brycewang-stanford/overleaf-cli-guide

Overleaf CLI Guide

Sync, manage, and automate Overleaf LaTeX projects from the command line. Work in your preferred local editor while keeping Overleaf as the collaboration and compilation hub for your research team.

Overview

Overleaf is the dominant online LaTeX editor in academia, used by millions of researchers for collaborative paper writing. However, many researchers prefer local editors (VS Code, Neovim, Emacs) for their superior editing capabilities, version control integration, and ability to run custom scripts. The Overleaf CLI bridge enables a hybrid workflow: edit locally with full tooling, then sync changes to Overleaf for collaboration and compilation.

This skill covers three approaches to Overleaf CLI integration: Overleaf's built-in Git bridge (available on paid plans), the open-source overleaf-sync tool (works with free plans), and direct API interaction. Each approach has different trade-offs in terms of cost, features, and reliability.

Beyond simple sync, this guide covers automation workflows that are particularly valuable for research: automated bibliography updates from reference managers, figure regeneration from data analysis scripts, CI-based PDF compilation, and multi-author merge conflict resolution.

Overleaf Git Bridge

Overleaf Server Pro and paid plans include a Git bridge that exposes each project as a Git repository.

Setup

# Clone your Overleaf project (requires paid plan)
git clone https://git.overleaf.com/YOUR_PROJECT_ID my-paper
cd my-paper

# The remote is already configured
git remote -v
# origin  https://git.overleaf.com/YOUR_PROJECT_ID (fetch)
# origin  https://git.overleaf.com/YOUR_PROJECT_ID (push)

Daily Workflow

# Pull latest changes from collaborators
git pull origin master

# Edit locally in your preferred editor
vim main.tex

# Push changes back to Overleaf
git add -A
git commit -m "Revise methodology section"
git push origin master

Conflict Resolution

When collaborators edit the same section simultaneously:

git pull origin master
# If conflicts occur:
# 1. Open conflicted files
# 2. Resolve LaTeX merge conflicts (look for <<<<<<< markers)
# 3. Verify the document compiles
git add -A
git commit -m "Resolve merge conflict in results section"
git push origin master

Open-Source Sync Tools

overleaf-sync (Python)

For free Overleaf accounts without Git bridge access:

# Install
pip install overleaf-sync

# Login (stores credentials securely)
ols login

# List your projects
ols list

# Download a project
ols download "My Research Paper" --path ./my-paper

# Upload local changes
ols upload ./my-paper --project "My Research Paper"

# Two-way sync (pull then push)
ols sync ./my-paper --project "My Research Paper"

Automated Sync Script

#!/bin/bash
# sync-overleaf.sh - Run periodically or before/after editing sessions

PROJECT_DIR="$1"
PROJECT_NAME="$2"

echo "Pulling latest from Overleaf..."
ols download "$PROJECT_NAME" --path "$PROJECT_DIR" --skip-existing

echo "Compiling locally to verify..."
cd "$PROJECT_DIR"
latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode main.tex

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "Compilation successful. Pushing to Overleaf..."
    ols upload "$PROJECT_DIR" --project "$PROJECT_NAME"
else
    echo "Compilation failed. Fix errors before syncing."
    exit 1
fi

Automation Workflows

Auto-Update Bibliography from Zotero

import subprocess
from pathlib import Path

def sync_bibliography(zotero_lib_id, bib_file, project_dir):
    """Export Zotero library and sync to Overleaf project."""
    # Export from Zotero using Better BibTeX
    subprocess.run([
        "curl", "-s",
        f"http://localhost:23119/better-bibtex/export/library?/"
        f"{zotero_lib_id}/library.biblatex",
        "-o", str(Path(project_dir) / bib_file)
    ])
    print(f"Updated {bib_file} from Zotero library {zotero_lib_id}")

Auto-Regenerate Figures from Data

import subprocess
from pathlib import Path

def regenerate_figures(scripts_dir, figures_dir):
    """Run all figure generation scripts and update outputs."""
    scripts = sorted(Path(scripts_dir).glob("fig_*.py"))
    for script in scripts:
        print(f"Running {script.name}...")
        subprocess.run(["python", str(script)], cwd=figures_dir)

    print(f"Regenerated {len(scripts)} figures in {figures_dir}")

CI/CD PDF Compilation

# .github/workflows/compile-paper.yml
name: Compile LaTeX Paper
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
    paths: ['**.tex', '**.bib', '**.sty']

jobs:
  compile:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: texlive/texlive:latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Compile PDF
        run: |
          latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode main.tex
      - name: Upload PDF
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: paper-pdf
          path: main.pdf
      - name: Check for warnings
        run: |
          grep -i "warning" main.log | grep -v "Font" || true

Project Organization

Recommended directory structure for CLI-managed Overleaf projects:

my-paper/
  main.tex              # Main document
  sections/
    01-introduction.tex
    02-related-work.tex
    03-methodology.tex
    04-results.tex
    05-discussion.tex
    06-conclusion.tex
  figures/
    fig1-architecture.pdf
    fig2-results.pdf
  tables/
    tab1-comparison.tex
  references.bib
  custom.sty            # Custom LaTeX macros
  scripts/              # Not synced to Overleaf
    fig_architecture.py
    fig_results.py
    sync.sh
  .gitignore

.gitignore for LaTeX Projects

# LaTeX build artifacts
*.aux
*.bbl
*.blg
*.fdb_latexmk
*.fls
*.log
*.out
*.synctex.gz
*.toc

# Local scripts (don't sync to Overleaf)
scripts/

# OS files
.DS_Store

Editor Integration

VS Code

Install the "LaTeX Workshop" extension and configure local compilation:

{
  "latex-workshop.latex.tools": [
    {
      "name": "latexmk",
      "command": "latexmk",
      "args": ["-pdf", "-interaction=nonstopmode", "%DOC%"]
    }
  ]
}

Neovim with VimTeX

-- init.lua
vim.g.vimtex_compiler_method = 'latexmk'
vim.g.vimtex_view_method = 'skim'  -- macOS

Troubleshooting

| Issue | Solution | |-------|----------| | Git push rejected | Pull first, resolve conflicts, then push | | Sync tool authentication error | Re-run login, check 2FA settings | | Compilation differs locally vs Overleaf | Match TeX Live versions; Overleaf uses TeX Live 2024 | | Binary files (images) cause large diffs | Use .gitattributes to mark as binary | | Overleaf rate limiting | Add delays between API calls, use Git bridge if available |

References

• Overleaf Git bridge documentation: https://www.overleaf.com/learn/how-to/Git_integration
• overleaf-sync: https://github.com/moritzgloeckl/overleaf-sync
• LaTeX Workshop (VS Code): https://github.com/James-Yu/LaTeX-Workshop
• latexmk documentation: https://mg.readthedocs.io/latexmk.html