SnapTeX is a lightweight, ultra-fast LaTeX previewer for Visual Studio Code. Unlike traditional previewers, it does not require a full TeX distribution (like TeXLive or MiKTeX) to function.
By using a custom high-speed regex parser, KaTeX, and Markdown-It, it provides near-instant structural and mathematical previews of your document, via several features including text-block splitter, diff checker and local renderer.
It is a demo based on the early conceptual proof, mume.parser for MPE.
Features
Instant Math Rendering: Real-time rendering of inline math $ ... $ and complex display math environments (e.g., equation, align, gather) using KaTeX.
Intelligent Math Protection: Uses a proprietary protection layer to ensure LaTeX math syntax is not corrupted by the Markdown parser.
Structural Previews: Renders hierarchical headers (\section to \subsubsection), abstracts, and keywords with academic styling.
Smart Bi-Directional Sync:
Forward Sync: Jump from the editor cursor to the exact location in the preview with ctrl+alt+n.
Reverse Sync: Double-click any element in the preview to jump to the corresponding line in the LaTeX source.
Macro Support: Real-time expansion of \newcommand, \def and \DeclareMathOperator definitions.
Advanced Environments Support (Basic demo works):
Algorithms: Renders pseudocode with keyword bolding (If, For, Return) and preserved indentation.
Tables: Converts standard tabular environments into clean HTML tables with support for internal math rendering.
Figures: Automatically resolves local image paths (e.g., \includegraphics{figures/plot.png}) and generates responsive webview previews.
Label Reference: Supports equation/section/figure/table/algorithm/theorem... labeling and cross-reference commands ref,label,eqref.
Requirements
SnapTeX is designed to be "zero-config." It works out of the box with no external dependencies.
Simply open a .tex file and run the preview command.
For math rendering, it uses an internal bundled version of KaTeX.
Extension Settings
Requirements
Known Issues and update plan
\ref\{\} in math envs does not render correctly.
Quotation marks like ``Note'' do not rendered correctly.
Complex Packages: Since this is a regex-based parser and not a full TeX engine, highly complex macro-heavy packages (like tikz or pgfplots) will be displayed as placeholders.
Citations: Currently displays cite placeholders; dynamic BibTeX bibliography rendering is planned for future updates.
