paseo-latex-renderer

A high-performance, native LaTeX formula rendering plugin for Paseo Desktop (Windows / Electron), Web, and Mobile.

Designed specifically for researchers and engineers reading mathematics, control theory, robotics, and scientific papers directly in Paseo Agent conversations.

Features

• Inline Math: $E=mc^2$ and \(E=mc^2\)
• Display Math: $$\dots$$ and \[\dots\]
• Math Code Blocks: Fenced blocks with ```math or ```latex
• Complex Environments: aligned, align, cases, matrix, bmatrix, pmatrix, \frac, \sum, \int, \partial, subscripts, superscripts, Greek letters
• 100% Offline & Self-Contained: All 20 KaTeX WOFF2 fonts are embedded as Base64 data URIs. No external CDN or internet connection required
• Theme-Adaptive: Automatically inherits foreground and surface colors across all Paseo light and dark themes
• Horizontal Scroll Protection: Wide and multi-line equations scroll smoothly without breaking the chat layout
• Copy Raw LaTeX: Clickable copy button on display formulas and click-to-copy on inline formulas
• Preserves Full Markdown: Headers, paragraphs, lists, tables, blockquotes, code blocks with syntax tags and copy buttons
• Edge-Case Hardened:
  • Currency amounts like $100 and $100 and $200 are never mistaken for math
  • Escaped delimiters \$ remain literal text
  • Inline code spans and programming code blocks (python, ts, etc.) are left completely verbatim
  • Unclosed formulas during streaming display readable raw text until the closing delimiter arrives
  • Unsupported LaTeX commands fall back gracefully without crashing the chat
• Zero Daemon Overhead: Client-only plugin (no unnecessary background daemon subprocess)

Directory Structure

paseo-latex-renderer/
├── paseo-plugin.json      # Paseo manifest (id, requirements, build)
├── package.json           # Dependencies and build/test scripts
├── tsconfig.json          # TypeScript configuration
├── vitest.config.ts       # Vitest unit test configuration
├── index.client.tsx       # Plugin client entrypoint (Transformer & Renderer)
├── client/
│   ├── katex-css.ts       # KaTeX CSS with inlined Base64 WOFF2 fonts
│   ├── math-parser.ts     # Markdown + LaTeX AST tokenizer & syntax detector
│   ├── math-renderer.tsx  # React Native math components
│   ├── markdown-renderer.tsx # Complete Markdown + Math renderer
│   └── web.tsx            # Web/Electron KaTeX DOM bridge & safe mobile fallback
├── scripts/
│   └── inline-fonts.mjs   # Script to inline fonts from KaTeX dist
└── tests/
    ├── latex-renderer.test.ts # 31 unit & integration tests
    └── react-native-mock.ts   # React Native test mocks

Quick Start & Installation

1. Requirements

• Node.js >= 18
• Paseo >= 0.8.0

2. Build & Test

cd paseo-latex-renderer
npm install
npm run build      # Inlines KaTeX fonts into client/katex-css.ts
npm run typecheck  # Type-check TypeScript codebase
npm run test       # Run 31 unit tests with Vitest

3. Windows Desktop Installation

To install on the Windows host running Paseo Daemon:

paseo plugin install "C:\path\to\paseo-latex-renderer"

(Or use the bundled CLI: C:\ProgramData\paseo\resources\bin\paseo.cmd plugin install <path>)

Check status:

paseo plugin ls

If plugins are not yet enabled on the daemon:

1. Ensure "pluginsEnabled": true is set in your ~/.paseo/config.json.
2. Reload daemon configuration:

   paseo reload

3. The plugin will transition from disabled to running.

4. Remote Ubuntu Daemon Installation

To install on your remote Ubuntu server running Paseo Daemon:

1. Clone or copy paseo-latex-renderer to the Ubuntu host (e.g. /home/user/paseo-latex-renderer).
2. Install dependencies and build:

   cd /home/user/paseo-latex-renderer
   npm install
   npm run build
   npm run typecheck

3. Install into the Ubuntu daemon:

   paseo plugin install /home/user/paseo-latex-renderer

4. Verify:

   paseo plugin ls

5. When your Windows Paseo Desktop connects to the Ubuntu Daemon, the Windows Desktop automatically receives and executes the client bundle, providing full native LaTeX formula rendering.

Management & Troubleshooting

Update / Reload Plugin Source

When you make changes to the plugin code:

npm run typecheck
paseo plugin reload paseo-latex-renderer

Disable / Enable Plugin

paseo plugin disable paseo-latex-renderer
paseo plugin enable paseo-latex-renderer

Remove Plugin

paseo plugin remove paseo-latex-renderer

Troubleshooting

• Plugin status is disabled: Ensure "pluginsEnabled": true is set in ~/.paseo/config.json and run paseo reload.
• Formulas appear as raw text: Check that the formula delimiters are properly closed (e.g., closing $ or $$). Unclosed formulas intentionally stay as raw text to avoid flickering during streaming.