AirLatex.vim

This is a fork of da-h/AirLatex.vim providing comments, track changes, and some code organization for a vim Websocket Client for Overleaf. As is, this is customized to my workflow- with no added hooks for broader customization. If you'd like to add some, please create a PR- as this is a won't fix for me.

Current State: Use at your own risk.

Warning What's the worst that can happen? Something breaks and automatically clears the buffer. You can easily recover this with the version history in overleaf, but it's still a pain, and might mess up your comment positions. This has only happened to me once when actively developing this plugin, but it's worth noting here.

I have been using this to write my thesis, so it isn't all bad.

First Use

This plugin is a bit paternalistic in its approach, since debugging multiple login methods is not sustainable. See the original AirLatex for a login workflow.

Authenticating

You should not have to reauthenticate once you have authenticated and leave the session. Both of these methods are relatively persistent.

Go H$%^k yourself

To get started, login into your OverLeaf/ShareLatex instance in Firefox. Firefox does not locally encrypt cookies, and AirLatex will Cookie Jack the session cookie to connect to the server. It's a little like hacking yourself, and a nice reminder that any program you run on your machine can do this and more. Here's the relevant code if you are interested.

Once you are logged in, set g:AirLatexCookieDB to the path to the cookie database. If you are lazy, just try:

let g:AirLatexCookieDB="~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/cookies.sqlite"

For a custom or enterprise solution, you'll have to play with additional settings:

• g:AirLatexCookieKey
• g:AirLatexDomain

You will need sqlite for this

Set the cookie yourself

Log into to your instance, and take a look at your cookies. You can explicitly set the Cookie with

let g:AirLatexCookie="cookies:overleaf_session2=justanexamplestring;maybe_morecookies=1"

For details on how to check your cookies look at this issue.

Installing

With Nix

nix run github:dmadisetti/airlatex.vim#

Or add to your flake or what not. If you use nix, you know the drill.

Normal Installation

1. Install the requirements. (python3)

   pip3 install tornado requests pynvim intervaltree beautifulsoup4
   

2. Install the Vim Plugin itself Using Vim Plug:

   Plug 'dmadisetti/AirLatex.vim', {'do': ':UpdateRemotePlugins'}
   " Auth and settings mentioned in the documentation.
   

   Using Vundle:

   Plugin 'dmadisetti/AirLatex.vim'
   " Auth and settings mentioned in the documentation.
   

   After installation using :PluginInstall run :UpdateRemotePlugins to register the python plugin.

Launching

Open AirLatex in Vim with :AirLatex Feel free to map AirLatex to a binding of your liking, e.g.:

nmap <leader>a :AirLatex<CR>

Settings

Variable	Possible Values	Description
g:AirLatexDomain	www.overleaf.com (default)	Base url of the overleaf instance you would like to connect to.
g:AirLatexShowArchived	0 (default, off), 1 (on)	Show/hide archived projects in the project list.
g:AirLatexUseHTTPS	1 (default, on), 0 (off)	Choose between http/https.
g:AirLatexLogLevel	NOTSET (default), DEBUG_GUI, DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL	Verbosity of logging.
g:AirLatexLogFile	AirLatex.log (default)	Log file name. (The file appears in the folder where vim has been started, but only if the log level is greater than NOTSET.)
g:AirLatexWebsocketTimeout	10 (default)	Number of seconds to wait before declaring the connection as stale. This may happen if the server does not answer a request by AirLatex. Setting to "none" disables this feature. However, it can be the case that you will not notice when something is wrong with the connection.
g:AirLatexAllowInsecure	0 (default, off), 1 (on)	Allow insecure connection. For example, if the server is self hosted and/or the certificate is self-signed
g:AirLatexTrackChanges	0 (default, off), 1 (on)	Allow track changes to be sent.

Bindings

The following bindings are scoped to the buffers. If you'd like to customize them, please create a PR.

Buffer	Binding	Description
sidebar	q	Close buffer
sidebar	enter	Enter project/ Toggle folder
sidebar	d, D	Leave project
document	visual gc	Mark section for drafting a comment
document	visual gt	Resolve track changes under visual area
document	R	Refresh document, or bring back online if connection dropped.
document	command :w	If project is synced with github, create a new commit.
comments	<C-n>	Next comment (for stacked comments)
comments	<C-p>	Prev comment (for stacked comments)
comments	ZZ	Submit comment in draft
comments	ZQ	Quit Buffer/ discard draft
comments	(insert)	Start drafting a response if on thread
comments	enter	Un/resolve project if over the relevant option.

Want to use Vimtex or otherwise emulate local compile artifacts and source?

Local source

I got you fam. With overleaf premium, the turn on the dropbox option, and set g:AirLatexUseDropbox=1 Don't have overleaf premium? Complain to your institution, many universities will buy a subscription.

In theory, your files should now be located in /run/user/<uid>/airlatex/mount.

Additional setup

Note, running airlatex as a flake should do this instantly, but otherwise:

Install rclone, and make sure you can mount dropbox folders.

Run AirLatex_DropboxSync to get everything lined back up. Dropbox sync is not instantaneous, so be careful with this methodology- but useful for adding figures etc..

Local file artifacts (pdf, aux, etc)

Some programs like vimtex expect file to be local so they can parse build artifacts behind the scenes. toos/airmountcreates a Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE folder), that will make it seem like all your artifacts are local.

In theory, your build artifacts should now be "located" in /run/user/<uid>/airlatex/builds/<project id>

Additional Setup

Note, running airlatex as a flake should do this instantly, but otherwise, here's the invocation nix uses:

BASE=/run/user/$(id -u)/airlatex
mkdir -p $BASE/builds

VIMTEX_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=$BASE/active \
PATH=$PATH:$${airmount}/bin:${airlatexmk}/bin nvim \
    --listen $BASE/socket \
    -c AirLatex

Please create a PR if you find a reliable way of spawning airlatex with this, I just use the nix flake. The key things are:

1. airmount is in your PATH (this is the condition for mount attempt)
2. python deps: fuse and requests

With Vimtex or something else

Note, this will only work with Dropbox activation.

Add airlatexmk to your path if you are using vimtex or something that would normally use latexmk. This program "pretends" to compile, but just nicely asks Overleaf to actually compile behind the scenes, it will ignore complex arguments, and may break if airlatex or the relevant project is not open.

The relevant vimtex options are automatically set in plugins/airlatex.vim.

Recommended Bindings

Additional bindings that are nice to have, but not required for functionality.

" AirLatex Keybinds
if exists("g:AirLatexIsActive") && g:AirLatexIsActive
  nnoremap <space>n :call AirLatex_NextCommentPosition()<CR>
  nnoremap <space>p :call AirLatex_PrevCommentPosition()<CR>
  nnoremap <F2> :call AirLatexToggleTracking()<CR>
  nnoremap <C-x> :call AirLatexToggle()<CR>
  nnoremap X :call AirLatexToggleComments()<CR>
endif

Troubleshooting

If you find a bug. Feel free to open an issue! To make things a bit easier for me, please use AirLatex' debug mode (let g:AirLatexLogLevel='DEBUG').

Credits

This plugin is a complete rework of Vim-ShareLaTeX-Plugin. I took all the good ideas and added even more vim love. ❥ ;)