Semantic Researcher Overleaf

Open Overleaf (ShareLaTeX) projects in VS Code with local replica workflows tuned for semantic-researcher use.

This extension is a fork of Overleaf Workshop. It keeps the upstream AGPL-3.0 license and original contributor credits while carrying local workflow fixes for this fork.

User Guide

The user guide is available in docs/wiki.md.

Features

[!NOTE] Login in Browser is the recommended default, especially for https://www.overleaf.com, SSO, two-factor authentication, or captcha-enabled servers. It opens a dedicated extension-owned desktop-browser profile. Choose Remember Login Browser on first use to keep that profile's session for later logins, or Use Once to delete it afterward. It does not access your normal browser's existing Overleaf or Google profile.

Login Server, Open Projects and Edit Files
On-the-fly Compiling and Previewing

Ctrl+Alt+B to compile, Ctrl+Alt+V preview.
SyncTeX and Reverse SyncTeX

Ctrl+Alt+J to jump to PDF. Double click on PDF to jump to source code
Chat with Collaborators
Open Project Locally, Compile/Preview with LaTeX-Workshop

Use Open Project Locally ... to create a replica under a parent folder, or Select Project Folder Locally ... to use an exact folder as the replica root while keeping the current VS Code window and activating local Overleaf features against that folder.

In the project list, hover over a project to use the default inline actions: open in the current window, open in a new window, or select an exact local folder for that project. The folder selection action is placed at the right edge for quick local-replica setup.

Files written directly on disk, including unopened source files and images written by coding agents, synchronize to Overleaf. Overleaf collaborator changes synchronize back to the selected folder. The replica records a durable baseline and reports a conflict when both sides changed and a safe merge cannot be proven.

Local Replica sync resumes when the extension is activated by VS Code startup, the Overleaf Activity Bar, an Overleaf command, an Overleaf virtual workspace, or a workspace that contains .semantic-researcher-overleaf/settings.json or legacy .overleaf/settings.json. Startup activation restores a previously selected external replica from the current window's workspace state when its marker file still exists; otherwise no Overleaf project connection or replica sync is started.

[!IMPORTANT] One VS Code window has one active Local Replica. Selecting a different project first confirms and disconnects the current live replica without deleting its local files, then activates the new project with isolated project state. Use a separate VS Code window when you need two replicas live at the same time.

Choose Login in Browser from the login method list. The extension opens a Chrome, Edge, or Chromium window and navigates to the Overleaf project page, which shows the login page when needed. Sign in there as usual, including Google, SSO, or two-factor authentication. Once Overleaf reaches the project page, the extension reads the browser session cookies and completes the same cookie login flow automatically.

On first use for each server, choose Remember Login Browser or Use Once. A remembered profile stays on this device after the browser closes, so future browser logins reuse its session while it remains valid; expired or revoked sessions can still require sign-in. Remembering also retains any Google/SSO session used inside that dedicated browser. Only cookies applicable to the Overleaf project URL are handed to the extension. A one-time profile is deleted after the login attempt. Your normal browser profile is never opened, copied, or read.

To forget a remembered profile, run Semantic Researcher Overleaf: Clear Remembered Login Browser Session from the Command Palette and select the server. In Remote windows, this forwards to the local Remote Pack; you can also run Overleaf Remote Pack: Clear Remembered Login Browser Session locally. Close all dedicated login browsers for that server in every VS Code window before clearing. Clearing removes the browser's remembered Overleaf/Google/SSO sessions and resets the consent choice; it does not log out the extension's existing API session or your normal browser. Use Logout separately for the extension session.

Profiles are isolated by server URL (including self-hosted installation prefix), extension storage location, and browser executable. Changing the browser executable or switching between local and Remote Pack storage can require signing in once again. Profile directories use restrictive POSIX permissions where supported; on Windows they inherit the VS Code storage directory's ACLs. This is browser-profile storage, not a promise that all browser session data is encrypted. Login/clear operations in the same extension host are guarded; Chromium supplies cross-process profile locking, and launch failures never silently replace or delete a remembered profile. Clearing requires you to close browsers in other VS Code windows first.

Login keeps Chromium's sandbox enabled and does not request Playwright's basic-password-store or mock-keychain defaults. Available protection still depends on the browser and OS; Linux needs a working configured keyring. If a root/headless Linux environment cannot run the sandboxed browser, use the local Remote Pack on a desktop rather than disabling the sandbox.

In a local VS Code window, no extra extension is needed. In a VS Code Remote window, install Semantic Researcher Overleaf Remote Pack locally so the remote extension can ask your desktop VS Code to open the local browser. For VSIX installs, install the main extension in the remote window and the Remote Pack VSIX in the local desktop VS Code. If the browser is not found automatically, set semantic-researcher-overleaf.auth.browserPath for the main extension or semantic-researcher-overleaf-remote-pack.browserPath for the Remote Pack.

In an already logged-in browser (Firefox for example):

Choose Login with Cookies to reuse that session manually without logging in again. Cookie input is masked, but the cookie is an account credential: copy only the Overleaf request header for the configured server, never Google cookies, and never share it in chat, logs, or screenshots.

Open "Developer Tools" (usually by pressing F12) and switch to the "Network" tab;

Then, navigate to the Overleaf main page (e.g., https://www.overleaf.com) in the address bar.
Filter the listed items with /project and select the exact match.
Check the "Cookie" under "Request Headers" of the selected item and copy its value to login.

The format of the Cookie value would be like: overleaf_session2=... or sharelatex.sid=...

Compatibility

The following Overleaf (ShareLatex) Community Edition docker images provided on Docker Hub have been tested and verified to be compatible with this extension.

[x] sharelatex/sharelatex:5.0.4 (verified by @Mingbo-Lee)
[x] sharelatex/sharelatex:4.2.4
[x] sharelatex/sharelatex:4.1 (verified by @iamhyc)
[x] sharelatex/sharelatex:3.5 (verified by @iamhyc)
[ ] sharelatex/sharelatex:3.4
[ ] sharelatex/sharelatex:3.3
[ ] sharelatex/sharelatex:3.2
[ ] sharelatex/sharelatex:3.1
[ ] sharelatex/sharelatex:3.0

Development

Please refer to the development guidance in CONTRIBUTING.md

Semantic Researcher Overleaf

alex6095