LaTeX Forge

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Create ready-to-write LaTeX projects, browse a gallery of 80+ templates, and manage your whole LaTeX setup, without leaving VS Code or touching a terminal.

This extension is the visual companion of the LaTeX Forge CLI: pick a template, name your project, and start writing. The PDF preview is already wired up.

See it in action

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/24b4b492-e271-4a96-a629-db1df27909cb

Getting started

1. Install this extension (click Install on the banner above).
2. Click Set Up Now when it offers the one-time setup (or run LaTeX Forge: Install Everything). It installs the LaTeX Forge CLI and LaTeX — about 500 MB, a few minutes, no Python, terminal or administrator password needed — and checks that a test document compiles. No restart needed.
3. Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P) and run LaTeX Forge: Create Project.

That's it: pick a template, enter a name, choose a folder, and open your new project.

A Get Started with LaTeX Forge walkthrough also appears on VS Code's Welcome page after install, walking through the same steps plus the gallery and your profile.

Features

All commands live in the Command Palette under the LaTeX Forge: prefix and stream their output to the LaTeX Forge output channel.

Create Project

Pick a template (built-in or installed), enter a name, choose the destination folder, and the extension runs latex-forge create and offers to open the generated project. If the chosen folder already contains LaTeX files, it warns you before nesting projects.

Browse Template Gallery

A panel inside VS Code showing the curated templates from the gallery, with preview images, descriptions, tags, engine badges, and category + text filtering. Each card offers:

• Install: one click runs latex-forge template install
• Install & Create: installs the template, then jumps straight into project creation
• Preview PDF: full-size rendered preview in your browser
• View in gallery repo: the template's source on GitHub

Hovering a template in the Templates view also shows its preview image in a tooltip.

The gallery website also has an Open in VS Code button on every template; clicking it installs the template in this extension and jumps straight into project creation.

Templates view (activity bar)

A dedicated LaTeX Forge icon in the activity bar lists built-in and user-installed templates, with toolbar actions:

• Browse Template Gallery: opens the gallery panel
• Install Template: from a GitHub URL, ZIP URL, or local folder (any template with a main.tex works, not just gallery ones)
• Update Templates: checks the gallery for newer versions of your installed templates
• Remove Template: with confirmation
• Refresh: reloads the list

Project view & Rename

When the open workspace is a LaTeX Forge project, the Project view surfaces project actions, including Rename Current Project: folder, main .tex file, and build artifacts are renamed consistently via latex-forge rename.

Edit Profile

A form inside VS Code to edit your LaTeX Forge profile (name, email, university, supervisor…) stored in ~/.latex-forge/profile.toml. Every project you create afterwards is pre-filled with these values, the same file the CLI's latex-forge profile uses.

Configure Defaults

Reads and writes default_template and default_output_dir in ~/.latex-forge.toml through a simple menu (no manual TOML editing).

One-click setup

• Install Everything: installs whatever is missing, with a progress notification:
  • the LaTeX Forge CLI, through uv (downloaded and checksum-verified by the extension), on a Python uv manages — nothing to install beforehand, and a system Python upgrade can't break it;
  • LaTeX: you choose Light (TinyTeX in your home folder, ~500 MB, the default), Full (all of TeX Live, ~2 GB) or System (MacTeX / MiKTeX / TeX Live through your package manager, run in a terminal since it needs your password). A distribution you already have is detected and left alone;
  • the recommended VS Code extensions (LaTeX Workshop, LTeX+, spell checkers, Live Share);
  • then a test compile. New tools are added to VS Code's PATH (and new terminals') immediately: no restart.
• Until the setup is done, a finish setup item shows in the status bar and the LaTeX Forge panel.
• Missing packages, installed for you: with the light distribution, when a compile (LaTeX Workshop's compile on save included) reports a missing package, font or bibliography style, the extension installs it and recompiles. Turn it off with latexForge.autoInstallPackages.

Setup Environment & Diagnose

• Setup Environment: everything above, plus finer options — check only, choose the LaTeX distribution, install only the recommended extensions, install the GitHub CLI, or repair LaTeX (reinstall TinyTeX after a new TeX Live year, keeping your packages).
• Diagnose Environment: runs latex-forge diagnose and presents the health check (the CLI and how it's installed, the LaTeX distribution, latexmk, biber, GitHub CLI, profile, defaults) with actionable fixes and an Install everything button.

CLI updates

The extension checks once per session whether a newer CLI version is on PyPI and offers a one-click upgrade with the tool that installed it (uv tool upgrade or pipx upgrade; also available manually via Check for CLI Update). A status bar item signals when an update is available.

Commands

Requirements

• The latex-forge CLI: the extension is a thin wrapper around it and duplicates none of its logic. Install Everything installs it for you; if you prefer, uv tool install latex-forge or pipx install latex-forge work too.
• A LaTeX distribution for compiling: Install Everything installs one (no administrator password), or uses the one you have.
• LaTeX Workshop is recommended for the live PDF preview; generated projects are pre-configured for it.

Privacy note: the network is only used by the gallery panel (it fetches gallery.json and preview images from raw.githubusercontent.com), the PyPI version check, and the setup, which downloads uv and TinyTeX from GitHub releases, latex-forge and a Python from PyPI / python-build-standalone (through uv), and LaTeX packages from CTAN mirrors. Everything else only talks to the local CLI.

Extension Settings

• latexForge.autoInstallPackages (default true): when a compile reports a missing LaTeX package, font or bibliography style, install it and recompile — only with a distribution that allows it without administrator rights, such as the light TinyTeX.

Defaults that influence latex-forge create live in ~/.latex-forge.toml and are managed with LaTeX Forge: Configure Defaults.

Known Limitations

• The one-click setup needs an internet connection. With a System distribution (or a system-wide TeX Live), missing packages can't be installed automatically: the extension shows the command to run.

Release Notes

See the CHANGELOG.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome on the GitHub repository. See CONTRIBUTING.md for setting up the development environment, building, and testing.

License

MIT

Related projects

• latex-forge: the CLI this extension drives
• latex-forge-gallery: the template gallery and its browsable website
• latex-forge-skill: a Claude skill that drives the whole workflow from a conversation

Author

Made by thmsgo18