latex-action

GitHub Action to compile LaTeX documents.

It runs in a docker container with a full TeXLive environment installed.

If you want to run arbitrary commands in a TeXLive environment, use texlive-action instead.

Inputs

Each input is provided as a key inside the with section of the action.

• root_file

  The root LaTeX file to be compiled. This input is required. You can also pass multiple files as a multi-line string to compile multiple documents. Each file path will be interpreted as bash glob pattern. For example:

  - uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v3
    with:
      root_file: |
        file1.tex
        file2.tex

• working_directory

  The working directory for this action.

• work_in_root_file_dir

  Change directory into each root file's directory before compiling each documents. This will be helpful if you want to build multiple documents and have the compiler work in each of the corresponding directories.

• continue_on_error

  Continuing to build document even with LaTeX build errors. This will be helpful if you want to build multiple documents regardless of any build error. Noted that even with this input set, this action will always report failure upon any build error. If you want to prevent the GitHub action job also from failure, please refer to the upstream document.

• compiler

  The LaTeX engine to be invoked. By default, latexmk is used, which automates the process of generating LaTeX documents by issuing the appropriate sequence of commands to be run.

• args

  The extra arguments to be passed to the LaTeX engine. By default, it is -pdf -file-line-error -halt-on-error -interaction=nonstopmode. This tells latexmk to use pdflatex. Refer to latexmk document for more information.

• extra_system_packages

  The extra packages to be installed by apk separated by space. For example, extra_system_packages: "inkscape" will install the package inkscape to allow using SVG images in your LaTeX document.

• extra_fonts

  Install extra .ttf/.otf fonts to be used by fontspec. You can also pass multiple files as a multi-line string. Each file path will be interpreted as bash glob pattern. For example:

  - uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v3
    with:
      root_file: main.tex
      extra_fonts: |
        ./path/to/custom.ttf
        ./fonts/*.otf

• pre_compile

  Arbitrary bash codes to be executed before compiling LaTeX documents. For example, pre_compile: "tlmgr update --self && tlmgr update --all" to update all TeXLive packages.

• post_compile

  Arbitrary bash codes to be executed after compiling LaTeX documents. For example, post_compile: "latexmk -c" to clean up temporary files.

• texlive_version

  The version of TeXLive to be used. Supported inputs include 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and latest. By default the latest TeXLive is used. This input cannot co-exist with docker_image input. An example to use this input:

  - uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v3
    with:
      root_file: main.tex
      texlive_version: 2022

• docker_image

  Custom which docker image to be used. Only latex-docker images are supported. For example if you want to pin the docker image:

  - uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v3
    with:
      root_file: main.tex
      docker_image: ghcr.io/xu-cheng/texlive-full:20230801

The following inputs are only valid if the input compiler is not changed.

• latexmk_shell_escape

  Instruct latexmk to enable --shell-escape.

• latexmk_use_lualatex

  Instruct latexmk to use LuaLaTeX.

• latexmk_use_xelatex

  Instruct latexmk to use XeLaTeX.

Example

name: Build LaTeX document
on: [push]
jobs:
  build_latex:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Set up Git repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Compile LaTeX document
        uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v3
        with:
          root_file: main.tex
      - name: Upload PDF file
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: PDF
          path: main.pdf

FAQs

How to use XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX instead of pdfLaTeX?

By default, this action uses pdfLaTeX. If you want to use XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX, you can set the latexmk_use_xelatex or latexmk_use_lualatex input respectively. For example:

- uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v3
  with:
    root_file: main.tex
    latexmk_use_xelatex: true

- uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v3
  with:
    root_file: main.tex
    latexmk_use_lualatex: true

Alternatively, you could create a .latexmkrc file. Refer to the latexmk document for more information.

How to enable --shell-escape?

To enable --shell-escape, set the latexmk_shell_escape input.

- uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v3
  with:
    root_file: main.tex
    latexmk_shell_escape: true

Where is the PDF file? How to upload it?

The PDF file will be in the same folder as that of the LaTeX source in the CI environment. It is up to you on whether to upload it to some places. Here are some example.

• You can use @actions/upload-artifact to upload a zip containing the PDF file to the workflow tab. For example you can add

  - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
    with:
      name: PDF
      path: main.pdf

  It will result in a PDF.zip being uploaded with main.pdf contained inside.

• You can use @softprops/action-gh-release to upload PDF file to the Github Release.

• You can use normal shell tools such as scp/git/rsync to upload PDF file anywhere. For example, you can git push to the gh-pages branch in your repo, so you can view the document using Github Pages.

How to add additional paths to the LaTeX input search path?

Sometimes you may have custom package (.sty) or class (.cls) files in other directories. If you want to add these directories to the LaTeX input search path, you can add them in TEXINPUTS environment variable. For example:

- name: Download custom template
  run: |
    curl -OL https://example.com/custom_template.zip
    unzip custom_template.zip
- uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v3
  with:
    root_file: main.tex
  env:
    TEXINPUTS: ".:./custom_template//:"

Noted that you should NOT use {{ github.workspace }} or $GITHUB_WORKSPACE in TEXINPUTS. This action works in a separated docker container, where the workspace directory is mounted into it. Therefore, the workspace directory inside the docker container is different from github.workspace.

You can find more information of TEXINPUTS here.

It fails due to xindy cannot be found.

This is an upstream issue where xindy.x86_64-linuxmusl is currently missing in TeXLive. To work around it, try this.

It fails to build the document, how to solve it?

• Try to solve the problem by examining the build log.
• Try to build the document locally.
• You can also try to narrow the problem by creating a minimal working example to reproduce the problem.
• Open an issue if you need help. Please include a minimal working example to demonstrate your problem.

License

MIT