Architecture

mcp-latex exposes three tools over stdio. The analysis tools are pure and need no TeX; compile shells out to a TeX engine when one is available and degrades gracefully when it isn't.

flowchart LR
  C["AI client"] <-->|stdio / MCP| S["mcp-latex server"]
  S --> D["check_document<br/>(pure static analysis)"]
  S --> P["parse_log<br/>(pure .log parser)"]
  S --> K["compile"]
  K -->|if installed| T["latexmk / pdflatex"]
  K -->|if missing| G["available:false + guidance"]
  T --> P

Module map

Module	Responsibility
index.ts	MCP server; registers tools with zod schemas
lib/document.ts	Labels/refs/citations, undefined refs, unbalanced envs (pure)
lib/log.ts	Parse .log into errors/warnings/box counts (pure)
lib/compile.ts	Shell out to latexmk/pdflatex; never throws for a missing engine

Design principles

• Works without TeX — check_document and parse_log are pure, so the most useful tools need no install.
• Graceful degradation — compile returns available:false instead of throwing when no engine is present.
• Assistant-driven fixes — the server reports structured findings; the assistant edits.
• Tested — unit tests for the parsers, plus a stdio integration test.