LaTeX to Markdown Converter

Convert LaTeX documents to Markdown format with support for common LaTeX commands and environments.

Usage

npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/latex-to-md.ts <text>
npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/latex-to-md.ts --file <input.tex>
npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/latex-to-md.ts --file <input.tex> --output <output.md>

Supported Conversions

Sections/Headers

• \chapter{Title} → # Title
• \section{Title} → ## Title
• \subsection{Title} → ### Title
• \subsubsection{Title} → #### Title
• \paragraph{Title} → ##### Title
• \subparagraph{Title} → ###### Title

Text Formatting

• \textbf{bold} → **bold**
• \textit{italic} → *italic*
• \emph{emphasis} → *emphasis*
• \texttt{code} → `code`
• \verb|code| → `code`

Code Blocks

\begin{verbatim}
code here
\end{verbatim}

→

```
code here
```

Also supports lstlisting environment.

Lists

Itemize (unordered):

\begin{itemize}
\item First item
\item Second item
\end{itemize}

→

- First item
- Second item

Enumerate (ordered):

\begin{enumerate}
\item First
\item Second
\end{enumerate}

→

1. First
2. Second

Links

• \href{url}{text} → [text](url)
• \url{url} → <url>

Images

With caption (figure environment):

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics{image.png}
\caption{Description}
\end{figure}

→

![Description](image.png)

Without caption:

• \includegraphics{image.png} → ![](image.png)
• \includegraphics[width=5cm]{image.png} → ![](image.png) (options stripped)

Blockquotes

\begin{quote}
This is a quote
\end{quote}

→

> This is a quote

Horizontal Rules

• \hrulefill → ---
• \hline → ---

Unicode Character Decoding

LaTeX special characters are automatically decoded to Unicode:

• \'{e} → é
• \"{a} → ä
• \c{c} → ç
• \ae → æ
• \oe → œ
• \ss → ß
• And ~100 more LaTeX commands

See tex-decode skill for complete list of supported characters.

Math Preservation

LaTeX math notation is preserved as-is:

• Inline math: $...$ remains $...$
• Display math: $$...$$ remains $$...$$

Many Markdown renderers support this syntax natively.

Arguments

• Positional arguments: Text to convert (if no --file flag)
• --file: Read input from file
• --output <file>: Write output to file (default: stdout)

Examples

Convert inline text

npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/latex-to-md.ts "\\section{Hello}\n\nThis is \\textbf{bold}."

Convert file

npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/latex-to-md.ts --file paper.tex --output paper.md

Extract plain text from LaTeX

npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/latex-to-md.ts --file document.tex | npx tsx plugins/tex/scripts/strip.ts

Limitations

• Does not handle complex LaTeX packages or custom commands
• Tables are not automatically converted (LaTeX tables vary widely in structure)
• Cross-references (\ref, \cite) are not resolved
• Bibliographies require separate handling
• Complex math environments may need manual adjustment
• Nested environments beyond simple cases may not convert perfectly

Related Skills

• md-to-latex: Convert Markdown to LaTeX
• tex-decode: Decode LaTeX commands to Unicode (used internally)
• tex-strip: Remove all LaTeX formatting for plain text
• tex-protect: Protect text from LaTeX interpretation