Overleaf Skill

Manage Overleaf LaTeX projects via the olcli CLI.

Installation

# Homebrew (recommended)
brew tap aloth/tap && brew install olcli

# npm
npm install -g @aloth/olcli

Authentication

Get your session cookie from Overleaf:

Log into overleaf.com
Open DevTools (F12) → Application → Cookies
Copy the value of overleaf_session2

olcli auth --cookie "YOUR_SESSION_COOKIE"

Verify with:

olcli whoami

Common Workflows

Pull a project to work locally

olcli pull "My Paper"
cd My_Paper/

Edit and sync changes

# After editing files locally
olcli push              # Upload changes only
olcli sync              # Bidirectional sync (pull + push)

Compile and download PDF

olcli pdf                      # Compile and download
olcli pdf -o paper.pdf         # Custom output name
olcli compile                  # Just compile (no download)

Download .bbl for arXiv submission

olcli output bbl               # Download compiled .bbl
olcli output bbl -o main.bbl   # Custom filename
olcli output --list            # List all available outputs

Commands Reference

Command	Description
`olcli auth --cookie <value>`	Authenticate with session cookie
`olcli whoami`	Check authentication status
`olcli list`	List all projects
`olcli info [project]`	Show project details
`olcli pull [project] [dir]`	Download project files
`olcli push [dir]`	Upload local changes
`olcli sync [dir]`	Bidirectional sync
`olcli upload <file>`	Upload a single file
`olcli download <file>`	Download a single file
`olcli zip [project]`	Download as zip archive
`olcli compile [project]`	Trigger compilation
`olcli pdf [project]`	Compile and download PDF
`olcli output [type]`	Download compile outputs

Tips

Auto-detect project: Run commands from a synced directory (contains .olcli.json) to skip the project argument
Dry run: Use olcli push --dry-run to preview changes before uploading
Force overwrite: Use olcli pull --force to overwrite local changes
Project ID: You can use project ID instead of name (24-char hex from URL)

Troubleshooting

Session expired

Get a fresh cookie from the browser and run olcli auth again.

Compilation fails

Check the Overleaf web editor for detailed error logs.

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