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olcli workflow showing project listing, pull, edit, and push commands

Introducing olcli: A Command-Line Interface for Overleaf

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by

Alexander Loth
in ,

If you’ve ever wished you could work on your Overleaf projects with your favorite local editor, or automate LaTeX workflows from the command line, I have good news: olcli is here.

Animated demonstration of olcli pulling an Overleaf project and syncing changes from the command line
olcli in action: pull, edit, sync

What is olcli?

olcli (Overleaf CLI) is an open-source command-line tool that lets you interact with your Overleaf projects directly from the terminal. Whether you’re a researcher preparing papers for arXiv, a student working on a thesis, or anyone who prefers working locally with tools like VS Code or Vim, olcli bridges the gap between Overleaf’s collaborative cloud platform and your local development environment.

Key Features

  • Pull projects locally โ€” Download any Overleaf project to work offline
  • Push changes back โ€” Upload your local edits seamlessly
  • Bidirectional sync โ€” Smart conflict detection with local-wins strategy
  • Compile PDFs โ€” Trigger compilation and download output
  • arXiv-ready โ€” Download .bbl files for arXiv submissions
olcli workflow showing project listing, pull, edit, and push commands
Complete workflow: list, pull, edit, push

Installation

Getting started is simple. Choose your preferred method:

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew tap aloth/tap
brew install olcli

npm

npm install -g @aloth/olcli
Installing olcli via Homebrew with brew tap aloth/tap and brew install olcli
Quick installation via Homebrew

Quick Start

After installation, authenticate with your Overleaf session cookie (found in browser DevTools):

olcli auth --cookie "your_session_cookie"
olcli list                    # See all your projects
olcli pull "My Paper"         # Download locally
cd My_Paper && vim main.tex   # Edit with your favorite editor
olcli sync                    # Push changes back
olcli pdf                     # Compile and download PDF
olcli sync command showing bidirectional synchronization between local files and Overleaf
Bidirectional sync in action

Perfect for arXiv Submissions

One of the most requested features: download compiled .bbl files for arXiv submissions. No more manual copying from the Overleaf output.

olcli output bbl              # Download compiled .bbl
olcli output --list           # See all available output files
olcli output bbl command downloading bibliography file for arXiv submission
Ready for arXiv: download .bbl files

AI Agent Integration

For those working with AI assistants and agent frameworks, I’ve also created overleaf-skill, an Agent Skill that wraps olcli for seamless integration with AI workflows.

Claude Code, Cursor, and other AI agents can now manage your LaTeX projects:

npx skills add aloth/overleaf-skill

This allows AI agents to manage LaTeX projects, compile documents, and prepare arXiv submissions programmatically.

Get Involved

olcli is open source and contributions are welcome!

If olcli helps your workflow, consider giving it a star on GitHub. Bug reports and feature requests are welcome via GitHub Issues.

Happy writing!