SyncTeX

SyncTeX is a browser-based collaborative LaTeX editor for creating, organizing, and editing LaTeX projects online.

The public service is available at https://sync-tex.com.

What It Does

• Edit LaTeX projects in the browser with a Monaco-based editor.
• Organize projects with files, directories, and project metadata.
• Collaborate in real time using Yjs document synchronization.
• Share projects through collaborator roles and invite links.
• Sign in with email/password, GitHub OAuth, or Google OAuth.
• Use an optional AI assistant with streamed chat responses.
• Store project content through MinIO-backed object storage.
• Maintain legal and privacy documentation for the public service.

Status

SyncTeX is an active personal project and public web service. It is not currently maintained as a contributor-driven open-source project, and the repository is optimized for development, deployment, and operational clarity rather than a large external contributor workflow.

The service is operated on a best-effort basis. Important documents should still be backed up outside the application.

Using The Web App

1. Visit sync-tex.com.
2. Create an account or sign in with GitHub or Google.
3. Create a project from the dashboard.
4. Add LaTeX files and directories to the project.
5. Open a file in the editor and edit it in the browser.
6. Invite collaborators when a project should be shared.
7. Use the assistant panel when AI help or document context is needed.

The production service policies are kept in docs/legal/privacy.md and docs/legal/tos.md.

Architecture

SyncTeX is split into focused services behind nginx. Each service owns its own runtime concerns and, where applicable, its own PostgreSQL database.

Component	Stack	Responsibility
frontend/	React, Vite, Monaco, Yjs	Browser UI, editor shell, project dashboard, collaboration panels
nginx/	nginx	Static frontend serving, API gateway, WebSocket routing
users-service/	Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL	Accounts, OAuth, password auth, JWT issuance
projects-service/	Go, Gin, PostgreSQL, sqlc	Project/file metadata, collaborators, invites, presigned object URLs
collab-service/	Go, WebSocket, Yjs protocol relay	Real-time editing rooms and raw Yjs update broadcasting
file-data-service/	Rust, tonic, yrs	Yjs compaction and plain-text export over gRPC
assistant-service/	Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, pgvector	BYOK keys, chat history, SSE streaming, auto-context/RAG support
minio	MinIO	Object storage for document snapshots, update logs, and exports

Design Notes

• JWTs are issued by users-service and independently validated by backend services.
• Project metadata and object-storage access are owned by projects-service.
• Collaborative editing uses Yjs; the collaboration relay forwards binary Yjs frames rather than implementing a custom CRDT.
• file-data-service owns document compaction and text export so other services do not need to understand Yjs internals.
• The assistant service keeps LLM keys, chat history, usage data, and auto-context state separate from project metadata.
• Presigned MinIO URLs are generated internally and rewritten for browser-facing access at the public origin.

Repository Layout

.
|-- assistant-service/      # AI assistant, provider keys, chat, auto-context
|-- collab-service/         # WebSocket/Yjs collaboration relay
|-- docs/                   # Diagrams, legal docs, generated API references
|-- file-data-service/      # Yjs compaction and text export service
|-- frontend/               # React web application
|-- nginx/                  # API gateway and production frontend image
|-- projects-service/       # Project/file metadata and MinIO URL orchestration
|-- proto/                  # Shared gRPC definitions
|-- tests/                  # Service integration test harnesses
|-- users-service/          # Authentication and user identity service
|-- docker-compose.yml      # Base Compose stack
|-- docker-compose.dev.yml  # Development overrides
|-- docker-compose.prod.yml # Manual production overrides
`-- docker-compose.swarm.yml

Local Development

Prerequisites:

• Docker Compose
• Node.js and npm for the Vite frontend dev server
• A populated .env file based on .env.example

Create the environment file:

cp .env.example .env

For local development, replace example secrets and set public origins in .env to match the local environment you are testing. OAuth sign-in also requires matching callback URLs in the GitHub and Google OAuth app configuration.

Start the backend stack:

make dev-build
make dev-up

Start the frontend dev server:

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost.

Useful development commands:

make dev-logs
make dev-logs SERVICE=projects-service
make dev-ps
make dev-down
make dev-reset

Common local endpoints:

Endpoint	Purpose
http://localhost	nginx gateway
http://localhost:8001	users service
http://localhost:8003	projects service
http://localhost:8000	assistant service
localhost:50051	file-data gRPC service
http://localhost:9000	MinIO API
http://localhost:9001	MinIO console

Deployment

The production path uses Docker images, Docker Swarm, a self-hosted GitHub Actions runner, and a Cloudflare Tunnel sidecar. The deployment runbook is kept in docs/deployment-runbook.md.

Manual production Compose commands are still available:

make prod-build
make prod-up
make prod-logs
make prod-down

For production, all example secrets, database passwords, OAuth credentials, MinIO credentials, encryption keys, and public URL values must be replaced before starting the stack.

API And Service References

• Projects service OpenAPI reference
• Generated projects service HTML reference
• Collaboration service AsyncAPI reference
• Users service database diagram
• Projects service database diagram

License

No open-source license is currently provided. Unless a license is added, all rights are reserved by the project owner.