• Real LaTeX — latexmk runs bibtex/biber and makeindex and reruns as needed, so citations, bibliographies, indexes, and cross-references resolve. The Docker image ships the full TeX Live plus common fonts.
• Multiple files — add and edit several .tex files, with \input/\include from the main one.
• Images & assets — upload images (drag and drop), preview them, insert \includegraphics, and rename or delete files.
• Projects — a gallery with Word-like previews, pin to top, rename, and delete with confirmation.
• Templates — article, letter, résumé, and a Beamer presentation, each with a preview.
• Import / export — open a .tex as a new project; download your source or any asset.
• Dark mode — a light/dark toggle that's remembered between visits.
• Keyboard shortcuts — save (Ctrl/Cmd+S) and compile (Ctrl/Cmd+Enter).

Running it

Docker (recommended)

Bundles Node and a full TeX Live, so you don't set up a LaTeX toolchain yourself.

git clone https://github.com/texset/texset.git
cd texset
docker compose up --build

Open http://localhost:7474. Your projects appear in ./projects on your machine. The first build is large because it installs TeX Live; later builds are fast. See docs/SELF_HOSTING.md for configuration.

Desktop app

A desktop build (Electron) is in progress so the app can be installed from the Microsoft Store and run without Docker. It bundles a small TeX distribution (TinyTeX) and falls back to a system install if you already have one. See desktop/README.md.

Local development

You'll need Node.js 20+, pnpm, and — to actually compile — a LaTeX engine on your PATH (TeX Live or MiKTeX). Without one, the app runs and shows a banner explaining how to install it.

pnpm install
pnpm dev

The dev server runs on http://localhost:7474.

How it's built

Layer	Choice
Framework	Next.js 14 (App Router)
Language	TypeScript, strict mode
Styling	Tailwind CSS v3
Editor	CodeMirror 6
PDF viewer	pdf.js
Index	SQLite (better-sqlite3)
TeX engine	latexmk + xelatex (TeX Live)
Container	Docker, node:20-bookworm-slim

More detail in docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.

Contributing & feedback

Contributions and feedback are welcome — see docs/CONTRIBUTING.md for the branching and pull request workflow, and the issue templates for bug reports and feature requests.

License

MIT