Overleaf Web MCP

Overleaf Web MCP

Let Claude, Codex, Cursor, or any MCP client read, edit, compile, and review
your Overleaf projects, signed in as you.

Docs · Get started · Tools · Safety · Compare · Changelog

Overleaf Web MCP is a Model Context Protocol server. It signs in to Overleaf once through a browser window you control, then lets an AI assistant work on your projects the way you would in the web editor: browse files, make revision-checked edits, optionally as tracked changes, compile, and handle review comments. It uses the same browser-facing endpoints the Overleaf editor uses, so no Git integration or premium plan is needed for the core workflow.

What you can say

Once connected, talk to your assistant in plain language. It picks the tools.

• "Create a new project called Grant renewal from the folder I zipped, and make proposal.tex the root."
• "List my Overleaf projects and open the one called Thesis."
• "Rewrite the introduction of main.tex for a general audience, as a tracked change."
• "Compile the paper and tell me whether it built cleanly, and where any errors are."
• "Which figures in ./figures differ from what's in the project? Upload only those."
• "Make the project match ~/papers/thesis, and show me what would be deleted first."
• "Summarize the open review comments and reply to the one about Table 2."

Get started

You need Node.js 20 or newer, a Chrome-family browser (Chrome, Chromium, Brave, or Edge), and an Overleaf account.

[!NOTE] The server uses Overleaf's private web APIs, which can change without notice, and automating www.overleaf.com may carry Terms-of-Service and account risk. Try it on a disposable project first and keep request volume low.

1. Sign in once. A dedicated browser window opens. Complete the normal Overleaf login, including SSO or two-factor. Only cookies for the Overleaf origin are saved, to a file only your user can read. The session lasts five days from its last use, so sign in again after five idle days, or schedule npx overleaf-web-mcp keepalive daily to keep it alive (see configuration).

npx overleaf-web-mcp login

2. Connect your MCP client. For Claude Code:

claude mcp add overleaf --scope user -- npx -y overleaf-web-mcp serve

For Codex:

codex mcp add overleaf -- npx -y overleaf-web-mcp serve

Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, and other clients

Add this to the client's MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "overleaf": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "overleaf-web-mcp", "serve"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code uses a servers key and "type": "stdio" instead; the installation guide has the exact block for each client.

3. Restart the client and ask it to check your Overleaf connection.

Client-by-client steps, self-hosted Overleaf, and troubleshooting, including the "failed to connect" you get when node is older than 20, are in the installation guide.

What it can do

• Start and manage projects. Create a blank or example project, clone one, or import a zip; rename, trash, restore, or archive projects with the name confirmed first; set the root document, TeX engine, and TeX Live image so the web editor's Recompile follows.
• Browse and organize. List and search projects, read the file tree with the configured root document and compiler, create folders and files, rename, move, upload one file or a list of them, download a file or the whole project as a zip, and delete with confirmation.
• Sync a folder. Compare a local folder with the project without changing anything, then upload only what changed, and optionally delete what you removed locally, in one confirmed call. Changed text files go through the same revision-checked edits as a single write, so a collaborator's concurrent edit is never overwritten.
• Write safely. Replace a whole document or a single section. Every edit is checked against the revision you read first, so a collaborator's concurrent change is reported instead of overwritten. Edits can be recorded as Overleaf tracked changes.
• Work by section. Parse \section headings in a file, read one section, replace one section.
• Compile. Build the project's configured root document, or any document you name, and get the errors and warnings from its log by file and line, with a clear yes or no on whether it built cleanly. Read the full log, save the PDF or any other output locally, or stop a running compile.
• Review. List comment threads with their locations, reply, add a comment anchored to exact text, and resolve or reopen threads.
• Follow history. Poll recent project history with a version cursor to see who changed what.

Tools

31 tools in eight groups: account, project lifecycle, files, folder sync, sections, compilation, review, and history. Read-only tools change nothing on Overleaf and write nothing on your computer. Destructive tools can replace or remove existing content, and all but stop_compile need a value repeated back first: the path, name, or count of what they delete, the revision of the document they replace, the planToken of a folder sync, or overwrite for a file that exists.

All 31 tools, with their annotations and local effects

An upload that would replace a file, and a folder sync without a planToken, are refused unless that replacement or unplanned sync is asked for by name. The last column shows which tools read or write files on the computer the server runs on. Every parameter and result is in the tool reference.

How it keeps your project safe

• Text edits require the revision from a prior read and fail with a conflict if the document changed underneath.
• Tracked changes are opt-in and never silently downgraded to plain edits.
• Deleting a file requires its path to be confirmed, deleting several requires their count, and trashing or deleting a project requires its name. Projects go to the trash first; permanent deletion only works from there. Downloads, including a whole-project zip, never overwrite a local file unless asked, and never write over the saved session.
• A write that times out is observed, never resubmitted, so nothing is applied twice. The same holds for each file in a batch upload.
• A folder sync needs the planToken from plan_sync, and stops before changing anything if the project or the folder changed since the plan. It deletes only in mirror mode, only with the delete count confirmed, and never after a failed upload.
• An upload never replaces a file unless asked: a binary needs overwrite, and a text document, which an upload replaces with no revision check, needs uncheckedDocumentReplace.
• Optionally, you can limit which projects, which folders on your computer, and which kinds of change the server may touch (access policy). It keeps an assistant inside what you gave it; it is not a sandbox.
• Your session cookie stays on your machine in a file only you can read, and is never returned by any tool.
• While a project is open, up to 90 seconds after the last call, you may appear online to collaborators.

How it compares

The three most-starred Overleaf MCP servers and the two closest in design to this one, each checked against its own source code on 2026-09-22. They change often, so follow the links for their current state. ✅ supported, 🟡 partly (see the numbered notes), ❌ not supported.

Notes 1–14

1. Only where Overleaf's Git bridge exists, which on a self-hosted instance means Server Pro.
2. Documented, but sign-in appears to require overleaf.com's overleaf_session2 cookie, which Community Edition does not set by default.
3. Only the projects named in its own configuration.
4. Lists projects without search, and leaves out archived and trashed ones.
5. Lists projects, with no search or filter.
6. Files are saved to the server's disk; no tool returns a document's text.
7. Git rejects the push if Overleaf moved on after the tool's own pull, but an edit made between the assistant's read and that pull is overwritten.
8. Only with strict_version: true; by default a concurrent edit is reported after the write.
9. Creates files by writing them; no rename, move, or delete.
10. Creates, renames, and deletes files and folders; no move.
11. Downloads binary files; no upload.
12. Lists, replies to, resolves, and reopens threads, but cannot add a comment.
13. Creates and renames projects.
14. Reports what collaborators changed during the session.

Documentation

For AI agents

The server sends usage instructions to the MCP client when it connects, and every tool description is self-contained, so an assistant does not need this README to use it correctly. Coding agents contributing to the repository should read AGENTS.md.

License

MIT. An independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Overleaf.