LaTeX Setup Guide

[Joshs-Dev-Odyseey]

Hello there.

Thanks for the work of this really nice and clean code editor.
I am slowly switching from VSCode and I have a hard time for setting up LaTeX into Zed.
I will create this issue as well at the repo of the installed LaTeX plugin: https://github.com/rzukic/zed-latex.

I have edited the settings.json like the following:

{
  "lsp": {
    "texlab": {
      "settings": {
        "texlab": {
          "latexindent": { "modifyLineBreaks": true },
          "build": {
            "onSave": true,
            "executable": "latexmk",
            "args": [
              "-f",
              "-pdflua"
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Now to get there it was quite a lot of recherche, because I am not that used to make my settings in json and finding the right options I can choose from.

With this settings Zed is processing my current .tex file which I am working on.

Problem:

• Every .tex file being processed and not only the root file of the project

Not that convinient but managable, like in VSCode:

• I have no Output pane which shows me the current produces log file

Maybe there is somebody which can help me with the problem but my wish is too maybe add an LaTeX (or any other setup guide) to the website, so newbies have a better entry point.

I have wrote I little instruction for my future self, maybe it's useable for the guide or I am very grateful, if you can help me complete it:

Setup Guide

1. Install MacTex (or another LaTeX environment)
2. Download Zed
3. Install the plugin "LaTex" from the extension pannel
4. Add the following json line to the global Zed config file "~/.config/zed/settings.json"

 "lsp": {
	"texlab": {
	  "settings": {
		"texlab": {
		  "latexindent": { "modifyLineBreaks": true },
		  "build": {
			"onSave": true,
			"executable": "latexmk",
			"args": [
				"-f",
				"-pdflua"
			]
		  }
		}
	  }
	}
  }

The executable can be changed, but there a lot of different possibilities. It depends on which TeX program is installed.
The arguments can maybe also be adjusted. Other possibilities are:

• pdflatex
• luatex
• latexmk
• tectonic

Resources

TexLab Config
Zed slp config
TexLab possible arguments for settings.json
Overleaf TeX programs docu
VSCode LaTeX Workshop config from here I adapted my config

Zed general configuration Medium article
Zed standard configuration explanaiton
Another general Zed configuration
Zed 101 config git repo
Official Zed config website

[lnay]

If you do not have Skim installed (I assume you are on Mac), I recommend you do that and try again with these settings removed... and if your project is specifically written for LuaTeX then you can add this to a latexmkrc file in your workspace:

$pdf_mode = 4;

As for the -f flag, it's not default behaviour so it is not automatically configured by the extension. However people may be used to that because it's default in overleaf so they can add this in the latexmkrc with $force_mode = 1;.
I am suggesting this config file instead of touching the latexmk build command and flags so to avoid unintentional negative impacts on the experience (-recorder is good to generate files used by texlab, and -synctex=1 for preview sync, and -interaction=nonstopmode since there is no opportunity for user input). The other reason is that these are settings for the project which are not specific to Zed anyway (a LuaTeX-specific project does not stop being so if opened in VSCode).

If you do not want to use Skim, you would only need the following settings to build on save (not necessary if Skim is present):

{
  "lsp": {
    "texlab": {
      "settings": {
        "texlab": {
          "build": {
            "onSave": true
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

I have no Output pane which shows me the current produces log file

This can be found in the language server logs, this is touched on here along with a couple other options.

[Joshs-Dev-Odyseey]

Hey @lnay,
Thanks a lot for your help and your time.
It helped me a lot.

Now I adjusted the Quick Setup Guide:

Quick-start Zed-LaTeX Setup Guide (MacOS Sequoia 15.5)

1. Download Zed
2. Install MacTex (or another LaTeX environment) (for local TeX compiling)
   brew install --cask mactex
3. Install Skim (for PDF preview)
   brew install --cask skim
4. Adjust skim as follows: (Let you click into the preview and open your .tex file at the specific line)
   Settings > Sync > PDF-TeX Sync support > Custom
   Now adjust the following fields
   Command: open
   Arguments: zed://file"%urlfile":%line
5. Install the plugin "LaTex" from the extension pannel
6. Create a LaTeX Project with a root .tex file
7. In the same folder create a file named latexmkrc (no . ending) and paste the following lines (without comments) into it:
   So LuaTeX engine is used:
   $pdf_mode = 4;
   So Skim is being opened after:
   $pdf_previewer = 'open -a Skim';
   For syncing the build status to Skim and not waiting for user interaction:
   $pdflatex = 'pdflatex -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode';
   For selecting one file to compiling: (not working for me at the time)
   `$default_files = ('main.tex');
8. Read/Watch the explanation for opening the build logs of your .tex file

If there are any adjustements needed for the setup read this links:

• https://mg.readthedocs.io/latexmk.html#local-configuration-files

Still not clear for me

How to adjust the settings so only the root file gets compiled even if I am changing a file contained in the root file.
Maybe it's the folder structure I am using why it's not working but I tested it with Hornerschema.tex (inside of Mathe_3 folder) and when changing this file it also didn't work.

── 00_template_folder_to_copy
│   ├── Cheatsheet_Mathe_2.tex
│   └── package_and_config.tex
|── Mathe_3
│   └── compiler_folder
│   ├── Cheatsheet_M3.pdf
│   ├── Cheatsheet_M3.tex
│   ├── Hornerschema.tex
│   ├── latexmkrc
│   └── package_and_config.tex
└── Snippeds
├── 00_LaTeX_Templates
| ...........
├── Allgemein
| ...........
├── DGL
| ............
├── Komplexe_Zahlen
| ...............
├── Matrizen
| .............
├── Tigonometrie
| ............
├── Vektoranalysis
| .............
└── Vektoren
├── Kreuzprdukt.tex
└── Normalenvektor.tex

I have added the latexmkrc file at following spots:

• ~/.latexmkrc
• next to my root .tex file (like in the folder structure)
• in every subfolder of the project at the same time with the same default file path. (full path and relativ path (not at the same time))

Maybe it didn't work because I had the Skim sync settings activated for checking for changes.