paper-compile

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# Paper Compile: LaTeX to Submission-Ready PDF

Compile the LaTeX paper and fix any issues: **$ARGUMENTS**

## Constants

- **COMPILER = `latexmk`** — LaTeX build tool. Handles multi-pass compilation automatically.
- **ENGINE = `pdflatex`** — LaTeX engine. Options: `pdflatex` (default), `xelatex` (for CJK/custom fonts), `lualatex`.
- **MAX_COMPILE_ATTEMPTS = 3** — Maximum attempts to fix errors and recompile.
- **PAPER_DIR = `paper/`** — Directory containing LaTeX source files.
- **MAX_PAGES** — Page limit. ML conferences: main body to Conclusion end (excluding references & appendix). ICLR=9, NeurIPS=9, ICML=8. **IEEE venues: references ARE included in page count.** IEEE journal ≈ 12-14 pages, IEEE conference ≈ 5-8 pages (all inclusive).

## Workflow

### Step 1: Verify Prerequisites

Check that the compilation environment is ready:

```bash
# Check LaTeX installation
which pdflatex && which latexmk && which bibtex

# If not installed, provide instructions:
# macOS: brew install --cask mactex-no-gui
# Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install texlive-full
# Server: conda install -c conda-forge texlive-core
```

Verify all required files exist:

```bash
# Must exist
ls $PAPER_DIR/main.tex

# Should exist
ls $PAPER_DIR/references.bib
ls $PAPER_DIR/sections/*.tex
ls $PAPER_DIR/figures/*.pdf 2>/dev/null || ls $PAPER_DIR/figures/*.png 2>/dev/null
```

### Step 2: First Compilation Attempt

```bash
cd $PAPER_DIR

# Clean previous build artifacts
latexmk -C

# Full compilation (pdflatex + bibtex + pdflatex × 2)
latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -halt-on-error main.tex 2>&1 | tee compile.log
```

### Step 3: Error Diagnosis and Auto-Fix

If compilation fails, read `compile.log` and fix common errors:

**Missing packages:**
```
! LaTeX Error: File `somepackage.sty' not found.
```
→ Install via `tlmgr install somepackage` or remove the `\usepackage` if unused.

**Undefined references:**
```
LaTeX Warning: Reference `fig:xyz' on page 3 undefined
```
→ Check `\label{fig:xyz}` exists in the correct figure environment.

**Missing figures:**
```
! LaTeX Error: File `figures/fig1.pdf' not found.
```
→ Check if the file exists with a different extension (.png vs .pdf). Update the `\includegraphics` path.

**Citation undefined:**
```
LaTeX Warning: Citation `smith2024' undefined
```
→ Add the missing entry to `references.bib` or fix the citation key.

**`[VERIFY]` markers in text:**
→ Search for `[VERIFY]` markers left by `/paper-write`. These indicate unverified citations or facts. Search for the correct information or flag to the user.

**Overfull hbox:**
```
Overfull \hbox (12.5pt too wide) in paragraph at lines 42--45
```
→ Minor: usually ignorable. If severe (>20pt), rephrase the text or adjust figure width.

**BibTeX errors:**
```
I was expecting a `,' or a `}'---line 15 of references.bib
```
→ Fix BibTeX syntax (missing comma, unmatched braces, special characters in title).

**`\crefname` undefined for custom theorem types:**
→ Ensure `\crefname{assumption}{Assumption}{Assumptions}` and similar are in the preamble after `\newtheorem{assumption}`.

### Step 4: Iterative Fix Loop

```
for attempt in 1..MAX_COMPILE_ATTEMPTS:
    compile()
    if success:
        break
    parse_errors()
    auto_fix()
```

For each error:
1. Read the error message from `compile.log`
2. Locate the source file and line number
3. Apply the fix
4. Recompile

**Stuck after 2 attempts?** If Codex plugin is installed, invoke `/codex:rescue` — Codex can independently read the LaTeX source and `compile.log` to spot issues Claude missed (e.g., conflicting packages, encoding problems, subtle macro errors). If not installed, continue with Claude's own diagnosis.

### Step 5: Post-Compilation Checks

From wanshuiyin/Auto-claude-code-research-in-sleep, MIT.

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