Writing LaTeX Locally with VSCode and TeX Live

1. Download the installer:

wget https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/install-tl-unx.tar.gz

If the link is dead, grab the current one from the quick install guide.

2. Extract and run:

tar -xf install-tl-unx.tar.gz
cd install-tl-2*
perl ./install-tl --no-interaction

The --no-interaction flag skips the options menus. The full install takes a while, so leave it running.

3. Add the binary to your PATH. This part is missing from the official guide.

   Get the install path:

ls -d /usr/local/texlive/20*/bin/*

Append an export line to your shell config. The command differs by shell. Check with echo $SHELL.

echo 'export PATH="[your path]:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

Substitute [your path] with the result from the ls command above. I use bash, so the file is .bashrc. For zsh, use .zshrc. Fish users can run fish_add_path /usr/local/texlive/2026/bin/x86_64-linux.

Reload the config and verify:

source ~/.bashrc
which pdflatex

Both pdflatex and biber should resolve to a path inside /usr/local/texlive/.

Although the steps of Linux\UNIX work perfectly for MacOS systems, I recommend using MacTeX instead of regular TexLive. It comes with its own installer and other helpful packages. It’s basically a hassle-free version of TexLive for MacOs devices, which you can just install and forget.

Unlike MacOS and linux, Windows has its own TexLive installer. This is a little easier than the UNIX installation method, since PATH is set automatically, so you don’t need to make shell config edits.

For windows there is another option called MiKTex, if you are looking to save some space. MiKTex was made for Windows systems from the ground up and features a rolling release. One caveat with using MiKTex with external editors is that it often blocks compilation for missing packages without user intervention. You can easily fix that by going to MiKTeX Console —> Settings —> set “You can configure MiKTeX so that missing packages are installed automatically” to “Always” or “Yes”. I don’t recommend the Linux\MacOS implementations since it can often conflict with the Linux filesytem or package managers. Couple that with a much smaller community, it becomes Herculean task to maintain properly.

Two things, depending on your distro and shell.

libxcrypt-compat on Arch

In some distros, biber is dynamically linked against the legacy libxcrypt symbols, and the newer toolchain no longer ships them. This results in the undefined symbol error from biber, with no hint that a package is missing. Install libxcrypt-compat and biber works to fix this issue.

On Arch:

sudo pacman -S libxcrypt-compat

On Ubuntu\Debian:

sudo apt install libxcrypt-compat

Stale build files after Overleaf

Sometimes, Overleaf’s .aux, .bbl, .fls, and .fdb_latexmk files have a different timestamp ordering than the local toolchain expects. The first compile after switching to local keeps failing with “file has changed since I last read it.” error. You can often fix this error by clearing with latexmk once before the first local build to clear the cache:

latexmk -C

The build regenerates the auxiliary files. The PDF gets regenerated alongside them.

Open a new terminal after editing your shell config

The export PATH=... line only loads when the shell config is sourced. New terminals source it automatically. Existing terminals do not. After editing ~/.bashrc, open a new terminal; for an existing zsh session, run source ~/.zshrc before checking which pdflatex.

Four things, in order.

Perl

Windows does not ship Perl. LaTeX Workshop’s default recipe calls Perl under the hood, so it fails silently without it. Strawberry Perl is the usual choice:

winget install StrawberryPerl.StrawberryPerl

Run from PowerShell, or download it from strawberryperl.com.

A custom recipe that runs biber

The workshop’s default recipe does not always process biber on Windows. The fix is a custom recipe: pdflatex once to seed the .aux, biber to resolve citations, then pdflatex twice more so both the in-text citations and the bibliography page pick up the new .bbl.

Open the settings JSON with Ctrl+Shift+P → Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON).

Add this to the root {}:

"latex-workshop.latex.tools": [
  {
    "name": "pdflatex",
    "command": "pdflatex",
    "args": [
      "-synctex=1",
      "-interaction=nonstopmode",
      "-file-line-error",
      "%DOC%"
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "biber",
    "command": "biber",
    "args": [
      "%DOCFILE%"
    ]
  }
],
"latex-workshop.latex.recipes": [
  {
    "name": "pdflatex -> biber -> pdflatex x 2",
    "tools": [
      "pdflatex",
      "biber",
      "pdflatex",
      "pdflatex"
    ]
  }
]

The recipe name uses -> as the arrow. The unicode arrow ➞ works in settings.json if you prefer it. LaTeX Workshop renders the name in the UI, so both display correctly.

The biber temp directory lock

biber is a packed executable that extracts internal Perl files to %TEMP%\par-USERNAME\ on every run. Windows Defender and the search indexer both lock that directory just often enough to make biber exit with an error that does not mention the temp path. The error reads like a biber crash. The directory lock is the actual cause. Point biber at a different directory:

1. Create a working directory:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path "C:\tex_tmp"

2. Search Windows for “Edit the system environment variables” and open it.

3. Add a User Variable with Variable name: PAR_GLOBAL_TMPDIR and Variable value: C:\tex_tmp.

Clear auxiliary files

After swapping the recipe, clean up any stale build state. Ctrl+Shift+P → LaTeX Workshop: Clean up auxiliary files, then restart VSCode.

Alternately, you can use the sidebar of LaTeX workshop extension.