NeoVim LaTeX Setup for Arch Linux

Automated Arch-focused workflow that installs NeoVim, LaTeX tooling, and a tuned configuration for writing, compiling, and previewing TeX documents.

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Requirements
• Quick Start
• Installation Profiles
• Components
• Usage Essentials
• Snippet Tips
• Troubleshooting
• Contributing
• License

Overview

• One-command bootstrap that provisions NeoVim, TeX Live, texlab, and supporting tooling
• Opinionated config built on lazy.nvim, VimTeX, LuaSnip, Telescope, Treesitter, and Git utilities
• Zathura viewer integration with forward and inverse SyncTeX search out of the box

Requirements

• Arch Linux or a compatible Arch-based distribution
• Internet connectivity for package downloads
• ≥ 2 GB free disk space (more for full TeX Live)

Quick Start

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone git@github.com:jorgemunozl/arch-nvim-latex.git
   cd arch-nvim-latex

2. Run the installer:

   chmod +x setup.sh
   ./setup.sh                 # guided
   ./setup.sh --yes           # defaults to medium profile
   ./setup.sh --level full --yes --skip-aur   # example with flags

3. Launch NeoVim, wait for plugins to sync, and open a .tex buffer to begin.

Installation Profiles

During execution the script prompts for a TeX Live scope unless provided via --level:

Profile	Contents (summary)	Footprint*
minimal	Core TeX Live plus latexmk and Zathura	~200 MB
medium	Core + recommended + math + fonts + biber	~700 MB
full	Full TeX Live collection with publishers extras	~2–3 GB

* Approximate download size; actual usage varies with mirrors and dependencies.

Profiles can be extended later with pacman or tlmgr if required.

Components

System packages: NeoVim, Git, build toolchain, Python, Node.js, ripgrep, fd, fzf, tree-sitter.

LaTeX stack: TeX Live per profile, latexmk, biber (medium/full), Zathura with SyncTeX inverse search via nvr.

NeoVim configuration:

• lazy.nvim plugin manager with plugin set defined in nvim/lua/plugins/
• VimTeX, texlab LSP, LuaSnip, Treesitter, Telescope, nvim-tree, Fugitive, and UI refinements
• Custom LuaSnip snippets installed under ~/.config/nvim/snippets

Usage Essentials

Live workflow

1. <leader>ll — start/stop latexmk (continuous build)
2. <leader>lv — open current PDF in Zathura
3. <leader>lc — clean auxiliary files

Navigation & search

• <leader>ff find files, <leader>fg ripgrep, <leader>e file explorer, <leader>gg Git status
• tt compile, tv view, tc toggle VimTeX TOC, te/ta insert equation or align blocks (normal mode, .tex buffers)

Inverse search

• Ctrl+Left Click (or configured Zathura shortcut) jumps back to the matching line in Neovim via nvr.

Snippet Tips

• Snippets live in ~/.config/nvim/snippets
• Expand or jump forward with Tab / Ctrl-l, backward with Shift-Tab / Ctrl-h
• Choice nodes cycle with Ctrl-k
• Autosnippets in math mode: @a → \alpha, fra → \frac{…}{…}, sq → \sqrt{…}
• Reload without restarting NeoVim:

  :lua require('luasnip.loaders.from_lua').load({ paths = vim.fn.stdpath('config') .. '/snippets/lua/' })

Troubleshooting

• Inspect the latest installer log:
  ls -1t install_*.log | head -n1 | xargs -r tail -n +1
• Verify tooling after manual changes: ./setup.sh --verify
• Reset the NeoVim configuration from this repo: ./setup.sh --reset
• Snippets not expanding?
  • Check VimTeX math context: :echo exists('*vimtex#syntax#in_mathzone')
  • Reload snippets using the command above

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Please describe your environment, profile, and reproduction steps when reporting problems.

License

Released under the MIT License—see LICENSE.