compile-latex

Compile LaTeX Paper

Compile the research paper using LaTeX with full citation resolution.

Steps

1. Determine the filename:

   • If $ARGUMENTS is provided, use it as the filename (without .tex extension)
   • Otherwise, default to manuscript

2. Precheck: paper size. Warn (do not fail) if a4paper / papersize is not set — the project convention is A4, never US Letter:

grep -qE 'a4paper|papersize' paper/$FILENAME.tex \
  || echo "WARN: no a4paper/papersize directive found in $FILENAME.tex — default is US Letter."

3. Compile with 3-pass sequence (xelatex by default — matches AGENTS.md Document Formats):

cd paper
xelatex -interaction=nonstopmode $FILENAME.tex
BIBINPUTS=..:$BIBINPUTS bibtex $FILENAME
xelatex -interaction=nonstopmode $FILENAME.tex
xelatex -interaction=nonstopmode $FILENAME.tex

Alternative (pdflatex — only if the project explicitly opts out of xelatex):

cd paper
pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode $FILENAME.tex
BIBINPUTS=..:$BIBINPUTS bibtex $FILENAME
pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode $FILENAME.tex
pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode $FILENAME.tex

Alternative (latexmk):

cd paper
BIBINPUTS=..:$BIBINPUTS latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode $FILENAME.tex

4. Check for warnings:

   • Grep output for Overfull \\hbox warnings
   • Grep for undefined citations or Label(s) may have changed
   • Report any issues found

5. Open the PDF for visual verification:

   open paper/$FILENAME.pdf          # macOS
   # xdg-open paper/$FILENAME.pdf    # Linux
   

6. Report results:

   • Compilation success/failure
   • Number of overfull hbox warnings
   • Any undefined citations
   • PDF page count

Why 3 passes?

1. First pass: Creates .aux file with citation keys
2. bibtex: Reads .aux, generates .bbl with formatted references
3. Second pass: Incorporates bibliography
4. Third pass: Resolves all cross-references with final page numbers

Important

• Default engine is xelatex (matches AGENTS.md Document Formats: Quarto PDF via xelatex, pure XeLaTeX for .tex); use pdflatex only when the project explicitly overrides this
• Paper size must be A4 (a4paper in documentclass options, or \usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}); the precheck warns if neither is found
• Bibliography file lives at the repo root (master.bib); BIBINPUTS=.. makes it visible from paper/
• All compilation happens from within the paper/ directory