Docker LaTeX Builder

A simple, portable Docker-based environment for building LaTeX documents, articles, papers, books, and presentations.

This project provides:

• A reproducible LaTeX build environment using texlive/texlive
• Support for multiple output formats (pdf, dvi, ps, slides, beamer, etc.)
• Ability to specify which .tex file to compile
• Simple docker run and docker compose usage
• Zero installation of TeX Live on your system

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Features

• Compile any .tex file using Docker

• Fully isolated environment (no need for LaTeX locally)

• Supports:

  • PDF articles
  • DVI output
  • PS output
  • Beamer presentations
  • Slide PDFs
  • Clean mode to delete temp files

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Docker Image

When published to Docker Hub, users will be able to pull:

docker pull basemax/latex-builder:latest

(Replace with your actual Docker Hub namespace.)

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Quick Start

Compile a LaTeX file inside the current directory:

docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd):/work \
  -e TEX_FILE=backend-assignment.tex \
  -e BUILD_FORMAT=pdf \
  basemax/latex-builder

Finish output appears inside ./backend-assignment.pdf.

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Build Formats

Format	Description
pdf	Build standard PDF
dvi	Produce .dvi output
ps	Generate PostScript (.ps)
slides	Build slides (PDF output)
beamer	Build beamer presentation PDF
clean	Remove LaTeX auxiliary files

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Supported Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Example	Description
TEX_FILE	document.tex	main.tex	Name of TeX file to compile
BUILD_FORMAT	pdf	slides	Output format

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Examples

1. Build a PDF

docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd):/work \
  -e TEX_FILE=main.tex \
  -e BUILD_FORMAT=pdf \
  basemax/latex-builder

2. Build Beamer slides

docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd):/work \
  -e TEX_FILE=presentation.tex \
  -e BUILD_FORMAT=beamer \
  basemax/latex-builder

3. Build DVI

docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd):/work \
  -e TEX_FILE=math-paper.tex \
  -e BUILD_FORMAT=dvi \
  basemax/latex-builder

4. Clean temporary files

docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd):/work \
  -e TEX_FILE=main.tex \
  -e BUILD_FORMAT=clean \
  basemax/latex-builder

---

Using Docker Compose

services:
  latex-builder:
    build:
      context: .
      args:
        TEX_FILE: backend-assignment.tex
        BUILD_FORMAT: pdf
    container_name: latex-builder
    volumes:
      - ./:/work
    environment:
      TEX_FILE: backend-assignment.tex
      BUILD_FORMAT: pdf

Run:

docker compose run latex-builder

Override on-the-fly:

TEX_FILE=slides.tex BUILD_FORMAT=beamer docker compose run latex-builder

---

Development

Build image locally:

docker build -t basemax/latex-builder .

Test run:

docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/work basemax/latex-builder

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Publishing to Docker Hub

Edit the tag:

docker tag basemax/latex-builder basemax/latex-builder:latest

Push:

docker push basemax/latex-builder:latest

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License

MIT License

Copyright © 2025 Seyyed Ali Mohammadiyeh (Max Base)