Skip to content

Quick Start

This guide will get you up and running with jettex in minutes.

Step 1: Install the Package

pip install jettex

Step 2: Install TinyTeX

import jettex

# Install TinyTeX (only needed once)
jettex.install_tinytex()

This downloads and installs TinyTeX (~100 MB). You only need to do this once.

Step 3: Compile Your First Document

Create a simple LaTeX file hello.tex:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
Hello, World!
\end{document}

Compile it:

import jettex

result = jettex.compile_tex("hello.tex")

if result.success:
    print(f"PDF created: {result.output_file}")
else:
    print(f"Compilation failed: {result.stderr}")

Using Different Engines

jettex supports multiple LaTeX engines:

# Default engine, fastest
result = jettex.pdflatex("document.tex")

# Unicode and OpenType font support
result = jettex.xelatex("document.tex")

# Lua scripting and modern fonts
result = jettex.lualatex("document.tex")

# Automatic multi-pass compilation
result = jettex.latexmk("document.tex")

Automatic Package Installation

The killer feature of jettex is automatic package installation. When you use compile_tex(), missing packages are automatically detected and installed:

# This document uses packages that might not be installed
result = jettex.compile_tex("complex_document.tex")

# jettex will:
# 1. Try to compile
# 2. Detect missing packages from errors
# 3. Install them automatically
# 4. Retry compilation

Package Management

Install packages manually:

# Install specific packages
jettex.tlmgr_install(["tikz", "pgfplots", "beamer"])

# Search for packages
results = jettex.tlmgr_search("diagram")

# Update all packages
jettex.tlmgr_update(all_packages=True)

Command Line Usage

jettex provides a beautiful CLI with Rich formatting:

# Install TinyTeX (with progress bar)
jettex install

# Compile a document (with spinner and styled output)
jettex compile document.tex

# Install packages
jettex install-pkg tikz beamer

# List installed packages (formatted table)
jettex list

# Verbose mode for debugging
jettex -v compile document.tex

# Quiet mode for scripts
jettex -q install

See the full CLI Reference for all options.

Next Steps