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Automating Academic Paper PDFs with the LaTeX API
Academic papers, theses, and scientific reports all require LaTeX. Here is how to automate PDF generation for academic documents using the FormaTeX API in your research pipeline.
Every major academic publisher requires LaTeX submissions. arXiv runs entirely on LaTeX. Journal templates from IEEE, ACM, Springer, and Elsevier are LaTeX classes. If you work in research, data science, or any scientific field, automating LaTeX PDF generation is a significant productivity win — and the FormaTeX API makes it accessible from any programming environment.
The Academic PDF Pipeline
A typical academic document generation workflow involves:
- Research and data collection
- Analysis (Python, R, Julia)
- Figure generation (matplotlib, ggplot2, pgfplots)
- LaTeX document composition
- Multi-pass compilation (for bibliography and cross-references)
- Review, revision, and re-compilation
- Submission
Steps 4–6 are where FormaTeX fits in. You write the LaTeX, we compile it.
Common Document Types and Templates
Conference Papers (IEEE/ACM)
\documentclass[conference]{IEEEtran}
% or
\documentclass{acmart}
\title{Efficient Compilation of Scientific Documents via REST API}
\author{
\IEEEauthorblockN{Jane Smith}
\IEEEauthorblockA{Department of Computer Science\\
MIT, Cambridge MA\\
[email protected]}
}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\begin{abstract}
We present FormaTeX, a RESTful API for on-demand LaTeX compilation...
\end{abstract}
\end{document}Theses (memoir or KOMA-Script)
\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{memoir}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,amsthm}
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{references.bib}arXiv Preprints
arXiv accepts pdflatex and XeLaTeX. Most preprints use standard article class or a custom arxiv.sty:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{arxiv}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
\usepackage[numbers]{natbib}Engine Selection for Academics
| Document type | Engine | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| IEEE/ACM conference | pdflatex | Required by most templates |
| arXiv preprint | pdflatex | Default arXiv engine |
| Custom fonts, Unicode | xelatex | Font flexibility |
| Documents with bibliography | latexmk | Handles multi-pass automatically |
| Programmatic content | lualatex | Lua scripting |
Use latexmk for any document with \bibliography{} or \addbibresource{}. It runs biber/bibtex automatically and repeats pdflatex until all references are stable. Without it, you get [?] where citations should be.
CI/CD for Researchers
Academic papers benefit from version-controlled, automatically compiled PDFs. Every push to the paper repository triggers a recompile:
# .github/workflows/compile-paper.yml
name: Compile Paper
on:
push:
paths:
- "paper/**.tex"
- "paper/**.bib"
- "paper/figures/**"
pull_request:
jobs:
compile:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Compile paper with bibliography
env:
FORMATEX_KEY: ${{ secrets.FORMATEX_KEY }}
run: |
curl -s -X POST https://api.formatex.io/api/v1/compile \
-H "X-API-Key: $FORMATEX_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "{\"content\": $(cat paper/main.tex | jq -Rs .), \"engine\": \"latexmk\"}" \
--output paper/paper.pdf
- name: Upload compiled paper
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
with:
name: paper-pdf
path: paper/paper.pdf
retention-days: 90This gives every collaborator a downloadable PDF from every commit, without installing TeX Live anywhere.
Python Integration for Data-Driven Papers
Research papers often combine Python-generated figures and LaTeX:
import os
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import requests
import base64
def generate_paper_pdf(results: dict) -> bytes:
"""Generate a paper PDF with embedded figures from Python data."""
# Generate figure
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(6, 4))
ax.plot(results["x"], results["y"])
ax.set_xlabel("Input size $n$")
ax.set_ylabel("Time (ms)")
ax.set_title("Compilation time vs. document size")
# Save as PDF (vector — LaTeX handles it better than PNG)
fig.savefig("/tmp/figure.pdf", bbox_inches="tight")
plt.close(fig)
# Read figure for inclusion
# In a real setup, you would upload to a URL or use pgfplots directly
latex = r"""
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}
\title{Performance Analysis of the FormaTeX API}
\author{Research Team}
\date{\today}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\begin{abstract}
We analyze the compilation performance of the FormaTeX REST API
across document types, engines, and document sizes.
\end{abstract}
\section{Introduction}
LaTeX compilation via REST API offers significant advantages
over self-hosted solutions~\cite{smith2026}.
\section{Results}
As shown in Figure~\ref{fig:perf}, compilation time scales
linearly with document size for pdflatex.
\section{Conclusion}
The FormaTeX API provides predictable, low-latency LaTeX
compilation suitable for production SaaS applications.
\printbibliography
\end{document}
"""
response = requests.post(
"https://api.formatex.io/api/v1/compile",
headers={"X-API-Key": os.environ["FORMATEX_KEY"]},
json={"content": latex, "engine": "latexmk"},
)
if not response.ok:
error = response.json()
raise RuntimeError(error.get("log", error.get("error")))
return response.contentFor figures, generate them as PDF or EPS vector formats rather than PNG. LaTeX includes vector figures at full resolution, while rasterized figures look blurry in print. matplotlib supports fig.savefig("figure.pdf") directly.
Handling Bibliography with the API
Documents with bibliography require latexmk to resolve citation references:
# Multi-file documents: embed bibliography inline
latex_with_bibliography = r"""
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[backend=bibtex]{biblatex}
% For single-file API calls, embed the .bib content directly
\begin{filecontents*}{refs.bib}
@article{knuth1984tex,
author = {Knuth, Donald E.},
title = {The {\TeX} Book},
year = {1984},
publisher = {Addison-Wesley}
}
\end{filecontents*}
\addbibresource{refs.bib}
\begin{document}
The TeX typesetting system was created by \textcite{knuth1984tex}.
\printbibliography
\end{document}
"""
response = requests.post(
"https://api.formatex.io/api/v1/compile",
headers={"X-API-Key": os.environ["FORMATEX_KEY"]},
json={"content": latex_with_bibliography, "engine": "latexmk"},
)The \begin{filecontents*} trick embeds the .bib file inline within the document, making the entire compilation self-contained in a single API call.
File Uploads for Multi-File Documents
For more complex papers with separate .bib files, images, and style files, FormaTeX supports file uploads via multipart form data or base64-encoded files. This is cleaner than the filecontents* approach for larger projects — upload your .bib, figures, and custom .sty files alongside the main .tex source.
Get Started
- Sign up for free — 15 compilations/month, no card required
- API documentation — full endpoint reference
- Engine guide — choose between pdflatex, xelatex, lualatex, latexmk
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