Shipout: a Word-style editor over LuaLaTeX
Two editors in one repository, a hard deadline on 4 November, and a list of release gates that are still open.
Shipout is a desktop editor for people who need a LaTeX document but do not want to write LaTeX — the intended users are contest teammates preparing mathematical-modelling papers. The repository holds two editors, and the project’s own notes give them fixed names so they are not confused:
- v2 opens a
.texfile, paints the PDF that LuaLaTeX produced, and maps every click back to the source. The.texis the only source of truth. It is still the default entry point and the only one that ships. - v3, Shipout Preview, is a ProseMirror editor with its own
.shipoutproject file. The LaTeX is generated from the editor’s document model, with a PDF review tab next to it. This is the one being built out.
The app is Tauri (Rust and a web front end) with 98 commits from 26 August to 10 October 2026.
What the status document claims, and what it admits
docs/RESTART-STATUS.md is unusually frank, and it is the best summary. On the
proven side: a structured report with title, list, table, formula, figure and
citation round-trips through the project file and compiles twice with LuaLaTeX; paste
from Google Docs and Word works; input-method composition for Chinese and Japanese works;
review comments anchor to exact words; a Word-style tabbed ribbon and shortcuts exist; and
the app can install its own TeX Live so a teammate does not need one.
On the still open side, re-checked on 5 October:
- The drawing importer is a prototype for one TikZ picture compiled in isolation, not a general importer.
- Whole-report import is much broader than it was — a real 27-page student paper imports with 12 of 262 pieces kept as raw LaTeX — but not complete.
- The private TeX Live install has been tested in pieces, but a clean-machine run inside the signed app has not been done.
- Compiler errors map to the nearest top-level block, which is approximate inside lists.
- Browser saving downloads a file; native crash recovery is not finished.
Recent work
October’s commits are about making the editor read like Word: a tabbed ribbon (Home, Insert, References, Review, and a table-layout tab), page zoom from 50 to 200 percent, section numbers and Figure/Table labels in the writing view, Ctrl or Cmd+P to save the PDF, cross-references that show what the paper prints, and plain-language build hints each with a test. The repository’s proofs now run on Linux as well as macOS.
The working tree has 42 uncommitted files on the shipout branch, which is the first
thing the open reminder (“finish the current Shipout editing changes”) refers to.
The date
4 November 2026 is a hard deadline. The two items that land on it are packaging and signing a standalone macOS build (3 November) and watching a teammate use a complete real document (4 November). The second is the real test: none of the proofs substitute for it.
Written on 16 Oct 2026 from the repository, its CLAUDE.md and RESTART-STATUS.md. Open items below come from Reminders.