Overleaf Web MCP

Overleaf Web MCP

Read, edit, compile, and review your Overleaf projects, signed in as you, from Claude, Codex, Cursor, or any MCP client, or from a shell or a TypeScript program.

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Overleaf Web MCP is a Model Context Protocol server, the overleaf-web-mcp command line, and a TypeScript library, createOverleafClient from overleaf-web-mcp/core, all over one engine with the same safety checks. It signs in to Overleaf once through a browser window you control, then lets an AI assistant, a script, or your own program work on your projects the way you would in the web editor: browse files, make revision-checked edits, optionally as tracked changes, compile, and handle review comments and tracked changes. It uses the same browser-facing endpoints the Overleaf editor uses, so no Git integration or premium plan is needed for the core workflow.

What you can say

Once connected, talk to your assistant in plain language. It picks the tools.

• "Create a new project called *Grant renewal* from the folder I zipped, and make proposal.tex the root."
• "List my Overleaf projects and open the one called *Thesis*."
• "Rewrite the introduction of main.tex for a general audience, as a tracked change."
• "Compile the paper and tell me whether it built cleanly, and where any errors are."
• "Which figures in ./figures differ from what's in the project? Upload only those."
• "Make the project match ~/papers/thesis, and show me what would be deleted first."
• "Summarize the open review comments and reply to the one about Table 2."
• "Go through the tracked changes in main.tex with me, and accept the ones I approve."

Get started

You need Node.js 20 or newer, a Chrome-family browser (Chrome, Chromium, Brave, or Edge), and an Overleaf account.

[!NOTE]

The server uses Overleaf's private web APIs, which can change without notice, and automating www.overleaf.com may carry Terms-of-Service and account risk. Try it on a disposable project first and keep request volume low.

1. Sign in once. A dedicated browser window opens. Complete the normal Overleaf login, including SSO or two-factor. Only cookies for the Overleaf origin are saved, to a file only your user can read. The session lasts five days from its last use, so sign in again after five idle days, or schedule npx overleaf-web-mcp keepalive daily to keep it alive (see configuration).

npx overleaf-web-mcp login

2. Connect your MCP client. For Claude Code:

claude mcp add overleaf --scope user -- npx -y overleaf-web-mcp serve

For Codex:

codex mcp add overleaf -- npx -y overleaf-web-mcp serve

Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, and other clients

Add this to the client's MCP configuration:

{

"mcpServers": { "overleaf": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "overleaf-web-mcp", "serve"] } } }

VS Code uses a servers key and "type": "stdio" instead; the installation guide has the exact block for each client.

3. Restart the client and ask it to check your Overleaf connection.

Client-by-client steps, self-hosted Overleaf, and troubleshooting, including the "failed to connect" you get when node is older than 20, are in the installation guide.

Without an MCP client

Every tool is also a command, for scripts, CI jobs, and agents that work in a shell. After npx overleaf-web-mcp login:

npx overleaf-web-mcp projects list --query thesis

npx overleaf-web-mcp files read main.tex npx overleaf-web-mcp call get_sections --request request.json

Each command prints one JSON value on stdout, or one JSON error line on stderr, and its exit code says what is safe to do next: 0 complete, 1 failed, 2 fix the call, 3 not allowed, 4 read or plan again, 5 outcome unknown (never re-run it blindly), 6 partial, 7 retry later. Document text goes through a file or stdin, never the command line. The command line guide has every command and exit code. Three Agent Skills in skills/ use it to revise a manuscript, handle reviewer comments, and sync figures and sources.

From TypeScript, overleaf-web-mcp/core has one typed method per tool (TypeScript SDK):

import { createOverleafClient } from 'overleaf-web-mcp/core'

const client = await createOverleafClient() try { const file = await client.readFile({ projectId, filePath: 'main.tex' }) } finally { await client.close() }

What it can do

• Start and manage projects. Create a blank or example project, clone one, or import a zip; rename, trash, restore, or archive projects with the name confirmed first; set the root document, TeX engine, and TeX Live image so the web editor's Recompile follows.
• Browse and organize. List and search projects, read the file tree with the configured root document and compiler, create folders and files, rename, move, upload one file or a list of them, download a file or the whole project as a zip, and delete with confirmation.
• Sync a folder. Compare a local folder with the project without changing anything, then upload only what changed, and optionally delete what you removed locally, in one confirmed call. Changed text files go through the same revision-checked edits as a single write, so a collaborator's concurrent edit is never overwritten.
• Write safely. Replace a whole document or a single section. Every edit is checked against the revision you read first, so a collaborator's concurrent change is reported instead of overwritten. Edits can be recorded as Overleaf tracked changes.
• Work by section. Parse \section headings in a file, read one section, replace one section.
• Compile. Build the project's configured root document, or any document you name, and get the errors and warnings from its log by file and line, with a clear yes or no on whether it built cleanly. Read the full log, save the PDF or any other output locally, or stop a running compile.
• Review. List comment threads with their locations, reply, add a comment anchored to exact text, and resolve or reopen threads. List tracked changes with their authors and locations, and accept or reject them once you have confirmed which. Accepting or rejecting them needs a project whose owner's Overleaf plan includes track changes, and on self-hosted Overleaf an edition that includes it; otherwise the decision is refused with nothing changed.
• Follow history. Poll recent project history with a version cursor to see who changed what.

Tools

33 tools in eight groups: account, project lifecycle, files, folder sync, sections, compilation, review, and history. Read-only tools change nothing on Overleaf and write nothing on your computer. Destructive tools can replace or remove existing content, and all but stop_compile need a value repeated back first: the path, name, or count of what they delete, the revision of the document they replace, the planToken of a folder sync, or overwrite for a file that exists.

All 33 tools , with their annotations and local effects

An upload that would replace a file, and a folder sync without a planToken, are refused unless that replacement or unplanned sync is asked for by name. The last column shows which tools read or write files on the computer the server runs on. Every parameter and result is in the tool reference; each tool is also overleaf-web-mcp call and a method of createOverleafClient.

| Files | batch_upload | Upload a list of local files to the pat