EXP-002 · active
TexForge
Movable type once took a workshop. Now it takes one binary.
A single Rust binary that scaffolds, lints, formats and compiles documents — the LaTeX engine arrives by itself on first build, and Mermaid, Graphviz or D2 diagrams render inside your .tex files with no browser and no Node.js.
curl -fsSL https://get.univerlab.org/texforge | sh irm https://get.univerlab.org/texforge.ps1 | iex Born from a thesis.
A master’s thesis, written with AI in the loop. Overleaf wanted my money or my patience; TeXstudio dragged in MiKTeX; VSCode wanted an extension for everything. All I wanted was Mermaid diagrams in my LaTeX — which of course meant Node and a pile of .mmd files. I duct-taped a latexmake to render the missing ones. It held the way duct tape holds. And every error sent the model scrolling a thousand-line build log to find one bad line. TexForge is the tool I should have had from the start: one binary, one skill, zero ceremony.
\begin{mermaid}
flowchart LR
tex[.tex] --> lint --> typeset
typeset --> pdf[(PDF)]
lint -.->|error| log
\end{mermaid}- 01Compose — templates with placeholders that already know your name.
- 02Proof — a linter that catches broken refs, missing files and unclosed environments before the press runs.
- 03Set — one canonical format, like rustfmt for .tex. Clean diffs forever.
- 04Illustrate — Mermaid, Graphviz and D2 blocks become figures at build time, rendered in pure Rust.
- 05Print — Tectonic compiles deterministically; watch mode reprints as you write.
texforge-templates ↗
An open registry of LaTeX templates with placeholders — APA, IEEE, reports, letters and more. The general template ships embedded in the binary so creating a document works even offline.
FAQ
- What problem does TexForge solve?
- Compiling LaTeX normally requires installing TeX Live (4+ GB), then separate tools for Mermaid, Graphviz, and D2 diagrams — each with its own setup. TexForge is a single ~15 MB binary that handles everything: scaffolding, linting, formatting, diagrams, and compilation.
- Can AI agents use TexForge to work with LaTeX?
- Yes. An agent can run `texforge build` without installing anything — the LaTeX engine downloads on first use. Errors are concise (not 1000-line logs), and diagrams render inside `.tex` files without Node.js or external tools.
- Does TexForge support Mermaid and D2 diagrams in LaTeX?
- Yes. Write a Mermaid, Graphviz, or D2 block directly in your `.tex` file. TexForge renders it to a figure at build time, in pure Rust, with no browser or Node.js required.