Download FlashTeX

v0.1.8 September 17, 2026 Release notes

Two ways to install: A gets you just the LaTeX engine and the flashtex command line, for macOS or Linux, any editor; B gets the native Mac app — a SwiftUI IDE with a live preview, built on that same engine — and bundles the CLI inside it too.

A — Engine + native GUI macOS only, for now

macOS app

macOS 14 Sonoma or later

Apple Silicon 25.5 MB Intel not yet available

A disk image containing FlashTeX.app — the Rust engine, PDF writer and capture bridge bundled inside, plus the CLI at Contents/MacOS/flashtex-cli (run its install-cli subcommand to also link it into /usr/local/bin). No TeX distribution required.

macOS blocks this on first launch, because FlashTeX isn't notarized by Apple yet. You'll need to approve it once — how to do that, or install from the command line and skip it entirely.
Command line (app)

macOS · Apple Silicon

$ curl -fsSL https://flash-tex.github.io/flashtex/install.sh | sh

Downloads the same disk image, checks its SHA-256 and copies FlashTeX.app into /Applications. Because it doesn't go through a browser, macOS never quarantines the app and you get no approval prompt at all. This installs the app, not just the CLI — for the CLI alone, use path A above. Read the script.
Checksum

FlashTeX.dmg · SHA-256

cd69d1f64777647861a8e88a659a745b0659aa82fc179671ec91e57c20a38382

Compare it with the output of shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/FlashTeX.dmg.

Platform support

FlashTeX is two things — a LaTeX engine with a command line, and a native Mac app built on it — and they don't have to ship on the same platforms.

Engine / CLI — macOSAvailable (Apple Silicon)
Engine / CLI — LinuxAvailable (x86_64)
Engine / CLI — WindowsPlanned
Engine / CLI — Web (WASM)Exploring
Native GUI — macOS (SwiftUI)Available today
Native GUI — other platformsNot yet

No GUI on your platform yet? The CLI works with any editor or CI, and the JSON Lines worker protocol it speaks is documented for integrations: The flashtex command line and Extending FlashTeX.

Opening the app the first time

FlashTeX is signed, but not notarized by Apple — notarization requires a paid Apple Developer account, which this project doesn't have yet. macOS therefore refuses the first launch of anything downloaded through a browser, with “FlashTeX cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer” or a message about an unverified developer. It is not a virus warning: macOS is saying it can't verify who published the app, not that it found anything wrong with it.

If you installed from the DMG, do this once:

Open FlashTeX.dmg and drag FlashTeX into Applications.
Right-click (or Control-click) FlashTeX in Applications and choose Open, then confirm. Double-clicking will not offer the option — the right-click menu is what does.
On recent macOS you may instead need System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll to the FlashTeX message and click Open Anyway.

You only do this once per version. If macOS claims the app is “damaged”, the quarantine flag survived the copy: run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/FlashTeX.app and open it again.

To avoid the prompt entirely, install from the command line instead:

curl -fsSL https://flash-tex.github.io/flashtex/install.sh | sh

That route verifies the release’s SHA-256 before installing and never attaches the browser quarantine flag, so the app opens normally the first time. Same build, same checksum — only the delivery differs.

B — Engine + CLI macOS · Linux

Command line

macOS (Apple Silicon) · Linux (x86_64)

$ curl -fsSL https://flash-tex.github.io/flashtex/install-cli.sh | sh

Detects your OS and CPU, downloads the matching flashtex-cli-v0.1.8-<platform>.tar.gz, verifies it against the release's SHA256SUMS and refuses on a mismatch, then installs flashtex into ~/.local/bin and its fonts/metrics into ~/.local/share/flashtex. Pass --prefix /usr/local for a system install, --version vX.Y.Z for another release, or --uninstall to remove it. Read the script.
Direct download

flashtex-cli-v0.1.8

macOS arm64 12.3 MB Linux x86_64 13.4 MB

Extract anywhere and run bin/flashtex build main.tex — no TeX installation, no environment variables. bin/flashtex install-cli symlinks it into /usr/local/bin without breaking the fonts it finds next to itself.
Checksums

SHA-256

76ef685f3714404f5881148b4760eaf3d10e06e7ce297378fb38c668cd2c72af

63072c40357df884ad21df13e1075ff6b96cba5029a7417e5674247f053ddb1b

install-cli.sh checks this automatically; by hand, compare with SHA256SUMS from the release.

Build it yourself

Latest main, same bundle as the release
1. Clone the repository
  $ git clone https://github.com/flash-tex/flashtex.git $ cd flashtex
2. Build the Rust engine and helpers
  $ for c in compiler pdf bridge render-pipeline; do cargo build --release --manifest-path crates/$c/Cargo.toml done
3. Package, install and open
  $ ./apps/mac/scripts/make-app.sh --install --open
A locally built app isn't quarantined, so it opens without the approval step. --install copies it to ~/Applications; add --dmg to produce a disk image too.
Requirements

To build from source
- macOS14 Sonoma or later, Apple Silicon
- SwiftXcode Command Line Tools (Swift 6)
- Ruststable toolchain via rustup
- Handwriting capturexAI (Grok) API key, optional

Download FlashTeX

A — Engine + native GUI macOS only, for now

macOS app

Command line (app)

Checksum

Platform support

Opening the app the first time

B — Engine + CLI macOS · Linux

Command line

Direct download

Checksums

Build it yourself

Requirements