Writing LaTeX with LaTeX Workshop in VS Code

Steps

Download & Install MacTex: Downloading MacTeX 2024
Install the extension LaTeX Workshop in VS Code
- PDF reading in VS Code is enabled once the extension is installed
Press Cmd + Shift + P (macOS) in VS Code to show all commands and type in Open User Settings JSON

Copy and paste the snippets into the json file (inside the brackets {}).

{
"workbench.colorTheme": "Visual Studio Dark",
"latex-workshop.latex.path": "/Library/TeX/texbin/pdftex",
"latex-workshop.latex.tools": [
    {
     "name": "latexmk",
     "command": "latexmk",
     "args": [
      "-synctex=1",
      "-interaction=nonstopmode",
      "-file-line-error",
      "-pdf",
      "-outdir=%OUTDIR%",
      "%DOC%"
     ],
     "env": {}
    },
    {
     "name": "xelatex",
     "command": "xelatex",
     "args": [
      "-synctex=1",
      "-interaction=nonstopmode",
      "-file-line-error",
      "%DOC%"
     ],
     "env": {}
    },
    {
     "name": "pdflatex",
     "command": "pdflatex",
     "args": [
      "-synctex=1",
      "-interaction=nonstopmode",
      "-file-line-error",
      "%DOC%"
     ],
     "env": {}
    },
    {
     "name": "bibtex",
     "command": "bibtex",
     "args": [
      "%DOCFILE%"
     ],
     "env": {}
    }
   ],
   "latex-workshop.latex.recipes": [
    {
     "name": "pdfLaTeX",
     "tools": [
      "pdflatex"
     ]
    },
    {
     "name": "latexmk 🔃",
     "tools": [
      "latexmk"
     ]
    },
    {
     "name": "xelatex",
     "tools": [
      "xelatex"
     ]
    },
    {
     "name": "pdflatex ➞ bibtex ➞ pdflatex`×2",
     "tools": [
      "pdflatex",
      "bibtex",
      "pdflatex",
      "pdflatex"
     ]
    },
    {
    "name": "xelatex ➞ bibtex ➞ xelatex`×2",
    "tools": [
      "xelatex",
      "bibtex",
      "xelatex",
      "xelatex"
     ]
    }
   ]       
}

Troubleshooting Recipe terminated with fatal error: spawn pdflatex ENOENT

Check install path on macOS with $ which pdftex; If it doesn’t, you’ll have to re-install MacTeX.
```
(base) maverick@Daochens-MacBook-Pro ~ % which pdftex
/Library/TeX/texbin/pdftex
```

Check LaTeX version: latex -v; Sample output is shown below.

(base) maverick@Daochens-MacBook-Pro ~ % latex -v
pdfTeX 3.141592653-2.6-1.40.26 (TeX Live 2024)
kpathsea version 6.4.0
Copyright 2024 Han The Thanh (pdfTeX) et al.
There is NO warranty.  Redistribution of this software is
covered by the terms of both the pdfTeX copyright and
the Lesser GNU General Public License.
For more information about these matters, see the file
named COPYING and the pdfTeX source.
Primary author of pdfTeX: Han The Thanh (pdfTeX) et al.
Compiled with libpng 1.6.43; using libpng 1.6.43
Compiled with zlib 1.3.1; using zlib 1.3.1
Compiled with xpdf version 4.04

Relaunch VS Code after copying the snippets in step 4.

Compile the file using option + Cmd + B (macOS)

To uninstall MacTex: Uninstalling

Writing LaTeX with LaTeX Workshop in VS Code

Steps

References