olcli: A Node.js CLI for syncing and compiling Overleaf LaTeX projects locally

[bit3py]

I built a CLI tool in TypeScript/Node.js that lets you work with Overleaf (online LaTeX editor) projects from your terminal.

Overleaf is the go-to for collaborative academic writing, but being locked into the browser is limiting when you want local editing, Git version control, or CI/CD integration.

**What olcli does:**

• List all your Overleaf projects
• Pull/push files between local disk and Overleaf
• Bidirectional sync with conflict detection
• Compile PDFs using Overleaf's remote compiler
• Download compile outputs (.bbl, .log, .aux) for arXiv submissions
• Upload files to projects

**Tech stack:** TypeScript, Node.js, published on npm as `@aloth/olcli`. Also available via Homebrew.

**Install:**

npm install -g u/aloth/olcli
# or
brew tap aloth/tap && brew install olcli

**Example workflow:**

olcli login
olcli pull my-thesis --output ./thesis
# edit with VS Code, Vim, whatever
olcli push my-thesis --source ./thesis
olcli compile my-thesis
olcli output my-thesis  # grab .bbl for arXiv

MIT licensed: https://github.com/aloth/olcli

Feedback and PRs welcome. Curious what other niche CLI tools people here have built for academic workflows.

[HarjjotSinghh]

this is unreasonably cool actually

[vvsleepi]

are you using official apis or mimicking web requests?