LaTeX to Markdown Converter

Convert LaTeX documents to Markdown format with support for common LaTeX commands and environments.

Usage

npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/latex-to-md.ts <text>
npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/latex-to-md.ts --file <input.tex>
npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/latex-to-md.ts --file <input.tex> --output <output.md>

Supported Conversions

Sections/Headers

\chapter{Title} → # Title
\section{Title} → ## Title
\subsection{Title} → ### Title
\subsubsection{Title} → #### Title
\paragraph{Title} → ##### Title
\subparagraph{Title} → ###### Title

Text Formatting

\textbf{bold} → **bold**
\textit{italic} → *italic*
\emph{emphasis} → *emphasis*
\texttt{code} → `code`
\verb|code| → `code`

Code Blocks

\begin{verbatim}
code here
\end{verbatim}

→

```
code here
```

Also supports lstlisting environment.

Lists

Itemize (unordered):

\begin{itemize}
\item First item
\item Second item
\end{itemize}

→

- First item
- Second item

Enumerate (ordered):

\begin{enumerate}
\item First
\item Second
\end{enumerate}

→

1. First
2. Second

Images

With caption (figure environment):

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics{image.png}
\caption{Description}
\end{figure}

→

![Description](image.png)

Without caption:

\includegraphics{image.png} → ![](image.png)
\includegraphics[width=5cm]{image.png} → ![](image.png) (options stripped)

Blockquotes

\begin{quote}
This is a quote
\end{quote}

→

> This is a quote

Horizontal Rules

\hrulefill → ---
\hline → ---

Unicode Character Decoding

LaTeX special characters are automatically decoded to Unicode:

\'{e} → é
\"{a} → ä
\c{c} → ç
\ae → æ
\oe → œ
\ss → ß
And ~100 more LaTeX commands

See tex-decode skill for complete list of supported characters.

Math Preservation

LaTeX math notation is preserved as-is:

Inline math: $...$ remains $...$
Display math: $$...$$ remains $$...$$

Many Markdown renderers support this syntax natively.

Arguments

Positional arguments: Text to convert (if no --file flag)
--file: Read input from file
--output <file>: Write output to file (default: stdout)

Examples

Convert inline text

npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/latex-to-md.ts "\\section{Hello}\n\nThis is \\textbf{bold}."

Convert file

npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/latex-to-md.ts --file paper.tex --output paper.md

Extract plain text from LaTeX

npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/latex-to-md.ts --file document.tex | npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/strip.ts

Limitations

Does not handle complex LaTeX packages or custom commands
Tables are not automatically converted (LaTeX tables vary widely in structure)
Cross-references (\ref, \cite) are not resolved
Bibliographies require separate handling
Complex math environments may need manual adjustment
Nested environments beyond simple cases may not convert perfectly

Related Skills

md-to-latex: Convert Markdown to LaTeX
tex-decode: Decode LaTeX commands to Unicode (used internally)
tex-strip: Remove all LaTeX formatting for plain text
tex-protect: Protect text from LaTeX interpretation

latex-to-md