LaTeX sources

mystmd parses LaTeX into the same AST as MyST Markdown (Cockett, 2022), so .tex files are pages like any other. The paper example is an article written in LaTeX with a Markdown supplement.

Adding LaTeX pages#

The loader’s default pattern takes only Markdown files and notebooks. Add .tex to it:

// src/content.config.ts
mystLoader({ base: './src/content/papers', pattern: '**/[^_]*.{md,ipynb,tex}' });

or list the LaTeX files in toc, which adds them whatever the pattern. The paper example does that, with the article as the root page:

// src/content.config.ts
import { defineCollection } from 'astro:content';
import { mystLoader } from 'astro-myst/loaders';

export const collections = {
  paper: defineCollection({
    loader: mystLoader({
      base: './content',
      route: '/',
      toc: [{ file: 'index.tex' }, { file: 'supplement.md' }],
      project: { numbering: { headings: true } },
    }),
  }),
};

index.tex gets the entry id index, like an index.md, and is served at the route prefix itself.

Files you \input#

A file that another .tex file pulls in with \input must not become a page of its own. Start its name with _ (_methods.tex, included with \input{_methods}), which the pattern above skips, or keep .tex out of pattern and list your LaTeX pages in toc. Either way, astro dev recompiles when the file changes, because the loader watches the whole collection folder.

Page data#

LaTeX pages have no YAML frontmatter. mystmd reads their metadata from the LaTeX source and normalizes it like Markdown frontmatter:

• \title becomes data.title;
• \author becomes data.authors, one object with a name per author (\author{Ada Lovelace \and Erwin Example} gives two);
• \begin{abstract} becomes an abstract section (section.myst-part.myst-part-abstract).

The entry’s body is the full LaTeX source. Options that a Markdown page would set in its frontmatter, such as numbering, go into the loader’s or the integration’s project option.

What works#

• \section, \subsection, … with MyST’s heading numbering
• \label, \ref, \eqref — also between .tex and .md pages, in both directions; labels with colons (eq:main) are fine
• equation and align environments, inline math, \newcommand macros
• figure with \includegraphics and \caption, table with tabular
• theorem-like environments declared with \newtheorem
• \cite, \citet, \citep with the collection’s .bib files (Citations and DOIs), and \footnote
• \input of other .tex files, and siunitx quantities

From Markdown, refer to LaTeX labels like any other: [](#eq:main) or @eq:main. You can also pull a LaTeX snippet into a Markdown page:

```{include} _snippet.tex
```

Limits#

The LaTeX support is mystmd’s own — see its list of supported packages and macros. It is not a full TeX engine:

• Unsupported macros are dropped. mystmd reports each one with file, line and column, and astro-myst shows these messages in the Astro log.
• An align block gets a single equation number, attached to its first \label.
• Optional theorem titles such as \begin{theorem}[Name] are not carried over.
• Theorem-like environments are numbered per kind, even if they share a counter in LaTeX.