TeXstudio Projects

MCP (Model Context Protocol) server over stdio for TeXstudio and LaTeX projects. It helps AI clients read and edit sources inside a project folder, run latexmk and bibliography tools, inspect logs, preview PDFs, use SyncTeX, run ChkTeX, and optionally read TeXstudio profile files on the host.

Version: see pyproject.toml or texstudio_mcp.__version__.

What it does

• Project sandbox: Paths are resolved under a workspace_root you provide. Relative paths cannot escape the root (.. and absolute paths are rejected).
• Read & search: Read .tex/.bib/etc., grep the tree, list LaTeX-related files, statically scan \input, \includegraphics, bibliographies, and more in a single .tex file.
• Edit: Replace line ranges or write new files (UTF-8, LF).
• Build: latexmk -pdf, plus bibtex / biber on a job basename, or a combined pipeline (latexmk → bib → optional extra latexmk passes). Heuristic .log / .blg parsing.
• PDF & SyncTeX: pdfinfo metadata, pdftotext previews, synctex view / synctex edit when those tools are on PATH.
• Lint: chktex on one file, a list of files, or all .tex files discovered in the workspace.
• TeXstudio hints (optional): Read texstudio.ini or lastSession.txss from OS config locations — not part of the project sandbox. Useful for suggested_job_basename when orchestrating builds.

External commands (latexmk, pdflatex, bibtex, biber, pdfinfo, pdftotext, synctex, chktex) must be installed separately (e.g. TeX Live, MiKTeX, Poppler). The server only checks PATH and invokes them with timeouts and truncated output.

Install

• Python 3.10+

git clone https://github.com/ChenAI-TGF/texstudio-mcp.git
cd texstudio-mcp
python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
pip install -e .

Optional BibTeX parsing via bibtexparser:

pip install -e ".[bibtex]"

Then use validate_bib_file(..., use_bibtexparser=true).

Run

python -m texstudio_mcp

Or, after install:

texstudio-mcp

Cursor configuration (example)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "texstudio-mcp": {
      "command": "c:\\Users\\YOU\\path\\to\\texstudio-mcp\\.venv\\Scripts\\python.exe",
      "args": ["-m", "texstudio_mcp"],
      "cwd": "c:\\Users\\YOU\\path\\to\\texstudio-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use your actual clone path and venv python.exe.

Tool reference

Server & toolchain

Tool	Description
get_server_info	Python executable, platform, package version
health_check_tex_toolchain	Which of latexmk, pdflatex, xelatex, lualatex, tectonic, bibtex, biber, chktex, pdfinfo, pdftotext, synctex are on PATH

Workspace paths

Tool	Description
validate_workspace_root	Confirm directory exists; return normalized absolute path
resolve_safe_project_path	Resolve a relative path inside workspace_root

Read & analyze sources

Tool	Description
read_project_file	Read a UTF-8 file (optional line range, max_chars cap)
grep_project	Regex search across project text files
list_latex_related_files	List .tex, .bib, .sty, etc. (skips .git, .venv, …)
parse_tex_dependencies	Static dependency scan for one .tex (inputs, graphics with \graphicspath, packages, .bst, bibliographies). Optional workspace_manifest mode lists assets in the tree. Does not run TeX.

Edit sources

Tool	Description
replace_project_lines	Replace a 1-based inclusive line range
write_project_file	Create or overwrite a file (overwrite=true to replace)

Compile & bibliography

Tool	Description
compile_latex_document	Run latexmk -pdf for main_tex under workspace_root. Returns summary, short stdout_tail / stderr_tail, wall_clock_ms.
compile_latex_then_run_bibliography_on_job	One locked sequence: latexmk → bibtex or biber → optional extra latexmk passes (post_bibliography_latexmk_passes 0–2, bibliography_cycles 1–4). Empty job_name defaults from main_tex; bibliography_tool=auto picks backend from .aux/.bcf.
guess_job_bibliography_backend	Read-only hint: biber vs bibtex from JOB.bcf / JOB.aux
run_bibtex_on_job	Run bibtex with sandboxed working directory
run_biber_on_job	Run biber with sandboxed working directory
analyze_latex_log	Heuristic scan of a .log tail
analyze_bibliography_log	Heuristic scan of a .blg

Concurrency: For a given workspace_root, only one of compile_latex_document, run_bibtex_on_job, run_biber_on_job, or compile_latex_then_run_bibliography_on_job runs at a time inside the same MCP process. A second call gets concurrent_workspace_exclusive_blocked. Separate MCP instances do not coordinate.

Bibliography files & PDF

Tool	Description
validate_bib_file	Check .bib for duplicate keys, rough brace balance; optional whitespace normalize / write-back
read_pdf_metadata	pdfinfo on a sandboxed PDF
extract_pdf_text_preview	pdftotext excerpt (max_pages, max_chars; optional suggestion_locale en/zh when truncated)
resolve_synctex_forward	TeX position → PDF (synctex view)
resolve_synctex_backward	PDF click → TeX (synctex edit)

ChkTeX

Tool	Description
run_chktex_on_tex	Lint one .tex
batch_run_chktex_on_tex	Lint a list of .tex paths
run_chktex_on_workspace	Discover .tex files, then lint (with file count caps)

TeXstudio profile (host only)

Tool	Description
read_texstudio_profile_snapshot	Read texstudio.ini or lastSession.txss from TeXstudio config dirs (or texstudio_config_dir / texstudio_ini_path). include_parsed_hints=true may return suggested_job_basename. Not restricted to workspace_root — use only in trusted environments.

Usage notes

workspace_root and main_tex

• If workspace_root is the folder that contains the main .tex, pass only the basename (e.g. paper.tex) — the server avoids redundant latexmk -cd.
• If workspace_root is the repository root, pass a relative path (e.g. chapters/paper.tex); latexmk runs in that subfolder via -cd.

Build time and logs

• Builds spawn real latexmk/engine processes; wall time is often longer than a single IDE compile. Use wall_clock_ms in the response.
• Tool output is truncated for MCP JSON size; read full .log files with read_project_file.

Limits

• Bibliography pipeline runs a bounded number of latexmk/bib cycles — not an open-ended “compile until done” loop.
• Profile and config reads access files outside your LaTeX project by design.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.