A LaTeX build helper that compiles documents with latexmk and can keep a PDF preview updated as source files change. LaTeX is a system for creating structured documents such as papers and reports.

It is for building single- or multi-file LaTeX projects, watching files for automatic rebuilds, using live PDF previews, and cleaning build artifacts.

It avoids manually rerunning compilation and handling dependent steps such as bibliographies, indexes, and cross-references. It also helps locate build failures and remove generated files.

latex-build — Skill for Claude Code by terrylica

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent

npx skills add terrylica/cc-skills --skill latex-build

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/terrylica/cc-skills

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install doc-tools, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 13 skills.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

$agentmods badge for latex-build$

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/terrylica/cc-skills/latex-build/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/terrylica/cc-skills/latex-build)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/terrylica/cc-skills/latex-build"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/terrylica/cc-skills/latex-build/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

$agentmods 80×15 button for latex-build$

Your own site · 80×15

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/terrylica/cc-skills/latex-build"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/terrylica/cc-skills/latex-build.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>

Per session 32 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.

When invoked 1,084 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.

Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe. Third-party audits

NVIDIA SkillSpector warn 7 Sept 2026

SkillSpector: 1 finding, up to high

These are SkillSpector’s own severities. On a checked sample its high-severity flags on skills were ~96% false positives — a documented command, a public API, a “never do X” rule — so we show them as a caution to read, not a verdict. Why →

high Rogue Agent · line 138
Skill modifies its own code, configuration, or behavior at runtime. Self-modification enables an agent to escalate privileges, disable safety constraints, or install persistent backdoors.

Fix: Prevent the skill from modifying its own code, SKILL.md, or configuration files. Treat skill files as read-only at runtime.

How audits are shown

Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.

Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5.1	$0.00032	$0.01084
Opus 5	$0.00016	$0.00542
Sonnet 5	$0.00006	$0.00217
Haiku 4.5	$0.00003	$0.00108

Measured 6d ago against content hash fce08e985998, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-11, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

latex-build scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 6d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

plugins/doc-tools/skills/latex-build/SKILL.md · 141 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 141 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

LaTeX Build Automation

Self-Evolving Skill: This skill improves through use. If instructions are wrong, parameters drifted, or a workaround was needed — fix this file immediately, don't defer. Only update for real, reproducible issues.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

Compiling LaTeX documents
Setting up live preview with auto-rebuild
Managing multi-file projects
Troubleshooting build failures
Cleaning build artifacts
Automating compilation workflows

Quick Reference

Why latexmk?

Industry standard build tool:

Auto-detects dependencies (bibliography, index, etc.)
Runs correct number of times (handles cross-references)
Live preview mode watches for file changes
Works with Skim for SyncTeX auto-reload
Bundled with MacTeX (no separate install needed)

Basic Usage

One-Time Build

latexmk -pdf document.tex
# Result: document.pdf created

Live Preview (Watch Mode)

latexmk -pvc -pdf document.tex

# What happens:
# - Compiles document initially
# - Watches for file changes
# - Auto-recompiles when files change
# - Auto-reloads PDF in Skim viewer

Stop watching: Press Ctrl+C

Quick Reference Card

# Build once
latexmk -pdf document.tex

# Live preview (watch mode)
latexmk -pvc -pdf document.tex

# Build with SyncTeX
latexmk -pdf -synctex=1 document.tex

# Clean artifacts
latexmk -c              # Keep PDF
latexmk -C              # Remove PDF too

# Force rebuild
latexmk -gg -pdf document.tex

# Non-interactive (for CI)
latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode document.tex

Build Checklist

Verify latexmk installed: which latexmk
Test basic build: latexmk -pdf document.tex
Enable SyncTeX: Add -synctex=1 flag
Test live preview: latexmk -pvc -pdf document.tex
Configure Skim for auto-reload
Create Makefile for common tasks (optional)
Create .latexmkrc for project-specific settings (optional)
Test clean: latexmk -c removes artifacts

Read the full file on GitHub · 141 lines

Files

What ships with it

6 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

6d ago First seen · 141 lines · 32 tokens per session scan A fce08e985998

Subscribe to this mod's changes

latex-build is a skill published in the GitHub repository terrylica/cc-skills (72 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. It adds 32 tokens to every session and 1,084 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-05.

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