olcli

Overleaf CLI — Sync and manage your LaTeX projects from the command line.

Features

• 📋 List all your Overleaf projects
• ⬇️ Pull project files to local directory
• ⬆️ Push local changes back to Overleaf
• 🔄 Sync bidirectionally with smart conflict detection
• 📄 Compile and download PDFs
• 📦 Download individual files or full project archives
• 📤 Upload files to projects
• 📊 Output compile artifacts (.bbl, .log, .aux for arXiv submissions)

Installation

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew tap aloth/tap
brew install olcli

npm

npm install -g @aloth/olcli

Quick Start

1. Authenticate

Get your session cookie from Overleaf:

1. Log into overleaf.com
2. Open Developer Tools (F12) → Application → Cookies
3. Copy the value of overleaf_session2

olcli auth --cookie "your_session_cookie_value"

2. List Projects

olcli list

3. Pull a Project

olcli pull "My Thesis"
cd My_Thesis/

4. Edit and Sync

# Edit files locally with your favorite editor
vim main.tex

# Push changes back to Overleaf
olcli push

# Or sync bidirectionally
olcli sync

5. Compile and Download PDF

olcli pdf

Commands

All commands auto-detect the project when run from a synced directory (contains .olcli.json).

Command	Description
olcli auth	Set session cookie
olcli whoami	Check authentication status
olcli logout	Clear stored credentials
olcli list	List all projects
olcli info [project]	Show project details and file list
olcli pull [project] [dir]	Download project files to local directory
olcli push [dir]	Upload local changes to Overleaf
olcli sync [dir]	Bidirectional sync (pull + push)
olcli upload <file> [project]	Upload a single file
olcli download <file> [project]	Download a single file
olcli zip [project]	Download project as zip archive
olcli compile [project]	Trigger PDF compilation
olcli pdf [project]	Compile and download PDF
olcli output [type]	Download compile output files
olcli check	Show config paths and credential sources

arXiv Submissions

Download the .bbl file for arXiv submissions:

olcli output bbl --project "My Paper"
# Downloads: bbl

List all available compile output files:

olcli output --list
# Available output files:
#   aux          output.aux
#   bbl          output.bbl
#   blg          output.blg
#   log          output.log
#   ...

Sync Behavior

Pull

• Downloads all files from Overleaf
• Skips local files modified after last pull (won't overwrite your changes)
• Use --force to overwrite local changes

Push

• Uploads files modified after last pull
• Use --all to upload all files
• Use --dry-run to preview changes

Sync

• Pulls remote changes
• Preserves local modifications (local wins if newer)
• Pushes local changes to remote
• Use --verbose to see detailed file operations

Configuration

Credentials are stored in (checked in order):

1. OVERLEAF_SESSION environment variable
2. .olauth file in current directory
3. Global config: ~/.config/olcli-nodejs/config.json (macOS/Linux)

.olauth File

For project-specific credentials, create .olauth in your project directory:

s%3AyourSessionCookieValue...

Examples

Work on a thesis

# Initial setup
olcli pull "PhD Thesis" thesis
cd thesis

# Daily workflow
vim chapters/introduction.tex
olcli sync
olcli pdf -o draft.pdf

Quick PDF download

olcli pdf "Conference Paper" -o paper.pdf

Download a single file

olcli download main.tex "My Project"

Upload figures

cd my-project
olcli upload figures/diagram.png

Backup all projects

for proj in $(olcli list --json | jq -r '.[].name'); do
  olcli zip "$proj" -o "backups/${proj}.zip"
done

Prepare for arXiv

cd my-paper
olcli output bbl -o main.bbl
olcli zip -o arxiv-submission.zip

Troubleshooting

Session expired

If you get authentication errors, your session cookie may have expired. Get a fresh one from the browser and run olcli auth again.

Compilation fails

Check the Overleaf web editor for detailed error logs. Common issues:

• Missing packages
• Syntax errors in .tex files
• Missing bibliography files

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

MIT © Alexander Loth