tylax

Bidirectional, AST-based LaTeX ↔ Typst Converter

Tylax is a high-performance tool written in Rust that converts mathematical formulas, tables, full documents, and TikZ graphics between LaTeX and Typst formats. It focuses on static analysis to preserve the document structure for manual editing and adjustment.

Features

• Macro Engine:
  • LaTeX: Full expansion support for \newcommand, \def, \ifmmode, and complex nested macros.
  • Typst: Integrated Typst Evaluator handles #let, #for loops, and conditionals before conversion.
• Bidirectional: LaTeX ↔ Typst (Math, Text, Tables, Graphics)
• High Performance: Written in Rust, compilable to WASM for web usage.
• Complex Tables: Support for multicolumn, multirow, and booktabs.
• Graphics: Experimental TikZ ↔ CeTZ conversion.
• Full Document: Handles chapters, sections, lists, and bibliographies.

Note: While Tylax covers most common LaTeX and Typst features, there are still uncovered edge cases. If you encounter any conversion issues, please open an issue with a minimal example. Your feedback helps improve the tool! Thank you!

English | 中文

🔗 Try Online Demo

Installation

From crates.io

cargo install tylax

From Source

git clone https://github.com/scipenai/tylax.git
cd tylax
cargo build --release

Usage

Command Line Interface

# Basic conversion (auto-detect format)
t2l input.tex -o output.typ

# Convert math formula from stdin
echo '\frac{1}{2}' | t2l -d l2t

# Convert TikZ to CeTZ
t2l tikz input.tex -o output.typ

Rust Library

Add to Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
tylax = "0.2.0"

use tylax::{latex_to_typst, typst_to_latex};

fn main() {
    let typst = latex_to_typst(r"\frac{1}{2} + \alpha");
    println!("{}", typst); // Output: 1/2 + alpha
}

WebAssembly

Tylax can be compiled to WASM for browser usage. See the Online Demo for a live example. The online demo does not collect any user data.

# Build for web
wasm-pack build --target web --out-dir web/src/pkg --features wasm --no-default-features

Design Philosophy

To build a handy tool specifically for LaTeX and Typst conversion scenarios.

• Goal: Preserve the original source structure to make the output human-readable and easy to manually edit and adjust.
• Roadmap: We are committed to maintaining this project, slowly but surely improving it. While currently static, we plan to explore adding limited dynamic evaluation in future versions.

Architecture

%%{init: {'theme': 'base', 'themeVariables': { 'primaryColor': '#4a90d9', 'primaryTextColor': '#fff', 'primaryBorderColor': '#2d6cb5', 'lineColor': '#5c6bc0', 'secondaryColor': '#81c784', 'tertiaryColor': '#fff3e0'}}}%%

flowchart LR
    subgraph INPUT ["📄 Input"]
        direction TB
        LaTeX["LaTeX\n.tex"]
        Typst["Typst\n.typ"]
    end

    subgraph CORE ["⚙️ Core Engine"]
        direction TB
        
        subgraph L2T ["LaTeX → Typst"]
            direction LR
            LE[["⚙️ Macro\nEngine"]]
            MP[["🔍 MiTeX\nParser"]]
            LA[("AST")]
            LC{{"Converter"}}
            LE --> MP --> LA --> LC
        end
        
        subgraph T2L ["Typst → LaTeX"]
            direction LR
            subgraph MINIEVAL ["⚙️ MiniEval"]
                direction TB
                TP1[["Parse"]]
                EXEC[["Expand"]]
                TP1 --> EXEC
            end
            TP2[["🔍 typst-syntax\nParser"]]
            TA[("AST")]
            TC{{"Converter"}}
            MINIEVAL --> TP2 --> TA --> TC
        end
        
        subgraph FEATURES ["📦 Features"]
            direction TB
            F1["Tables\n(Coverage Tracking)"]
            F2["TikZ/CeTZ\n(Coord Parser)"]
            F4["References"]
        end
    end

    subgraph OUTPUT ["📄 Output"]
        direction TB
        TypstOut["Typst\n.typ"]
        LaTeXOut["LaTeX\n.tex"]
    end

    LaTeX --> LE
    LC --> TypstOut
    
    Typst --> MINIEVAL
    TC --> LaTeXOut
    
    LC -.- FEATURES
    TC -.- FEATURES

    style INPUT fill:#e3f2fd,stroke:#1976d2,stroke-width:2px
    style CORE fill:#fff8e1,stroke:#ff8f00,stroke-width:2px
    style OUTPUT fill:#e8f5e9,stroke:#388e3c,stroke-width:2px
    style L2T fill:#e1f5fe,stroke:#0288d1
    style T2L fill:#fce4ec,stroke:#c2185b
    style FEATURES fill:#f3e5f5,stroke:#7b1fa2
    style MINIEVAL fill:#ffebee,stroke:#c62828
    
    style MP fill:#bbdefb,stroke:#1976d2
    style TP1 fill:#f8bbd0,stroke:#c2185b
    style TP2 fill:#f8bbd0,stroke:#c2185b
    style LA fill:#fff9c4,stroke:#fbc02d
    style TA fill:#fff9c4,stroke:#fbc02d
    style LC fill:#c8e6c9,stroke:#388e3c
    style TC fill:#c8e6c9,stroke:#388e3c

Community

Join the conversation!

 

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Development Guidelines

• Follow Rust coding conventions
• Add tests for new features
• Update documentation as needed
• Run cargo fmt and cargo clippy before committing

License

This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

This project builds upon the following excellent projects:

• MiTeX - High-performance LaTeX parser
• tex2typst - Symbol mapping reference
• typst - Official Typst syntax parser
• typst-hs - Design reference for the evaluator
• Pandoc - Document structure conversion reference