TeXPulse Studio

TeXPulse Studio is an offline Windows LaTeX editor under incremental development. The current build provides an installable Windows release candidate plus a secure Electron editor with autosave, debounced live compilation, project change detection, workspace restoration, structured source-linked diagnostics, raw build logs, SyncTeX forward/inverse navigation, selectable recipes, persistent settings, first-run toolchain setup, clean-build controls, bounded compiler output, abnormal-shutdown recovery, local support diagnostics, read-only Git status awareness, a material-inspired project explorer with file-scoped context actions, and a continuously scrolling PDF.js preview that retains the last successful output when a later build fails. Standalone active TeX files can be compiled directly, while included fragments continue to use the configured root. Project files and generated artifact paths remain behind a validated main-process IPC boundary.

It also creates projects from a minimal template, manages project files and folders with confirmed destructive actions, remembers recent projects, and exports source-only ZIP archives.

Collaboration is not implemented in the application runtime. Sprint 14 adds research-only collaboration controls in docs/COLLABORATION_SRS.md, docs/COLLABORATION_THREAT_MODEL.md, and ADR-0015.

Repository: https://github.com/pasan3251/TeXPulse-Studio

License: MIT

Project roadmap

• Full sprint roadmap: docs/ROADMAP.md
• Upcoming implementations: docs/UPCOMING_IMPLEMENTATIONS.md
• Current sprint status: docs/SPRINT_STATUS.md
• Requirement traceability: docs/REQUIREMENTS_TRACEABILITY.md

Screenshots

Editor, PDF preview, and real MiKTeX build

Project creation, file management, and ZIP export

Rendered PDF evidence

Installed requirements

• Windows 11 x64
• MiKTeX with latexmk
• Native Windows Perl available on PATH

MiKTeX and Perl are not bundled. The first launch runs a real isolated toolchain self-test before reporting compilation readiness.

Install

Download the installer from GitHub Releases or generate it locally with pnpm package:win. The release candidate installer is unsigned, so Windows SmartScreen may show a reputation warning. Verify the artifact against the release manifest before continuing.

After setup, choose Open sample project from the welcome screen, edit main.tex, and compile. The editable copy is stored under TeXPulse Studio's application data and is preserved during uninstall.

Development requirements

• Node.js 24.x
• pnpm 10.12.1 through Corepack
• Git
• The installed requirements above

Development setup

corepack prepare pnpm@10.12.1 --activate
corepack enable pnpm --install-directory "$(npm config get prefix)"
pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

Start the desktop editor:

pnpm app:start

Quality gate

pnpm check
pnpm audit:dependencies

The aggregate command runs formatting, linting, strict type checking, unit, component, integration, performance, coverage, and Electron E2E tests, then creates the production main, renderer, and preload bundles.

Build and verify Windows packages:

pnpm package:dir
pnpm package:win
pnpm test:packaged
pnpm release:manifest

The packaged lifecycle installs to a path containing spaces, uses a clean app profile, runs the real MiKTeX self-test, edits and compiles the bundled sample, captures high-DPI evidence, verifies previous-beta settings, reopens the edit, and uninstalls. The release manifest records the tagged source archive, installer, packaged application archive, tool versions, and SHA-256 hashes.

Toolchain doctor

Run the real isolated compile self-test:

pnpm texpulse-doctor

Use a custom executable directory when needed:

pnpm texpulse-doctor -- --custom-bin C:\Strawberry\perl\bin

The command emits structured JSON and reports readiness only after the compile self-test succeeds, unless --skip-self-test is explicitly supplied.

Minimal compile CLI

pnpm texpulse-compile -- --project fixtures\minimal-success --root main.tex --timeout 120000

Output defaults to generation-isolated directories under <project>\.texpulse\build\generations. Supported recipes are pdf, xelatex, and lualatex. Pressing Ctrl+C cancels the active compiler tree.

This developer service accepts trusted local projects only. Process capture, accepted generated output, and retained generation count are bounded, but TeX still runs with the local user's permissions and is not OS-sandboxed.

Desktop editor

The current release candidate:

• installs through an assisted per-user NSIS installer;
• preserves application data during uninstall;
• resolves bundled resources in development and packaged layouts;
• opens an editable bundled sample without exposing an arbitrary path API;
• opens an existing local project folder;
• creates a project from the fixed minimal template;
• creates, renames, moves, and deletes project entries through validated IPC, with explicit confirmation before deletion;
• remembers recent projects through opaque renderer IDs;
• exports a local ZIP while excluding build output, metadata, dependencies, and version-control data;
• renders the bounded project entry list as a collapsible hierarchy with material-inspired file-type icons;
• keeps New File and New Folder at the explorer top while placing open, reveal, cut, copy, paste, rename, delete, and export actions in scoped context menus;
• edits valid UTF-8 project text with LaTeX highlighting, undo/redo, find, and replace;
• tracks modified files and preserves cursor/scroll state across switches;
• saves one file or all modified files through version-checked atomic writes;
• autosaves editing bursts and automatically compiles after a configurable 200-5,000 ms debounce, defaulting to 800 ms;
• serializes saves before builds and shows debouncing, saving, queued, and compiling phases;
• keeps one compiler process active and only the newest pending build;
• supports disabling automatic build while retaining manual compile;
• stores global settings under Electron application data and project settings in .texpulse/project.json, with validation and migration;
• provides a first-run toolchain wizard with executable paths, versions, and a real isolated compile self-test;
• supports a trusted custom executable directory;
• selects pdfLaTeX, XeLaTeX, or LuaLaTeX recipes per project;
• configures compile timeout, editor font size, and default PDF zoom;
• disables latexmk configuration files by default and requires explicit per-project trust before loading them;
• provides a clean build and allowlisted generation auxiliary cleanup;
• limits aggregate process output to 8 MiB, accepted generations to 4,096 files, 128 MiB per file and 512 MiB total, and retained generations to eight;
• saves modified buffers before a manual compile and stops on save conflict;
• compiles the active standalone .tex root when applicable and otherwise preserves the configured project root for included fragments;
• triggers the same save-and-compile command from the editor with Ctrl+Enter;
• displays build status and supports cancellation;
• renders every page of a completed PDF through PDF.js in one continuous scrolling viewport, with page shortcuts, zoom, fit-width, and fit-page controls;
• preserves page, zoom, and approximate scroll state across PDF reloads;
• preserves and labels the last successful PDF after a failed build;
• parses common LaTeX, latexmk, BibTeX, and Biber messages into bounded structured diagnostics;
• presents visible Error, Warning, and Info labels in a Problems panel;
• marks affected CodeMirror lines and navigates to validated project-relative files and source locations;
• clears stale diagnostics after edits and rejects older build generations;
• moves from the current source position to a marked PDF location;
• inverse-searches by double-clicking the PDF, then opens and marks the validated project source line;
• disables SyncTeX navigation for edited or retained stale output and reports unavailable data non-fatally;
• shows a bounded raw build log while retaining the complete log on disk;
• opens or reveals only a main-process-revalidated generated PDF;
• watches the project without following links or generated output and reports external changes without replacing local unsaved content;
• restores open files, active file, cursor/scroll views, and pane ratio for the same project;
• offers bounded unsaved-buffer recovery after abnormal shutdown, restores only to the editor after review, and never writes recovered text automatically;
• records bounded local application events, exports a practically path-redacted support log on request, and provides recovery/log cleanup; and
• denies renderer Node access, arbitrary filesystem access, navigation, popups, webviews, and permissions.

The renderer receives project-relative paths, build metadata, opaque artifact tokens, bounded raw log text, and bounded PDF bytes. Raw compiler output may contain local path text, but no path becomes a filesystem capability. The renderer cannot access the filesystem or compiler except through the thirty-four-method typed preload bridge.

Project service

The typed modules under src/project/:

• canonicalize project roots and reject path escapes;
• list files without traversing symbolic links, junctions, or ignored output;
• read and write UTF-8 text with SHA-256 version tokens;
• reject stale writes after external changes;
• atomically replace saved files where the platform supports rename;
• rank likely LaTeX root files;
• validate .texpulse/project.json; and
• persist a bounded recent-project list at an injected application-data path; and
• stream source-only ZIP exports without adding a production dependency.

Documentation

• Product specification: docs/SRS.md
• Full project roadmap: docs/ROADMAP.md
• Upcoming implementations: docs/UPCOMING_IMPLEMENTATIONS.md
• Architecture: docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
• Test plan: docs/TEST_PLAN.md
• Security baseline: docs/SECURITY.md
• Threat model: docs/THREAT_MODEL.md
• Collaboration SRS: docs/COLLABORATION_SRS.md
• Collaboration threat model: docs/COLLABORATION_THREAT_MODEL.md
• Troubleshooting: docs/TROUBLESHOOTING.md
• Sprint status: docs/SPRINT_STATUS.md
• Requirement traceability: docs/REQUIREMENTS_TRACEABILITY.md
• Sprint 0 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-0.md
• Sprint 1 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-1.md
• Sprint 2 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-2.md
• Sprint 3 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-3.md
• Sprint 4 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-4.md
• Sprint 5 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-5.md
• Sprint 6 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-6.md
• Sprint 7 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-7.md
• Sprint 8 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-8.md
• Sprint 9 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-9.md
• Sprint 10 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-10.md
• Sprint 11 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-11.md
• Sprint 12 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-12.md
• Sprint 13 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-13.md
• Sprint 14 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-14.md
• Sprint 15 report: docs/reports/SPRINT-15.md
• Release-candidate checklist: docs/RELEASE_CANDIDATE_CHECKLIST.md
• Deferred issues: docs/DEFERRED_ISSUES.md
• Release notes: docs/RELEASE_NOTES.md
• GitHub release description: docs/GITHUB_RELEASE.md

Acknowledgements

TeXPulse Studio was planned, implemented, tested, reviewed, and documented with assistance from OpenAI and Codex. The project direction, requirements, repository ownership, release decisions, and final responsibility remain with Pasan Chathuranga.

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