ZabbLeaf

KO | EN

gitlite — search

#html #http #javascript #github #security #c #cross-platform #ios #containers #ai-agent

(★ 9)

A standalone desktop application for editing LaTeX offline and synchronizing with Overleaf.

File Explorer

ZIP Download

- - ci.yml
  - release.yml
- - connect-account.png
  - editor-and-pdf.png
  - offline.png
  - projects.png
- generate-icons.cjs
- install-latex.ps1
- - useDebouncedValue.ts
  - usePanelLayout.ts
- - gitSync.ts
  - latexCompiler.ts
  - latexErrors.ts
  - latexSymbols.ts
  - localTeXCompiler.ts
  - overleafApi.ts
  - overleafAuth.ts
  - overleafCompiler.ts
  - projectAssets.ts
  - projectTemplates.ts
  - symbolPalette.ts
  - textStats.ts
  - todoScanner.ts
  - versionHistory.ts
  - writingStats.ts
- - main.css
  - panels.css
- App.tsx
- main.tsx
- - 128x128.png
  - [email protected]
  - 32x32.png
  - icon.icns
  - icon.ico
  - icon.png
  - Square107x107Logo.png
  - Square142x142Logo.png
  - Square150x150Logo.png
  - Square284x284Logo.png
  - Square30x30Logo.png
  - Square310x310Logo.png
  - Square44x44Logo.png
  - Square71x71Logo.png
  - Square89x89Logo.png
  - StoreLogo.png
- - main.rs
- build.rs
- Cargo.lock
- Cargo.toml
- tauri.conf.json
.gitignore
index.html
LICENSE
package-lock.json
package.json
README.md
tsconfig.json
vite.config.ts

# Use via CDN

jsDelivr

jsDelivr serves any public GitHub repository as a CDN with zero setup. Pick a version and a file to get a ready-to-paste link and snippet.

Version

File

Link

Example

// repository documentation

Was this content helpful?

★ 0 (0 ratings)

ZabbLeaf is a standalone desktop application for editing LaTeX offline and synchronizing with Overleaf.

![The editor with a locally compiled PDF](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zabbonat/ZabbLeaf/master/docs/screenshots/editor-and-pdf.png)

Your Overleaf project, cloned to your machine, edited in a real editor, and compiled to PDF by a TeX engine running on your own computer.

- Runs as a native desktop program on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- Clones and syncs Overleaf projects over Git, using a token from your Overleaf account.
- Compiles real PDFs offline with a local TeX engine — optional, see below.
- Explains compiler errors in plain language, and installs a missing package for you.
- Takes pasted and dropped images, and writes the `figure` block around them.
- Keeps a local version history, so offline changes can be restored.
- Editing is powered by the Monaco editor.

---

## How it works

### 1. Connect your Overleaf account

ZabbLeaf reaches your projects through Overleaf's own Git interface, so it needs a Git token rather than your password. Generate one in Overleaf under **Account Settings → Git Integration**, then paste it here along with your email.

![The account dialog, showing where to generate the Git token](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zabbonat/ZabbLeaf/master/docs/screenshots/connect-account.png)

The token is stored locally and is only ever sent to `git.overleaf.com`. **Log out** removes it; projects you have already downloaded stay on your computer.

### 2. Add a project

Click **Add from URL** and paste an Overleaf project URL. ZabbLeaf clones it into `~/.zabbleaf/projects/<projectId>/` — a plain directory with a normal Git repository inside, which you can inspect or back up like any other folder.

![The project list, with per-project sync status](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zabbonat/ZabbLeaf/master/docs/screenshots/projects.png)

Each card shows where that project stands: **Synced**, **Local changes** waiting to be pushed, or **Local only** for something created here and not yet linked to Overleaf.

### 3. Edit and compile, with or without a connection

Edits are written to disk as you type, not held in memory. Pick an engine and click **Recompile**:

| Engine | What it does | Needs internet |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **pdflatex / xelatex / lualatex** | Compiles on your machine, produces a real PDF | No |
| **Quick Text Preview** | Rough text rendering, no TeX required | No |
| **Push to Overleaf & open** | Pushes your changes, opens the project in your browser | Yes |

![The same project compiling with no network connection](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zabbonat/ZabbLeaf/master/docs/screenshots/offline.png)

With the network gone the toolbar switches to **Offline Mode** — and a local engine still produces the PDF, because nothing leaves your computer to build it.

### 4. Sync back

**Sync Overleaf** commits your local changes, rebases onto whatever happened on Overleaf meanwhile, and pushes. Build files (`.aux`, `.log`, `.pdf`) are written outside the repository, so they are never pushed to your project.

Because this is a real rebase, edits on different lines merge on their own, even inside the same file. When Overleaf changed the same lines you did, the rebase is undone rather than guessing a winner: your commit stays intact, the working tree is left clean with no conflict markers, and nothing is pushed. There is no conflict resolution screen yet, so you settle it in `~/.zabbleaf/projects/<projectId>/` with git and sync again.

A project you create locally exists only on your computer at first. Overleaf's Git interface cannot create projects, so to sync one you make an empty project on overleaf.com and let ZabbLeaf link the two — it offers to do this the first time you press **Sync Overleaf**.

---

## While you write

### The window is yours

Every column can be resized by dragging the bar between them, and closed when it is in the way — from the four switches in the toolbar, from the strip a closed panel leaves behind, or with **Ctrl+B** for the file list and **Ctrl+J** for the side panel. Double-clicking a bar puts that column back where it started. The sizes are remembered between sessions, so a two-column PDF you widened once stays wide.

### Figures without leaving the app

Paste a screenshot into the editor, drop an image on the window, or press **Add** under *Figures*. The file is stored in `figures/` inside the project — renamed rather than overwritten if the name is taken — and the `\begin{figure}` block, with a caption and a label, is written at the cursor. Images are part of the repository, so they sync to Overleaf like anything else.

### Errors you can act on

`! Undefined control sequence.` names no command, no cause and no fix. Under the PDF, each failure is now written out: what went wrong, why, and what to do about it. When the answer is a missing package — by far the most common case — there is a button that installs it, using `mpm` on MiKTeX and `tlmgr` on TeX Live. The unedited engine output is still one click away.

### The side panel

| Tab | What it is for |
| --- | --- |
| **To do** | Every `% TODO`, `\todo{}` and `\missingfigure` in the project, together with the `\cite` and `\ref` keys that resolve to nothing — the ones that compile happily and print `[?]`. Click to jump there. |
| **Symbols** | Search by name in English or Italian — "integral", "freccia", "approx" — and click to insert. The `$...$` is added when the cursor is not already in maths. |
| **Word count** | Counted like `texcount`: the preamble, commands and displayed maths do not count, the text inside `\textbf` or `\caption` does. Broken down by section, and shown for the selection while you have one. |
| **Writing** | Words added per day for the last two weeks, the current streak, and the project total. Written words only — a day spent rewriting does not read as a day spent doing nothing. |

The word count is also in the bar under the editor, which opens the breakdown.

### Templates

**New project** starts from an academic paper, a thesis with chapters in separate files, a Beamer presentation, a letter, a CV, a problem set, or a blank document. All of them use only classes and packages a plain TeX installation already has, so the first compile works.

---

## Download

No Node.js, terminal commands, or developer tools are required. Each release has **one file per system** — download the one that matches yours from [the latest release](https://github.com/zabbonat/ZabbLeaf/releases/latest):

| System | File |
| --- | --- |
| Windows | `ZabbLeaf_windows_installer.exe` |
| macOS | `ZabbLeaf_mac_installer.dmg` |
| Linux | `ZabbLeaf_linux_installer.AppImage` |

[View all releases](https://github.com/zabbonat/ZabbLeaf/releases)

ZabbLeaf needs `git` on the system. macOS ships a stub that prompts you to install the Xcode command line tools; if you would rather do it yourself, run `xcode-select --install`.

### First run on macOS and Linux

The releases are not code-signed, so both systems will stop you the first time. This is expected for an unsigned open-source build, not a sign that anything is wrong.

**macOS** — the first launch is refused with "ZabbLeaf can't be opened because the developer cannot be verified". Right-click the app in Applications and choose **Open**, then confirm. You only do this once. If macOS instead claims the app is *damaged*, clear the quarantine flag:

```bash
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/ZabbLeaf.app
```

**Linux** — make the AppImage executable before running it:

```bash
chmod +x ZabbLeaf_linux_installer.AppImage
```

---

## Do I need to install LaTeX?

**No — ZabbLeaf works without it.** Installing a TeX engine is an optional step, and you decide whether to take it. Choose whichever fits:

| What you want | What you need |
| --- | --- |
| Edit offline, sync with Overleaf | Nothing extra |
| A rough text preview of the document | Nothing extra (**Quick Text Preview**) |
| Let Overleaf produce the PDF | Nothing extra (**Push to Overleaf & open**) |
| Real PDFs, fully offline | A local TeX engine (~142 MB) |

### Installing a TeX engine

You are offered the choice **the first time you open ZabbLeaf**: if no engine is found, the home screen asks whether to install one. Say no and it will not ask again — the option stays available in the compiler menu.

The choice works the same way on all three downloads. It lives in the app rather than in the installer because a `.dmg` and an `.AppImage` have no installer screens of their own — and because it stays available later, if you change your mind after installing.

To do it yourself instead:

- **Windows** — run `scripts/install-latex.ps1`, or install [MiKTeX](https://miktex.org/download).
- **macOS** — `brew install --cask basictex`, or [BasicTeX](https://tug.org/mactex/morepackages.html).
- **Linux** — `sudo apt install texlive-latex-recommended texlive-fonts-recommended` (or your distribution's equivalent).

If you install MiKTeX by hand, install the scalable fonts too:

```powershell
mpm --install=cm-super
```

Without them, any document using `\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}` fails with *"auto expansion is only possible with scalable fonts"*. ZabbLeaf and the script do this for you.

Other missing packages are fetched by MiKTeX the first time a document needs them, which is why the first compile of a new document can take a few extra seconds.

---

## Where things are kept

| Path | Contents |
| --- | --- |
| `~/.zabbleaf/projects/<projectId>/` | The cloned project — a normal Git repository |
| `~/.zabbleaf/projects/<projectId>/figures/` | Images you paste or drop in, inside the repository so they sync |
| `~/.zabbleaf/build/<projectId>/` | Compiler output, deliberately outside the repository |

Panel sizes, the writing statistics and the version history live in the app's own storage, not in the project, so nothing about them reaches Overleaf.

---

## Building from source

Node.js (v18+) and Rust are required.

```bash
git clone https://github.com/zabbonat/ZabbLeaf.git
cd ZabbLeaf
npm install
npm run tauri build
```

The frontend must be built before anything touches Rust: `tauri::generate_context!()` reads `distDir` at compile time, and `dist/` is not in the repository. `npm run tauri build` handles this for you; running `cargo` on a fresh clone directly does not.

## License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

ZabbLeaf

Owner Repos

File Explorer

# Use via CDN

Was this content helpful?

Recent Feedback

ZabbLeaf

Owner Repos

File Explorer

# Use via CDN

Was this content helpful?

Recent Feedback

Download README